Leslye Headland hired as showrunner for new Star Wars Disney+ series

Leslye Headland hired as showrunner for new Star Wars Disney+ series

 

Disney+ has announced a new Star Wars series Leslye Headland as showrunner. No release date has been announced yet. In fact, the only information released so far has been that it will be “female-centric”. Before we dive into thoughts and opinions, let’s take a look at her history and see what makes her tick.

Resume

As a writer, Headland has been credited with TV shows such as Terriers and Russian Doll.

Terriers lasted only one season, but received good reviews from both fans and critics alike. It’s one of those shows referred to as the good shows people aren’t watching.

Russian Doll she wrote for and co-created with Amy Poehler and Natasha Lyonne. This 8 episode Netflix series won a Golden Globe for best actress in a musical or comedy for Natasha Lyonne. Headland received a nomination for Outstanding Writing in a comedy series.

And famously, she worked as an assistant to Harvey Weinstein at Miramax.

Public Eye

When asked in an interview from Variety about her favorite Star Wars Movie, Headland replied she didn’t have a favorite Star Wars movie and that she wanted to live in the Star Wars universe forever.

She has been quoted by Rolling Stone as saying that Hollywood’s interest in women is:

“They are not interested unless we are in a group. Probably just wearing lingerie”

YouTubers describe her as “woke” and obsessed with race, gender, and sexual orientation.

She recently deleted over 4,500 tweets, according Social Blade, since July 2019.

Thoughts and Opinions

Let’s not jump the gun on our judgements. While I agree that woke Hollywood sucks, and is not entertaining, I have seen only Russian Doll out of her list of work, and I liked it. I didn’t feel like there was an agenda being pushed. Look, sometimes people are triggered by anyone advocating for more equality for minorities and women in show business. I am tired of hearing about it personally.

The only thing that matters when making shows and movies is the story. If the story makes sense and has cohesion and depth, then I’ll watch it and enjoy it. If it is just a vehicle for hate or discrimination or how “men are bad”, it’s probably going to fall flat.

An all-female Star Wars show is kind of a new idea and sounds like it could be full of agenda, but it may not be as well. It could be just a new perspective. Star Wars has had good, strong female characters in Princess Leia, Ahsoka Tano, Hera, and Sabine to name a few.

You can have strong female characters that do not put up with nonsense and also not disparage men (just for being men) at the same time. This has been done in other series with Ripley in the Alien series, Sarah Connor in Terminator, Alita Battle Angel, Avatar. The poor attempts are the woke attempts. Who knows what this will be. I am a little concerned that she couldn’t pick a favorite Star Wars movie, but Not Your Status Quo will wait until this show comes out and judge it based on the quality of its content.