The Many Colors of Rogue One

When The Force Awakens was released a year ago, many people pointed to the diversity of the three young new rebel leads.

Rey was a woman, Finn a black man, and Poe Hispanic. This diversity was especially striking given the whiteness of both the original Star Wars movies and the prequels—with the exception of Lando Calrissian in the former, and Mace Windu in the latter.

Star Wars has always occurred against a diverse backdrop or both humanoid and non-humanoid characters, including aliens and droids, but the lead characters in both the original movies and the prequels have been nevertheless very white.

This weekend, I finally saw Rogue One. (I believe I can write this post without spoilers, for those of you who haven’t.) About half an hour into the show I realized that none of our five plucky adventurers were white caucasian males. None.

Oh sure, the uniformed imperialist villain was a white male, and the imperialist scientist turned rebel informer with whom our adventurers were trying to make contact was also a white male. Not so with our merry band of rebels.

Jyn Erso is our sole female lead. Continuing in the tradition of Rey and Lea rather than that of Padme, she is a fighter and a striver.

Cassian Andor is our co-lead. He is a passionate rebel captain with a slight accent, played by the Mexican actor Diego Luna.

Bodhi Rook is a defector from the empire, previously an imperialist pilot. He is played by British Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed.

Chirrut Îmwe is a blind temple guardian who believes in the force and is quick with his staff. He is played by actor Donnie Yen.

Baze Malbus is a former assassin with quick wits, a powerful gun, and a close friendship with Chirrut. He is played by actor Wen Jiang.

There are no African Americans in this plucky planet-trotting band, but there is Saw Gerrera, a rogue rebel leader with whom our merry band makes contact.

Our merry band contains only one woman, and no women of color. At alliance headquarters we do meet two more women, one a white woman (Mon Mothma) and the other a woman of color (Senator Palmo), but their role in the film is brief.

I appreciate the increased diversity of the most recent Star Wars movies, and there is something truly significant about the release of a major blockbuster movie starring actors of Mexican and Pakistani descent at the dawn of the Trump era. I would like to see more women, and especially more women of color, in future movies of this franchise, and I’d like to see greater diversity in the leadership of both the Galactic Empire and the First Order, but I think we can safely call this progress.

My second grader saw both this movie and last year’s The Force Awakens. These are the Star Wars movies she will grow up on. We’ve shown her the originals, yes, and (grudgingly) the prequels, but these new episodes are her movies. And that, perhaps more than anything else, is why the increased diversity of The Force Awakens and Rogue One is significant. Fewer than 50% of children born in the United States today are white, and these movies are viewed all over the world. A new generation of Star Wars fans will grow up seeing themselves in these movies.

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