‘Star Wars’ Han Solo Spinoff May Feature the Franchise’s First Major Female Droid
The Star Wars universe has always been a pretty great place for women (unless you’re a director, that is), so why is it that we haven’t yet seen a female droid in as significant a capacity as C-3P0 or R2-D2, or scene-stealer BB-8? There have been female droids in the canon, but usually that’s not revealed until after the fact, and no woman has ever voiced a major speaking role for a robot. With the new Han Solo prequel/spinoff, that’s about to change.
When Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge was cast, it was announced that she’d be playing a motion-capture character. That could be one of two things: an alien, a la Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata, or a droid, like Alan Tudyk’s CGI K-2S0 for Rogue One. We now know, via a report from Tracking Board that hasn’t yet been confirmed by Lucasfilm, that Waller-Bridge may be playing the latter, which would indeed be the first significant lady robot in Star Wars history.
There have been a few droids in the books and movies either voiced by women or revealed to be female later, but none that has starred in the same capacity as the four in the movies, which were all either played by or voiced by men. Droids don’t procreate, so we don’t really need female ones, but on the other hand, there’s no reason for them all to be men either. Plus, all of the significant droids have served as comic relief at one time or another, which has historically been a pretty male-driven territory. It’s time for some funny women to get their time to shine, even if it’s from within the confines of a computer-generated robot.
The Han Solo spinoff is currently slated for a May 25, 2018 release.