The Mysterious Female-Driven STAR WARS Series Will Be a Planet-Hopping Martial Arts Adventure

As we previously reported, Lucasfilm has been developing a new live-action Star Wars series for Disney+. The project will tell a story that revolves around a female character, and it will be developed by Lesley Headland, as the writer and showrunner. She is the co-creator of Netflix’s dramedy series Russian Doll.

When the project was first announced, all that was revealed about the show is that it’s an “action thriller with martial arts elements and set in an alternate timeline from the usual Star Wars universe.”

We now have some new interesting details to share with you regarding the mysterious Star Wars series and it sounds like it’ll be a cool martial arts planet-hopping adventure. During a recent interview with Fantastic Frankey, Healand held up a copy of Wallace and Fry's Star Wars: The Essential Atlas and said:

"Every pitch starts here. It starts with 'Where are we?' because I think that is always how I anchor myself within this particular world. You can't just always just start with 'I have a cool emotional idea,' or 'I have a cool concept I'd like to explore.'"

Healand went on to talk about the geographical planning that went into her Star Wars series, saying:

"It's an actual world with actual places. Where are you? Who's there? How much do we know about who's there and how much do we not know? Based on what we know about who's there, what can we infer from the political economic structure of that place and then, how does that dovetail into the story you want to tell?"

She then teased the Indiana Jones-style planet-hopping elements that she is looking to incorporate into the movie, saying:

"For me, it's less about going through the Star Wars universe cinematically or artistically, I'm actually kind of combing through it geographically and literally going on a literal journey. When we were pitching I had my designer create literally that Indiana Jones-like 'then we go here and then we go here,' with the little dotted red line like this is our journey, this is where we're going."

Headland then discussed her pitch for the series to Lucasfilm, saying:

"When I first pitched to Lucasfilm, I didn't pitch necessarily as a television [show] or a feature film, I just kind of pitched character or story and all the things that are dear to my heart as a playwright...I'm just pitching on that level. Ultimately when I settled on television and specifically streaming, it felt right because I think that there's a different type of storytelling when you come from TV, especially episodic TV, meaning not bingeable TV, meaning you are waiting each week to see something.”

The Mandalorian has set a super high bar for these Star Wars shows and I really hope that the other series, like this, that are being developed will end up being just as awesome! I guess we’ll eventually find out.