New stars

Battlefront II’s female lead, Iden Versio, reflects Lucasfilm’s growing commitment to diversity. “The reality of it is that strong female characters have been part of the Star Wars legacy for 40 years,” says Douglas Reilly. “We’ve always viewed Star Wars as a reflection of society.” This was a major theme of this year’s Star Wars Celebration, from toy lines to animated shorts to – evidently – videogames. Versio joins Rey, Jyn Erso and Rebels’ Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla as part of a new generation of Star Wars leads. “For me, a good character is a good character,” says Motive’s Mark Thompson. “We were trying to explore a different perspective to what we’d seen in some of the movie storytelling.”