‘Star Wars’ puts its heroines in spotlight in new ‘Forces of Destiny’ animated series
When J. J. Abrams’ “The Force Awakens” debuted in late 2015, the franchise’s new character Rey ( Daisy Ridley) couldn’t even score a spot in the “Star Wars” Monopoly game.
What a difference there is in Disney and Hasbro’s planning ahead of this December’s “The Last Jedi.”
Hasbro delayed its Rey rollout for Monopoly in 2015 — responding to social-media backlash, the toymaker later claimed it didn’t want to spoil any “Force Awakens” plot points — but now there is a strong push to feature “Star Wars” heroines, from screen to toy to game.
Disney is announcing on Thursday — to kick off the four- day Star Wars Celebration in Orlando — that Lucasfilm will unveil a series of animated shorts collectively titled “Star Wars Forces of Destiny.”
The shorts — each narrated by Maz Kanata (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, who plays Maz in the new films) — will focus on Princess Leia (voiced by Shelby Young), Rey ( Ridley), Jyn Erso ( Felicity Jones, reprising her “Rogue One” character), Ahsoka Tano of “Clone Wars” (Ashley Eckstein) and Sabine Wren of “Star Wars Rebels” ( Tiya Sircar). And importantly, they will be considered canon — as opposed to, say, the expanded universe stories created prior to 2014 that Disney and Lucasfilm titled “Legends.”
“’Star Wars Forces of Destiny’ is for anyone who has been inspired by Leia’s heroism, Rey’s courage or Ahsoka’s tenacity,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said in a statement at StarWars.com.
“We’re thrilled that so many of the original actors are reprising their roles in these shorts, which capture the small moments and everyday decisions that shape who these characters are.”
Some of the shorts will spin off of story lines and deleted scenes from the film franchise.
The first round of 16 shorts will debut on Disney’s YouTube channel in July, and then be collected into a two-part Disney Channel special set to air in the autumn. — WP-Bloomberg