J.J. Abrams Thinks ‘Star Wars’ Needs to Get a Whole Lot Gayer

In a bold but long overdue move, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams calls for more diversity in film. Together we say, duh. We’ve been talking this to death, but any real, meaningful, noticeable measures have yet to be taken. So what does our Abrams do? He promises us a future of inclusion in the galaxy far, far away.

But what does that mean? What does that look like? We made a woman a Jedi. Check. We put John Boyega on set. A few people on the Internet freak out about a black stormtrooper. We make a couple billion. And we check off diversity on our list of pressing issues. We say to ourselves, 12.5% of this movie is black (even if it’s not) and we go home feeling better about ourselves.

Answering his own call to action, Abrams says this isn’t enough. We’re not including enough in our films. At his production company Bad Robot’s hosting of US-Ireland Alliance’s yearly Oscar Wilde Awards, Abrams took a moment to highlight the expansive nature of the Star Wars universe:

To me, the fun of Star Wars is the glory of possibility. So it seems insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.

Sure. But can we expect some transgender and otherwise non-binary individuals as well? Can we see some Asian peoples represented? First Nations? Little people? A gay character is important, but not more important than visibility of the other marginalized. Again, Abrams gets it:

I think we all have a hell of a lot to do, and I think it is insane to me that we still have to have a conversation about inclusivity. It’s shameful. We all need to do better to represent this world. It’s something that is important to me, and is something that we’re focusing on at [production company] Bad Robot.

So we’re moving forward. The galaxy is expanding its lens. We’re getting there, even if we’re already way behind.