For those counting the days until we get to see our favorite smuggler, scoundrel and hero alive and well on the big screen, I bring you good news. Yes, new details about Han Solo’s standalone movie have surfaced and, according to a new Variety interview with Lucasfilm head honcho Kathleen Kennedy, it’s shaping up to be something slightly different from the usual Star Wars fare. But perhaps what’s even more exciting is her commitment to finding a woman to helm a film in the galaxy far, far away.

The Star Wars universe is vast, and there are plenty of other stories to be told outside of Han Solo and the original gang. If Lucasfilm is serious about increasing diversity and representation in their projects, it’s more important than ever to bring a woman in to helm one of the future installments or outlier stories. “We want to make sure that when we bring a female director in to do Star Wars, they’re set up for success,” Kennedy added. “They’re gigantic films, and you can’t come into them with essentially no experience.”

By our score, there are plenty of talented—and experienced!—female directors available to take on a Star Wars project. Badass women like…

Ava DuVernay

We all assumed she would take the reins on the Black Panther movie—and were excited about the prospect—but she declined because, as Screenrant put it, she realized she wouldn’t work well in Marvel’s collaborative atmosphere (where a number of people are involved in the creative process). Now, that does seem like the sort of environment in which a Star Wars film would exist, but let’s be real, a Star Wars movie would be a great follow-up to her sci-fi adventure, A Wrinkle in Time.

Gizmodo reports that Luscafilm is still interested in a Boba Fett movie after Episode IX in 2019, despite Josh Trank allegedly dropping out and putting the project in limbo. Maybe one of these outlier films that don’t tie into anything specific would be the way to go for her, offering up a bit more of the creative freedom DuVernay seeks.

Karyn Kusama

So maybe Æon Flux didn’t exactly live up to the legacy of the animated series—at least in this writer’s opinion—but one could certainly argue Kusama’s directing was not the weakest part of that film. If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s her. Have you seen Girlfight?

Given her skill set, Kusama would be a great fit for a Darth Maul movie. After all, she already has that whole “moody protagonist is a specialist in martial arts and gymnastics” thing down, and ever since this awesome Darth Maul fan film surfaced on the internet, I’ve been dying to see his character fleshed out on the big screen.

Kathryn Bigelow

Point Break, Zero Dark Thirty, and The Hurt Locker—I mean, come on, right? These great films were all by the two-time Academy Award winning director. And Bigelow’s strength is definitely badassery. She knows how to handle badass women in addition to equally badass men, so I’d trust her with the colorful characters that make up the Star Wars universe, who need strength and perseverence to overcome the seemingly impossible.

And, as the only person on this list with a heist film under her belt, she’d be perfect to adapt James S. A. Corey’s novel, Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves, to the big screen. The story centers on Leia Organa sending Han Solo on a mission to extract a high-level spy from the center of the empire. It takes place after the events in A New Hope, so if they decide to continue Han’s story on screen, this action/adventure would be a fun one to take on.

Catherine Hardwicke

Yes, she directed the first Twilight film—but it also happens to be best one of the series. She really understood the source material and executed it in the best way possible (a.k.a not taking it too seriously), which is why it worked. If you want a good Star Wars flick, you need someone who understands both story and character. But that’s not even the half of it!

Hardwicke also directed the incredible Thirteen (another film centered on a teen girl), so it would make sense for her to take on a film about Korr Sellaalso. Though Korr’s role in The Force Awakens is small, her backstory has the potential for something bigger. She worked for Senator Leia Organa as a teen before joining The Resistance, so we’d be getting a two-for-one with both a coming-of-age story about a young girl and a glimpse into Leia’s past before ending up on the Death Star. Count me in.

Amma Asante

An up-and-coming director who—like Ron Howard and Jodie Foster—got her start in acting, Asante  has a penchant for making beautiful films such as Belle and working with diverse casts (Her most recent film, A United Kingdom, starred David Oyelowo and Rosamund Pike and has received immense acclaim on the festival circuit). Though her genre may be different than the rest, Disney’s other arm, Marvel, is working with Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) for Black Panther, so it’s not unprecedented to bring in a director from a different genre. (Just look at Taika Watiti’s resume pre-Thor: Ragnarok.)

So with that in mind: how cool would it be to see a film about Sabine Wren from Star Wars Rebels? For those who don’t know, she’s a Mandalorian warrior (from the same place as Boba Fett) who knows how to handle explosives and uses her skills as a grafitti artist to spray paint her own armor. In her youth, she attended the Imperial Academy before before joining the rebellion against the Empire. She’s a kickass, subversive woman and since Asante has a penchant for working with the sort, this would be an oddly perfect matchup.

And this is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg! Other women like Lexi Alexander, Patty Jenkins, Rachel Talalay, Julie Taymor, Lesli Linka Glatter, and Jennifer Yuh would also be gangbuster additions to any list—and have more than proven themselves as capable directors across a host of mediums. 

Have more to add to the list? Which female directors do you think would be a great fit for a Star Wars film? Let me know in the comments!

Featured Image: Lucasfilm
GIF Credit: Giphy

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Here are The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson’s picks :