Star Wars female-led series in development at Disney Plus; Russian Doll co-creator to serve as showrunner

Disney is reportedly developing a new Star Wars spin-off series, which will centre around female characters.According to Deadline, the streamer has roped in Leslye Headland, the co-creator and showrunner of Netflix's Russian Doll, for the project.Though the exact plot details are yet to be ascertained, the series is rumoured to be set in an alternate time and will focus on women characters martial arts elements.Headland will write and showrun the new series.The project will be the fourth series from the Star Wars universe.The studio had last year unveiled The Mandalorian, which was created by Jon Favreau. The series stars Pedro Pascal as the title character, a lone gunfighter the actor compared to a Western or samurai hero. It co-stars Gina Carano as a character named Cara Dune and Carl Weathers as a bounty hunter named Greef. Werner Hergog and Giancarlo Esposito also co-star.Two more series are in development — an Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor and a Cassian Andor prequel series starring Diego Luna.Lucasfilm's Kathleen Kennedy had earlier promised that the future of the Star Wars franchise is female. Kennedy revealed that the studio is planning to bring in a woman director to helm a Star Wars feature film going ahead."We've already got (women directors). On The Mandalorian, we've got two or three fantastic women working with Star Wars. And we just brought in Deborah Chow who is doing the Obi-Wan series. We're cultivating a lot of great talent," Kennedy told BBC on the BAFTA red carpet.Three episodes of the season one of The Mandalorian series were directed by women. Deborah Chow helmed two and the third marked the directorial debut of actor Bryce Dallas Howard.When quizzed further if a woman director would helm a Star Wars movie, she replied, "Oh absolutely. Without question."(With inputs from Press Trust of India)