It's been known for months that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's protagonist will be yet another angsty white dude. Although the decision to give the lead of another Star Wars story to a decidedly generic character has been met with some criticism, nothing ever came of it, and the calls for representation were left largely unacknowledged by the game's creatives.
Recently, Game Informer met up with Fallen Order's director Stig Asmussen to discuss the thought-process that went into choosing a white man as the game's lead.
We arrived where we were because at the time, Rey was the thing for Star Wars, and so it made a lot more sense for us to have a male protagonist..
To translate, the team over at Respawn decided that, because the current Star Wars Trilogy features a female character as its lead, it would not make sense to do so for their game that just so happens to be set in the same universe. Emphasis on Universe, since one could argue that it is in fact sizable enough to fit two female leads in it concurrently. Just sayin'.
The question was also raised as to why Fallen Order couldn't have an alien protagonist - after all, there are so many diverse species, races, and genders in a galaxy far, far away that have yet to receive the hero treatment in their own adventure. To that, Asmussen claimed that it simply wouldn't resonate with Star Wars fans.
Ultimately we didn’t go with an alien race because we felt like – no pun intended – that would alienate a lot of people. We wanted to make sure there was a real human connection to that character we have in the game.
That said, there have been some games set in the Star Wars universe that featured character customization and the ability to play as women, aliens, or alien women. However, those games, such as Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy exist outside of the Star Wars cannon.
Perhaps Amussen's comments will satisfy some and dissuade other from pressing the matter any further. However, for many underserved groups that are still waiting for representation in a universe teeming with diversity, this is yet another example of a studio trying to steer clear of the issue.
(Thank you PCGamesN for providing transcripts from the interview)
