To the optimistic sci-fi fan, it looks like the Star Wars franchise reboot is trying to make up for the initial lack of female characters in spades.

Felicity Jones has been selected as the female lead for a stand-alone film to be released in December of 2016, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Io9.com writer Annalee Newitz wrote in April of last year that the initial Star Wars casting lineup included only one new actress: Daisy Ridley, whose character is still something of a mystery.

“Having Ridley is great, but one new female lead in a cast of men? That’s how we launch ourselves into the future of this series …?” Newitz wrote.

“Are we seriously still pretending that the universe is comprised almost entirely of men (and mostly white men at that)? Mythic tales are supposed to open up possibilities, not shut them down.”

Lucasfilm quickly announced the existence of more female characters and confirmed in June that Lupita Nyong’o and Gwendoline Christie will be part of the movie.

The announcement about Jones, who, according to The Hollywood Reporter, beat out Rooney Mara and geek icon Tatiana Maslany (of “Orphan Black” fame) is the latest of what could be seen as a genuine attempt to include more of the female fanbase in movie decisions.

However, The Hollywood Reporter also stated that “the secrecy surrounding the project is thicker than the mists of Dagobah, and it is even unclear which character the stand-alone is focusing on.”

By itself, this statement backs up what we already know about the franchise – that it’s not following any particular spinoff plot from the books or comics or character created after the first six movies.

But.

The inclusion of a few tentative possibilities to play the “male lead” in the movie immediately after that sentence leads me to believe that this announcement is not an announcement of more equal hiring practices.

The Star Wars series has never been particularly good with female leads. Queen Amidala and Princess Leia are pretty much the only two women who can be considered to “star” in the first six movies.

Just as an exercise, I suggest that you try to picture the second-most-famous female character from the movies.

I came up with a bikini-clad Twilek. Closely followed by Anakin’s mother, Schmi.

So while I hope that this recent casting news is a good sign for the movie universe, especially given all of the progress that the comics and books made in developing female Jedi and Sith, I think I’ll remain skeptical, for now.

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