Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order devs wanted a Black/female protagonist, but were shot down
A former Respawn developer has revealed staff originally wanted the protagonist of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to be Black, or a woman.
In a Twitter post on May 10, former Respawn lighting artist Nora Shramek claimed developers of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order advocated for the game's protagonist to be Black and/or a woman. However, the former Respawn dev reveals the group met resistance when asking for this, and the idea was ultimately shot down.
When I worked on SW:JFO a LOT of devs wanted & advocated 4 the main character 2b black &/or a woman. 'Reasons' 4 NO: We already have 2 black people in the game. Rey is a woman & we can't do that to' guess what the demographic of the people making those decisions looked like?May 10, 2022
It's not entirely clear from Shramek's tweets who exactly at Respawn shot down the proposal, but the dev hints that it wasn't just one person opposing the idea. Shramek says those opposed to making Fallen Order's protagonist Black and/or a woman believed they didn't need to since the game already featured two Black characters.
Additionally, Rey being a female protagonist of the new Star Wars sequel trilogy factored into the idea being shot down. Shramek gives some valuable insight into how Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's protagonist ultimately came to be, and the sort of protagonist we could've had instead, if those in the studio had got their way.
As things turned out, Cal Ketsis became the protagonist of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The game follows Cal in the aftermath of the Order 66, as Jedi are hunted down around the galaxy and he's forced into hiding. Cal was generally viewed as a bit of a bland protagonist back when Fallen Order launched in 2019, and that's even more of a shame
Read more on gamesradar.com
