With their new slate of Star Wars films, Disney has been making a concerted effort to move female stars like Daisy Ridley and Felicity Jones more front-and-center. Unfortunately, the toy industry has been rather slow to respond to this more gender-balanced Star Wars universe. Early toy lines for Star Wars: The Force Awakens often excluded Rey, despite her being the movie’s most prominent character, leading to the creation of the #WheresRey hashtag, and a whole lot of heated words being traded on Twitter.
Well, it seems like Disney is looking to head off any similar controversy with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. At today’s Star Wars Celebration Rogue One panel, Disney had certified badass Gwendoline Christie give Felicity Jones her official Jyn Erso action figure, and it’s looking pretty sweet.
Jones seemed to be appropriately excited by her toy, or at least, as much as a grown-ass person should be.
“I feel very privileged to have joined the Star Wars doll universe.”
Action figures, Felicity. They’re action figures.
According to Gwendoline Christie, the Jyn figure is the first toy to be officially-revealed for Rogue One, which definitely feels like a statement. Will eagle-eyed fans still find some stuff that excludes Jyn? Probably, but Disney knows they need to do better.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits theaters December 16.
