The wait is just about over for Star Wars Forces of Destiny, an original series of animated shorts that will showcase the untold stories of Rey, Jyn Erso, Princess Leia, Sabine Wren, Padmè Amidala, Ahsoka Tano and more; Daisy Ridley, Felicity Jones, Tiya Sircar, Ashley Eckstein and Lupita Nyong’o will reprise their famous roles. It was announced earlier today that the series will make its debut on July 3rd on Disney's YouTube channel before arriving on the Disney Channel itself July 9th.
Recently, I had a chance to chat with Star Wars Forces of Destiny writer Jennifer Muro about her experience crafting the story of the female-driven series and getting the chance to let the ladies of Star Wars lead for a change. Muro clarified just where the series fits in Star Wars canon and made a great case for why fans should most definitely tune in for each episode. Plus, Muro shared updates on her other ongoing and upcoming projects that you should be keeping an eye out for!
Before we get into Muro's experience on Star Wars Forces of Destiny, be sure to check out the newly released trailer below:
‘Star Wars: Forces of Destiny’ lets the ladies take over for a change. How does the series’ message jibe with your own ideology?
Jennifer Muro: It jibes very well because I definitely like to write female-driven stuff. I’ve been doing this a long time and have two other female-driven series that are also in development. It’s the perfect opportunity to do this for Star Wars—which is just a dream come true—for those characters and to really just stand out, all together in one place, which has never been done.
It’s about time! It’s been coming and I’ve been pitching this kind of thing since 2012, so I was a little ahead before Frozen happened and before this, so I’ve been pushing this for a long time. Everyone’s starting to catch up. I’m glad I’m here now, a part of it; I’m glad I didn’t miss the curve. I think it fits perfectly and it’s about time.
How much of your writing was informed by the existing performances of the actors, and how much was informed by your own experiences?
Muro: Having all of their performances absolutely helped. I knew their voices. That really, really helped. Loving superheroes as a kid, and Wonder Woman, and Linda Carter, and Xena, and Buffy, which is a huge influence, all of the kinds of humor and adventure that I liked, it all helped. It absolutely helped. But obviously you want to write in the voice of the character as much as you can, so their performances made all the difference.
How much of the story was outlined by Lucasfilm executives versus how much original content were you able to bring?
Muro: We all break story together and Lucasfilm’s story group knows what they’re doing. They know their property really well. We come up with thoughts, ideas, timelines, and then I pitch some concepts, and we kind of break it and work together on it. It was very, obviously, collaborative. They were indispensible.
Since you’re the sole writer on this project, did you have a favorite character to write for?
Muro: Yeah, I don’t know if it’s announced yet, but the one who is announced I can say is definitely Leia. Leia, the original trilogy, was a dream come true; to write for a moment in Return of the Jedi and right before Empire Strikes Back was trippy, to say the least.
Does this series connect in any way to the TV and cinematic universes, or are they standalone adventures?
Muro: They’re just unseen moments we haven’t seen before, whether they be from [Star Wars] Rebels, or the original trilogy, or from [Star Wars]: The Force Awakens. It’s kind of like, they’re independent moments that were unseen before, small moments of heroism through time.
What can you tease for fans of Star Wars to encourage them to check out Forces of Destiny?
Muro: My gosh, they’re going to see things they’ve been curious about. It might answer some questions in those little moments when characters interact who we’ve never seen interact on screen before. They’re going to want to see this. I hate to use the word ‘canon’ but it’s definitely part of the universe now. If you’re a fan, no matter the age, you’re definitely going to want to take a look at it. They’re just fun, they’re not necessarily life-changing moments; they’re fun, they’re interesting, and the animation is going to be beautiful, it’s going to be gorgeous to see this in 2D which we haven’t seen in many, many years.
How long is each individual episode?
Muro: They’re all different lengths. They’re going to be probably 2-3 minutes, maybe 4 minutes, but not more than that. It’s within that very short range.
How did that transition work for you, from traditional series to what amounts to writing a short scene?
Muro: Yeah, it’s tough to get the themes across. I think we did a good job. The core of what it is is still in there. Of course, you always have to cut in writing and there’s more I wanted to get in there. We wanted a lot of these stories, but also to keep things consistent in terms of ideas, themes, and character. I think we did a good balance of the amount of stories we wanted to tell in the amount of time to tell them in.
Can you tease anything that didn’t make the final cut?
Muro: Maybe a character here and there as a cameo, maybe an asset we couldn’t use, or there just wasn’t enough time. I wish I could tease more.
Did you have free rein to use any character or did you have to focus it to the protagonist’s world so it would make sense?
Muro: We definitely knew what characters we wanted to use and then, obviously, we talked about what story we could tell around this character and that character … What time period? What moment do we want to see? What could be a fun moment? What kind of personality trait do we want to showcase? And then we work around it that way.
Switching gears slightly but staying with a Disney XD series, how did you come to work on ‘Marvel’s Spider-Man’?
Muro: I worked for Disney before and now there’s Marvel, and we all have friends in the business. Two fabulous showrunners, Kevin Burke and Chris “Doc” Wyatt, are running that. They asked me to do an episode for them. We broke story on that and it was super-fun. The clip’s great! The animation is phenomenal, too! It was nice to see how it’s turning out. I think people are going to really like it. It goes back to the early days of Peter, which is nice.
There are some really exciting villains, a nice chunk of villains are coming. Obviously that’s vague, but I was excited to see that. It was like a really nice array.
Do you have any updates on Stretch Armstrong & the Flex Fighters on Netflix?
Muro: The animation is great; Hasbro’s doing a great job on that. There’s a nice amount of comedy in it, too, which is great. There’s really a good balance of action and comedy on that show. I think it’s going to do really well, but I don’t know the release date.
What about your web series with Jim Henson Studios?
Muro: For Henson, we’re pretty early on in development and haven’t decided what to do with it yet. It’s definitely going to be an inspirational series in whatever form it takes.
Are you returning to write for any series you previously worked on, like Buddy Thunderstruck?
Muro: Oh my gosh, Buddy Thunderstruck was fantastic! I hope that gets another season. I don’t know if you’ve seen it at all, but it’s Stoopid Buddy Stoodios who did the animation and it’s so great. I don’t know if people are finding it on Netflix—I know there’s not tons of press on it—but you’re missing out if you’re not watching Buddy Thunderstruck. The comedy was really well written by Tom Krajewski. It’s really kind of a 9-14 age, it’s not a 6-11 show, so we really pushed the comedy more towards … adults should absolutely be watching this and they’re gonna get a real kick out of it. Ted Raimi’s one of the voices on that and he’s phenomenal. I would love to do another season of that, that would be great!
I would love another Justice League Action season! There’s definitely a lot of stuff in animation I would love to see come back, but it all depends on pick-ups.
Any other projects coming up?
Muro: I’m pitching some live-action series. One of them is a high-concept, female-driven comedy. Definitely a passion project of mine that I hope gets some traction sometime soon. It’s two main female characters who are kick-butt leads; I’d love to see that get made somewhere. I think now’s a great time for that and, because it does lean towards comedy, for female comedians out there I think it’d be such a great thing to sink their teeth into. I’d love to bring more action and comedy for women to TV.
Star Wars Forces of Destiny arrives on YouTube July 3rd, followed by its Disney Channel debut on July 9th. Keep an eye out for more of Muro's work on Disney channels, Netflix, Nickelodeon, and more in the near future!