According to one developer, many of the developers of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order wanted the main character to be black and/or female but were told no.

It was previously rumoured that the protagonist of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was originally going to be a woman, but the idea was scrapped because of Rey in the sequel trilogy. However, a former Respawn developer shed some light on the subject. Twitter user @NoraShramek, a game developer who has previously worked at Respawn, Riot and Insomniac, among others, recently revealed that many developers wanted the main character to be black and/or female.

According to Nora, “a LOT” of developers pushed for it, but Respawn’s top management told them no…

“This was not evil EA or overly controlling Lucasfilm/Disney.” Supposedly there were two main reasons for this rejection. The first was that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order already had two black characters; the second was because of Rey. Nora also suggests that the demographics of the decision-makers were primarily, if not entirely, white males.

Nora also went on to share an alleged comment made by someone else on the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order development team, which was, “I think all the black people need to have more glossy skin because black people have more oily skin than other people.” However, Nora added that she is no longer working at Respawn Entertainment and that she has information that there have been some considerable changes at the development company – she just can’t confirm it personally.

She also noted that most of the development team cared about representation; a few people pushed the decision to release this version of Cal Kestis.

Nora insisted she has no problem with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Cal Kestis or the actor playing him, Cameron Monaghan, as she thinks he did a great job and has plenty of Cal merch – but she believes it’s a “missed opportunity”.

Hopefully, Nora’s statement about the changes at Respawn will prove accurate. EA has put Respawn above three Star Wars projects in one form or another, in addition to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2. Maybe what was a missed opportunity here, Respawn will be able to realize in another Star Wars game.

Source: GameByte

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?

— NoraNevaBoreYa 🏳️‍🌈 (@NoraShramek) May 10, 2022