Producer Kathleen Kennedy, who’ll oversee the upcoming “Stars Wars” trilogy and standalone Han Solo film, is adamant that her version of a galaxy that originally only had just six women in it have a far greater female presence behind and in front of the camera.

Kennedy has promised that newcomer Daisy Ridley’s character will be “extremely significant” to the plot of “A Force Awakens,” the next film in the space-based franchise. (It’s been widely speculated that Ridley’s Rey will be the daughter of either Luke or Leia.) The powerhouse producer has also stated that six of the eight individuals developing “A Force Awakens” were female, as was half of her executive team. “Having a balance of men and women in the room changes the story,” she said. “The dialogue, the point of view.”

But Kennedy made headlines for announcing that the Skywalker series will get something it’s never had before: a female filmmaker directing one of the movies. “There’s nothing we’d like more than to find a female director for ‘Star Wars,’” she said. She went so far to say as a matter of public record, “It is going to happen. We are going to hire a woman who’s going to direct a ‘Star Wars’ movie. I have no doubt.”

She continued, “On the other hand, I want to make sure we put someone in that position who’s set up for success. It’s not just a token job to look out and try to find a woman that we could put into a position of directing ‘Star Wars’ … If we do want to bring a woman in to direct a ‘Star Wars’ movie, we want to make sure that it’s somebody who’s passionate and really, really wants to do a ‘Star Wars’ movie. We don’t want to talk somebody into it.”

Here’s a short list of 10 women directors Kennedy and her team could start with on their search for their next helmer:

Patricia Riggen

Ava DuVernay

Catherine Hardwicke

Julie Taymor

Karyn Kusama

Kim Peirce

Lexi Alexander

Patty Jenkins

Susanna White

Niki Caro

“Star Wars: A Force Awakens” opens December 18.

[via The Guardian]