As far as 2019 is concerned, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is fast becoming one of the year’s most anticipated titles. Hardly surprising, of course, given the universe in which it’s set, though with gameplay now out in the open, protagonist Cal Kestis’ fight against the Empire promises to be a visual feast as well as a solid action adventure title. Indeed, the overall reception received by developer Respawn has so far been majorly positive, though it’s by no means been immune to criticism.
Strange-looking Wookies, unfavourable lightsaber designs and, of course, the controversial censorship of violence as mandated by Disney are all issues that have since been raised by fans. Besides those, however, one major talking point has revolved around the topic of gender. Similarly to the Sequel Trilogy championing Daisy Ridley’s Rey as the new face of that galaxy far, far away, many had hoped that Respawn would follow suit for its own addition to the universe.
Those hopes have since been dashed, of course, though not until now, have we received word as to why the developer opted to go for a male hero.
Strangely enough, it turns out that Rey’s existence is responsible for Cal Kestis. In a recent interview with Game Informer, game director Stig Asmussen described the character’s design process, saying: “We talked about different gender. We arrived where we were because at the time, Rey was the thing for Star Wars, and so it made a lot more sense for us to have a male protagonist.” What exactly Asmussen means by that isn’t clear, though an obvious implication is that of Respawn not wanting to draw comparisons to the film series’ central character.
As for those that perhaps hoped to see an alien protagonist take charge, Asmussen explains why it wasn’t to be:
“Ultimately we didn’t go with an alien race because we felt like – no pun intended – that would alienate a lot of people. We wanted to make sure there was a real human connection to that character we have in the game.”
With plenty of humanoid and iconic species to pick from I’m not so sure that’s the case, but what say you, reader? Let us know what you think of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order‘s protagonist in the usual place below!