J.J. Abrams added three new female characters in “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens“, and it seems the director would be open to having a woman write or direct for the franchise in the future.

During an interview with Nerdist, Abrams shared his interest in having Ava DuVernay contribute to a future installment of “Star Wars.”

“To me the knee-jerk reaction, if I had to, is Ava DuVernay, who I think would just kill it,” he said. “And she is as much a fan of genre movies, and hearing her talk not just ‘Star Wars’, but hearing her talk about those kinds of films is evidence that she would just kill it.”

The “Star Wars” director/co-writer credited DuVernay’s directorial work on “Selma” as a testament to her story-telling abilities.

“And when you look at her work in ‘Selma’, which was as well-told and as sophisticated and humane a film as I think has come out in the last decade, if she can do that story that well, there’s no question she would kill this movie.”

Abrams’ comments didn’t go unnoticed. DuVernay tweeted her response to his comments on Wednesday:

Check out more of J.J. Abrams interview in the clip here.

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