Comic Con 2015: Star Wars 7 director JJ Abrams promises opportunities for non-white actors in The Force Awakens

'First, I want to say: go, Asians'

JJ Abrams on the set of Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Imagenet)

While Star Wars may be one of the most popular film franchises ever, it has often come under criticism for its lack of diversity.

In the original trilogy, the three main characters – Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Carrie Fischer’s Princess Leia and Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker – were all white.

JJ Abrams on the other hand has often been praised for bringing diversity to his movies, as pointed out by two young Asian fans at the San Diego Comic Con.

They seized the opportunity to ask whether the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens would take inspiration from the diverse cast of Star Trek?

“First, I want to say: go, Asians,” the director joked. “I’m not casting the movies that are coming up but if I was I would cast them as only Asian. I think you’ll see there are Asians in this film.”

He then went on to talk about John Boyega’s leading character, Fin: “We didn’t write Fin to be any colour or anyone to be any colour,” he added, referring to John Boyega’s character in the film. “We just cast the movie.”

Elsewhere on the Star Wars panel a behind-the-scenes clip was shown that gave us out first look at Leia and Luke Skywalker while also confirming that Simon Pegg will be in the film.

Read our full rundown of what went on here.