One of the newest characters that will play a big role in the upcoming "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the droid BB-8. The spherical droid has been pushed by Disney and LucasFilm all over their marketing campaign, and according to a new report from the Mirror, BB-8 is in fact a female and that this is important to the film.
"There's never been a strong female robot in any 'Star Wars' film, JJ was determined to make BB-8 cute and strong – and female," states the report.
This is further pointed out in the promotional trailers for the film as there are occassions where Rey (Daisy Ridley) calls BB-8 as a "she" instead of "he" or "it." This would be a gender contrast to how Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) referred to R2-D2 as a "he" in the original trilogy.
It is also stated in the report that BB-8's gender will play a pivotal part in the film, although it is unclear how pivotal this will be or if the statement was merely a part of their campaign to let BB-8 appeal to girls as a means of welcoming younger women to the "Star Wars" franchise.
As noted in a report from Cinema Blend, BB-8's gender may have nothing of an impact on the film's overall plot. It may be referenced once or twice and may even be played for jokes, but how it will affect the story in general has yet to be seen.
More importantly, however, it is pointed out that the source is not directly coming from Disney or LucasFilm, which means there is the likelihood that it is false. After all, both Kathleen Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams referred to the droid during the "Star Wars Celebration" event as either "it" or by its name, BB-8.
Whether or not BB-8 is female will be discovered when "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens in theaters this Dec. 18.
