Crazy Rich Asians Jon Chu proposes a Rose Tico series

The mini-revolt by Star Wars fans is still bubbling after the latest episode of the 9-movie space saga was released 10 days ago spilling into a huge PR problem for Disney Studios.

At the center of the controversy is the virtual disappearance of Rose Tico, played by Kelly Marie Tran. Tico was one of main heroes of the previous episode, The Last Jedi, but in the latest chapter, The Rise of Skywalker, she is onscreen only 1 minute and 16 seconds.

Tico's prominence in The Last Jedi was hailed by Asian Americans as the long-awaited arrival of Asians in "the galaxy far, far away," where the storyline takes place. 

Movie director Jon Chu has joined the fray by offering to direct a TV series featuring Rose Tico.

On Friday (Dec 27), the Crazy Rich Asians director took to Twitter to mamke his proposal: “Ok @disneyplus. Put me in coach. Let’s make this series happen. #RoseTicoDeservedBetter @starwars.”

It's ironic it took so long for the franchise to pay some recognition that the series owe so much of its lore and initial storyline to the popular samurai movies of the 1960s. Creator George Lucas admits that he was inspired by Jajpanese director Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortrress and the style of sword-fighting from the samurai in Kurosawa's period flicks.

Disney Plus is the studio's pay-for-view streaming network which already features a Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian and have plans for  a Rogue One prequel series and an Obi-Wan-centered series, both of which feature original Star Wars film actors returning to their roles.

Chu didn't offer any further details but an offer by one of Hollywood's in-demand directors should be taken seriously. Besides the groundbreaking Crazy Rich Asians, his latest project, In the Heights, looks to be another hit. Also among his credits are the moneymaking franchises, G.I. Joe Retaliation, Step up and Now You See Me.

Tico's character was heavily criticized by a small segment of Star War fans who didn't like an Asian woman playing such an important role in a franchise they somehow believe should be populated by strong, white men and princesses that need rescuing. They mounted an intense social media campaign infused with hate and racism forcing Tran to shut down her social media account at one point.

So when Tico's role was seriously reduced in the ninth and final chapter of the space saga, it appeared to fans that the producers and studio were caving to the unwarranted criticism.

In such a diverse universe, one would think there would be room for an Asian or two considering much of the lore for the initial Star Wars movies were co-opted from Japanese samurai movies, from the use of The Force, costumes and style of swordfighting. George Lucas, who created the Star Wars story, admitted that he stole from Japanese director Akira Kurosawa and his Japanese period film The Hidden Fortress and other samurai films popular in the 1960s.

Chris Terrio, co-screenplay writer of The Rise of Skywalker, tried to temper the rising controversy by responding to the Rose Tico defenders in interviews with several publications. 

Well, first of all, J.J. and I adore Kelly Marie Tran. One of the reasons that Rose has a few less scenes than we would like her to have has to do with the difficulty of using Carrie’s footage in the way we wanted to. We wanted Rose to be the anchor at the rebel base who was with Leia. We thought we couldn’t leave Leia at the base without any of the principals who we love, so Leia and Rose were working together. As the process evolved, a few scenes we’d written with Rose and Leia turned out to not meet the standard of photorealism that we’d hoped for. Those scenes unfortunately fell out of the film. The last thing we were doing was deliberately trying to sideline Rose. We adore the character, and we adore Kelly – so much so that we anchored her with our favorite person in this galaxy, General Leia.

Terrio's explanation doesn't seem adequate enough considering the high level of special effects used in the movie, but it is the only explanation so far. If a studio can create  a universe where all kinds of aliens can co-exist and travel to distant planets in minutes, it seems that it could overcome this technical glitch.

Neither Disney Studios or J.J. Abrams, director for The Rise of Skywalker, has responded to all the hoopla surrounding the Rose Tico controversy. If Disney though the fanboys' trolling was intense, they would be wise to not anger the Asian American online army.