There’s one thing that’s always bugged us about Princess Leia, and it’s the whole “princess” part. No, we’re not going to go on some bitter screed against the very idea of princesses, this is more of a semantics argument. After all, if Leia was a princess, and the king and queen died (as they did in Episode IV), shouldn’t she have technically been a queen throughout the majority of the original Star Wars trilogy?
Then again, if her planet no longer exists then maybe that royal title was respectfully retired, but even if that was the case… then why was she still a princess? Isn’t that a very specific word with a very specific meaning? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to give Leia a title that’s a little more… general?
It turns that J.J. Abrams couldn’t agree more. The director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has just announced that Princess Leia is now being referred to as “General Leia.”
Related: Is Disney’s Retirement of ‘Slave Leia’ Merchandise a Good Thing?
“She’s referred to as General,“ J.J. Abrams told EW. “But … there’s a moment in the movie where a character sort of slips and calls her ‘Princess.'”
We certainly hope there’s a story to that moment when someone calls her “princess.” How great would it be if General Leia just had the offending party fired or, better yet, if she force choked the hell out of them?
In any case, we here at Crave would like to congratulate General Leia on her well-deserved promotion. She has gone from the princess of a planet that doesn’t even exist to an officially recognized leader based on her own merits, not her birthright.
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
