On Friday, May 24, Lucas — who celebrated his 80th birthday on May 14 — appeared at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival ahead of his honorary Palme d’Or ceremony on May 25. During a conversation at the festival, the filmmaking icon spoke to how some critics of his massively successful space opera franchise have pointed out a perceived lack of diversity in the first six Star Wars films, which Lucas either directed or produced himself.

“They would say, ‘It’s all white men.’ I’d say, it’s not. Most of the people are aliens," he said. "And the idea is you’re supposed to accept people for what they are, whether they’re big and furry or whether they’re green and whatever — the idea is all people are equal.”

Lucas pointed out that in his Star Wars movies, the only characters ever shown on the wrong side of discrimination are robots and droids. “And that was a way of saying, people are always discriminating against something, and sooner or later, that’s what’s going to happen,” he added. “I mean, we’re already starting with AI, saying, ‘Well, we can’t trust those robots.’ ”

The filmmaker said that he never shied from hiring actors of color for his Star Wars projects, between Billy Dee Williams’ role as Lando Calrissian in the original trilogy and Samuel L. Jackson’s Jedi character Mace Windu in the 2000s-era prequel movies.

He even pointed out that each trilogy features strong women leads for protagonists, between Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia and Natalie Portman’s Padme Amidala. “Who do you think the heroes are in these stories? What do you think Princess Leia was? She’s the head of the rebellion," Lucas said. “She’s the one that’s taking this young kid who doesn’t know anything and this boisterous, I-know-everything guy who can’t do anything and trying to save the rebellion with these clowns.”