It’s May the 4th, and Disney wants to make all your dreams come true: Taika Waititi is officially making a new Star Wars movie. As confirmed by Disney and LucasFilm, the Kiwi filmmaker, fresh from helming the final episode of The Mandalorian Season 1, will be cooking up something else in the galaxy far, far away for the big screen – adding to his long, long list of upcoming projects.
Details on what exactly Waititi’s project will be are currently scarce – it’s only confirmed that it’s going to be a cinematic release, rather than Disney+. Waititi will direct the film, and co-write alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns – the screenwriter who co-wrote 1917 with Sam Mendes, and also worked on Edgar Wright’s upcoming Last Night In Soho. Quite when Waititi will find the time to make a Star Wars movie remains to be seen – he’s currently in post-production on football drama Next Goal Wins, is gearing up pre-production on Thor: Love And Thunder, and was recently announced to be directing two Roald Dahl projects for Netflix. He’s also got the Time Bandits TV series on his upcoming schedule.
As it stands, Disney has blocked out Star Wars release dates for December 2022, 2024, and 2026 – though it hasn’t been confirmed what those projects will be. For now, Rian Johnson’s long-mooted trilogy is still on the table, though there hasn’t been an update on that in a while. Meanwhile, the previously-announced trilogy by Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss fell through. Elsewhere, Kevin Feige is said to be working on an upcoming Star Wars movie as producer – though it’s unknown if this connects at all with Waititi’s plans.
Still, based on his The Mandalorian episode, the Star Wars universe should prove just as fertile a playground for Taika’s unique sensibilities as the Marvel universe. May the Force be with him.