Tag: Taika Waititi

A new report featuring a throw away line from Deadline, might have dropped some major Star Wars news. The article is about Taika Waititi signing on to direct Klara and the Sun, based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s New York Times bestselling novel, for Sony’s 3000 Pictures. However, that is not the real reason we are reporting on this article.

According to Deadline, Waititi was weighing various options for his next project to direct. Ultimately he decided on the Klara and the Sun option. We all know, Waititi has been working on a script for a new Star Wars film, which by the way, was not announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023. Deadline goes on to drop this little nugget near the end of their article…

As for Star Wars, insiders say he is still excited about the project and committed to direct that next year.

A “commitment” is a pretty solid word to use in an article. Typically Deadline is right on the money with everything they report, and this seems to indicate that someone within the organization, has direct knowledge or contact with Waititi to get that information.

This is all a speculative game though. Even a reliable trade like Deadline has made some mistakes in the past. Very recently Variety interviewed Kathleen Kennedy and during the course of the interview she said that Waititi was writing a Star Wars script by himself, as he prefers it that way. That information flies in the face of the original announcement from three years ago saying that he and Krysty Wilson-Cairns were writing the script together.

Remember, everything about Star Wars films seems to be fluid. Always in motion is the Star Wars! Things change at the drop of a Filoni hat around Lucasfilm. Seeing as how only three new films were announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, and no Celebration planned for 2024, I have my doubts about this news.

In any event, keep it here for the latest rumblings from around the galaxy…

The next Star Wars movie scheduled for the big screen will be directed by Taika Waititi. Theoretically, it is the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale, but “that business doesn’t count”. Taika’s movie is still in the story creation phase. It is very much a mystery to all, except those at Lucasfilm. His movie will be the first Star Wars movie to hit big screens since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, so there is a bit anxiousness from fans to see their favorite franchise where it should be seen.

Thanks to Games Radar, the site sat down with Taika to talk about his role in the upcoming Disney film Lightyear. Of course anytime Star Wars is involved, the questions are naturally going to progress to it. The site asked Taika about his thoughts on Kathleen Kennedy’s latest remarks about the need to move beyond the Skywalker Saga, and to experience new and exciting things in the Star Wars Universe.

“Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand,” he tells us. “I don’t think that I’m any use in the Star Wars universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother.’ That all stands alone, that’s great, though I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world, otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story.”

While a movie about building the Falcon, and hanging out with Chewbacca’s grandmother sounds interesting, Taika is right in that the Star Wars universe needs to expand to stay relevant. There are whole worlds left to discover, new heroes and villains that might not take their fight to a galactic scale event, but are still relevant and exciting to fans of the franchise.

I for one, am excited to see what Waititi comes up with. As for the release date of his movie…currently it does not have one, but Kennedy did indicate that we could expect to see it in 2023. If I were a betting man, 2024 seems more likely.

What do you hope to see from Taika’s Star Wars movie? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.