While Taika Waititi is busy promoting two Disney films—Lightyear and Thor: Love and Thunder—the writer-director is also gearing up to work on Star Wars with a fresh approach. Luckily, LucasFilm head Kathleen Kennedy is looking to build "a whole new saga," and Waititi is the man best suited for the job.
Waititi previously told Total Film that he doesn't want to direct a film with pre-existing characters and plot lines.
"Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand. 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."
Star Wars has shifted away from movies and toward television in recent years, most recently with the premiere of the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series on Disney+, but Kennedy told Total Film that the big screen remains a priority for the franchise. "As we leave the saga, we have all this great, exciting work happening on the television side that informs so much about where we’re going. We want to be very intentional about that," Kennedy shared, adding that they have great talent working on the next Star Wars film to ensure it comes out with a "bang."
With Disney+ episodes like The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lucasfilm has already begun to diverge from the originals, drawing inspiration from the first three installments while also building a new backstory. Waititi also has a history with the Star Wars world, having voiced the Mandalorian character IG-11 and directed an episode of Season 1 of the show. And whether it's the comedic turnaround of Ragnarok or the way Waititi wants to elevate the romance in Love and Thunder, the writer-director has already proven with his Thor films that he knows how to turn renowned franchises on their heads to explore new things about them.
Since the release of The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, there hasn't been a film from the Star Wars galaxy. But while there is no official release date for the film, Kennedy did say that it will be released in 2023, so if nothing changes, we don't much longer to wait to see Waititi's vision come to life.