Taika Waititi may be done working with the God of Thunder for the time being, but the director is still aiming to bring his talents to a galaxy far, far away. Following an evening of news that saw two big Star Wars projects canned, fans can take heart that the Thor: Ragnarok director is still hard at work on his own Star Wars project - and not just as director.

Variety reports that, unlike the shelved projects from Patty Jenkins and Kevin Feige, Waititi continues to work on his own Star Wars feature and is aiming to appear in front of the camera in a prominent role, similar to his performance as an imaginary Adolf Hitler in his Oscar-winning film Jojo Rabbit from 2019. Waititi is also no stranger to Star Wars, having been behind the camera on The Mandalorian for Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, as well as lending his voice to the robotic character IG-11, who most recently featured in the Season 3 premiere last week.

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."

Taika Waititi-Blackbeard
Image via HBO Max

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The 'Star Wars' Franchise Is Headed Back to the Big Screen Soon

The Star Wars franchise has prioritised television in the recent past, with shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, as well as upcoming series like The Acolyte and limited series in the forms of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite this, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has previously insisted that feature films was still the number one aim for the company. "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."

Star Wars Celebration, the annual convention for the franchise, takes place in London over the weekend of April 7. Lucasfilm is expected to announce grand plans for the future of Star Wars on the big screen at the event, as well as expected updates for at least four Disney+ series, including the final season of the critically adored Andor.

In the meantime, check out Waititi's interview with Collider when he reveals his favorite Star Wars toys below: