Star Wars projects are delayed and canceled so often that it’s a delightful surprise when one arrives on time. TV shows, standalone movies, and entire cinematic trilogies can go from development to cancellation with little fanfare, so fans often don’t put too much stock in what’s on the docket for the franchise’s future.
One Star Wars movie in particular has been in development for so long that fans may have forgotten it’s happening. But a new writer may give the movie the kickstart it needs... or at least drag it out of development hell.
On May 4, 2020, Lucasfilm announced it was developing a new Star Wars movie to be directed by Thor: Ragnarok’s Taika Waititi, and co-written by Waititi and Last Night in Soho’s Kristy Wilson-Cairns. Waititi seemed like a good fit, given that he directed The Mandalorian Season 1 finale. But for years after that announcement, every update from Lucasfilm boiled down to “it’s still in the works, we’re just waiting for the script, but we’re excited!”
The voice behind IG-11 is still getting a Star Wars movie of his own.
But no concrete updates emerged as 2020 turned into 2021 and 2021 turned into 2022. At Star Wars Celebration Europe in 2023, Kathleen Kennedy announced Wilson-Cairns had left the project, and Waititi was writing the script on his own.
At that point, the never-ending scripting process became a running joke. Later that year, Waititi prefaced presenting fellow filmmaker Shawn Levy with an award by accurately predicting he’d take on a Star Wars movie next, saying, “unlike me, there’s hope he actually manages to finish the script for that.”
Finally, five years after the project was announced, Waititi’s off the hook for a script. At this year’s Star Wars Celebration Japan, Kennedy announced playwright and screenwriter Tony McNamara would take over writing the film, leaving Waititi to focus on directing. McNamara is best known as the writer behind Oscar-winning movies Poor Things and The Favourite, but he also created the Hulu series The Great. McNamara does have experience with big franchise movies as well, as he penned the Disney prequel Cruella.
The Great creator Tony McNamara is taking on Star Wars.
Looking at Waititi’s schedule, this looks like just the break he needs. He’s currently working on the upcoming sci-fi novel adaptation Klara and the Sun, and the list of other movies he plans to make is an incredibly long one that ranges from an Akira adaptation to a Flash Gordon reboot to a werewolf sequel to What We Do in the Shadows called We’re Wolves.
Hopefully, sharing the load with McNamara gives Waititi the wiggle room he needs to actually make headway on development, while McNamara’s writing style means we’ll still see the dark humor and self-aware storytelling Waititi has become known for. And maybe this movie will actually, finally get a proper update one of these years.
