It feels like we haven’t had much in the way of news from that galaxy far, far away, so tonight we have a round-up of stuff you may have missed over the festive period and new year.
first up, something I’d love to see, John Wick director Chad Stahelski really wants to make a Star Wars movie!
John Wick meets Star Wars
“I’m a Star Wars guy, like, the first Star Wars changed my life,” Stahelski tells Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz, “Maybe someday out there. Disney, if you’re listening, hit me in a couple of years and I have a couple of takes for Star Wars.
While Stahelski has his hands full with John Wick spinoffs, possible sequels, TV and Manga projects, he could see Star Wars in his future: “I’d take a swing at that. I challenge you … see if Disney could survive me,” he added.
Having him direct a Star Wars movie set during the Old Republic or a golden age of Jedi past or future, would be a great fit for his energetic, fast-paced action style; something I’d be very much on board with as, I’m sure, would many other fans.
He’s not the only big director out there who would love a crack at that galaxy though.
Godzilla Minus One director wants to go to the galaxy far, far away
Godzilla Minus One director Takashi Yamazaki, much like Stahelski, credits Star Wars for his career now and would love to get involved in the universe George Lucas carved out all those years ago: “I watched Star Wars, and that’s how I ended up being a filmmaker,” he said, “I’m really hoping I will get a call and they will bring me on Star Wars.”
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Having adored Godzilla Minus One, I would have no hesitation giving Yamazaki a Star Wars project; by using great characters, a epic story and through some of the best FX work I’ve seen in years, he make Godzilla Minus One a best of 2023 list topper for almost everyone that saw it, young and old, and with that type of film-making applied to Star Wars, we could really have something special.
Guillermo Del Toro and David S Goyer were developing a Jabba the Hutt Star Wars gangster movie
So, with two of the most exciting directors working today both saying they want a Star Wars project, we know Disney will almost certainly ignore both, so what have we coming up in Star Wars?
Well, it’s actually pretty busy at the moment for our favorite galaxy with two new live-action series (The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew) and two returning animated shows (The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi) on the horizon for 2024 but what is the state-of-play on the big screen for the franchise?
Filoni overseeing all of Star Wars, developing new movie
Well, first up, with our favorite Star Wars writer-producer-director Dave Filoni having recently been promoted to chief creative officer of Lucasfilm, we can expect to see movement on his first big-screen outing very soon. Expected to wrap up the storylines of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Book of Boba Fett and the upcoming Skeleton Crew, Filoni’s movie is expected to be a loose adaptation of Timonthy Zahn’s wonderful Heir to the Empire book series: “Now I’m what’s called chief creative officer of Lucasfilm,” Filoni tells says, “In the past, in a lot of projects I would be brought into, I would see it after it had already developed a good ways.
“In this new role, it’s opened up to basically everything that’s going on. When we’re planning the future of what we’re doing now, I’m involved at the inception phase.”
Filoni came into Star Wars with The Clone Wars under the guiding eye of creator George Lucas and soon became the new Star Wars master; going on with animated shows Rebels and Resistance, he made the leap into live-action with The Mandalorian along with Jon Favreau, then moving on to The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, however his new role means that Star Wars will have a more singular vision going forward, making him the Kevin Feige of Star Wars, answering only to Kathleen Kennedy.
Next era of Star Wars movies to be connected in more ways than may seem obvious at first
We’re hearing rumours that his movie will act as the fourth season of The Mandalorian and will be the next big screen Star Wars adventure we see. That’s pretty exciting news.
But what comes after?
Waititi done with Marvel, moves to Star Wars
Thor Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit director Taika Waititi thinks he is done at Marvel (look, Thor: Love and Thunder was a travesty!) but he wants to focus on other projects he’s committed to, including Star Wars.
Asked if he’s developing a fifth Thor movie with Marvel, Waititi said: “I know that I won’t be involved.”
“I’m going to concentrate on these other films that I’ve signed on for.”
One of these is his Star Wars project: “It’s still marinating. I’ve been writing it… I want to capture that joy and entertainment of those early ones, like The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, so I’m trying to figure that out. It’ll happen.”
More John Wick spinoffs, a High Table series and – yes! – an anime are in development!
I love Waititi’s work on his own IPs – Jojo Rabbit was a masterpiece but I have to say I’m not a fan of either of his Thor entries as he seemed too focused on making them feel like live-action Looney Tunes cartoons, rather than making them fit into the wider MCU and Love and Thunder, as said earlier, is a terrible, terrible movie. This all makes me nervous about what he has in store for Star Wars (the chances of him making a movie as good as Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi are almost non-existent), so I hope the Force gives us Jojo Rabbit Waititi and not Thor Waititi.
Lastly, we have the return of Rey Skywalker, with Daisy Ridley stepping back up to give us the New Jedi Order.
A female story-shaper… at last? Em…
In a recent interview, writer/director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, an activist documentary filmmaker with very little movie experience, has spoke about her first foray into Star Wars, saying: “I’m very thrilled about the project because I feel what we’re about to create is something very special. We’re in 2024 now, and it’s about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away.”
And, while more than anything, I want a good Star Wars movie – not least because Ridley deserves a better send-off than she got in the sequel trilogy – I feel that with directors Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Rachel Morrison all delivering some of the best Star Wars in recent memory in shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Mandalorian and given the fact that Star Wars is run by Kathleen Kennedy, Obaid-Chinoy’s comment ignores the great female storytellers that Star Wars has – and always has had.
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But, anyway, what can we expect from the movie? Well, Ridley has spoken about the script, teasing: “I’m very excited. The story is really cool. I’m waiting to read a script because, obviously, I don’t have any other updates. It’s not what I expected, but I’m very excited.”
While I am no fan of the second two movies in the sequel trilogy, I am a big fan of Ridley and Rey, so I hope that she gets a suitable movie/story/trilogy to do her character justice but, I cannot tell a lie, my Spider-sense is telling me that this movie, at least with these creatives, might not even happen… but I could be wrong.
Anyways, it seems that, while many like to see Star Wars is dead on the regular, the very opposite is true with a slew of shows, games and (hopefully) movies all on the horizon.
The Force is strong with this one.
Finally! Star Wars and Marvel Disney+ content getting physical releases!
Sources: Slashfilm, Collider, Insider, Vanity Fair, The Hot Mic, Disney, CNN
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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