Taika Waititi denies reports he's in talks to direct an upcoming Star Wars movie. Though the Skywalker saga concluded last year with the release of The Rise of Skywalker, the galaxy far, far away still has a future on the big screen via three mystery films that will hit theaters in December 2022, 2024, and 2026. Lucasfilm is still ironing out what they want to do with those projects, which is why so few details about the movies are available. Rumors suggest the movies could be set in either the High Republic or Old Republic eras, but nothing's been confirmed.
There's also considerable interest in who will helm the new Star Wars movies. After the success of The Mandalorian, many fans have expressed a desire to see directors from the show make the leap to films. That appeared to be in the cards when it was reported last month that Mandalorian season 1 helmsman Waititi had been approached to develop a Star Wars movie. Several viewers were excited by that prospect, but based on Waititi's comments, those alleged discussions haven't gotten very far.
In Waititi's interview at the Oscars luncheon with ET, the topic of Star Wars invariably came up. In his trademark manner, the Jojo Rabbit director brushed aside the recent rumors:
“Listen, what does ‘approached’ even mean? I’ve seen Star Wars, that’s about as far as it got.”
There's always the possibility Waititi is simply playing coy, dancing around the question in his own way until Disney makes an official announcement. But even if he did outright confirm Star Wars talks, it would be quite a while before he'd have time for the film. Fresh off his Oscar win for Best Adapted Screenplay, Waititi is keeping busy as ever; he's finishing up sports film Next Goal Wins (expected this year) and then will jump back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Thor: Love and Thunder. He may very well have had brief conversations with Lucasfilm about a Star Wars movie, with the intention to revisit the topic at a later date when he's free. But that's so far off (it would be impractical for Waititi to direct the 2022 movie) any conversations between the various parties might not be serious yet.
It's understandable why Lucasfilm would be interested in Waititi. The director's demonstrated an ability to work within the big Hollywood studio system while still maintaining his unique sensibilities as an auteur. Considering Lucasfilm's previous troubles with creatives over the years, getting someone who's achieved success with the Mouse House's tentpole properties is appealing. On his Mandalorian episode, Waititi combined humor, action, and emotion in a compelling package. It would certainly be cool to see what he could do with a Star Wars movie, and hopefully one day he'll get that opportunity. For now, fans will just have to wait.
Source: ET