Taika Waititi's Star Wars movie is only entering the genesis of its production, but already looks to be dodging a fatal flaw of Disney's previous output. Since purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney's Star Wars has experienced more ups and downs than Queen Amidala's hairstyle. Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One both released to widespread acclaim, while The Mandalorian has captured hearts on Disney+. Star Wars: The Last Jedi and The Book of Boba Fett courted mixed reactions, and the less said about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the better. Behind the scenes, Star Wars has endured a revolving door of writers and directors amid a backdrop of "creative disagreements" between studio and artist. One man who hasn't yet revolved is Taika Waititi. The Thor: Ragnarok director is currently busy working on an untitled Star Wars movie due for 2023.
One of Disney's biggest Star Wars problems has been a stubborn refusal to let the past die. George Lucas' original trilogy possesses a unique, intangible charm that makes each movie unmistakably "Star Wars" and Disney wisely sought to reignite this sensation in 2015 (almost everyone still hated the prequels back then, remember). Less wisely, Disney's efforts to recreate that old magic have shackled almost every movie and Disney+ release to the Skywalker saga. The Star Wars sequel trilogy is essentially a continuation of the Rebellion vs. the Empire, relying heavily upon legacy characters. Spinoff movies and TV shows, meanwhile, have plugged narrative gaps everywhere from the Clone Wars to Luke's short-lived Jedi academy.
Disney's mistake lies in not yet figuring out how to move beyond the Skywalker saga without losing that coveted Star Wars-y feeling, but Taika Waititi has identified the issue... and promised his movie as the solution. Speaking to GamesRadar, Waititi expressed a desire to move away from the current mentality of revealing the Millennium Falcon's origin or meeting Chewbacca's mother and instead "take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world." In a separate interview with Screen Rant, the director also acknowledged he "wanted to make sure that it feels like a Star Wars film." This is exactly the balance in the Force that has eluded Disney over the past decade - making a movie that bleeds Star Wars through its tone, visuals and themes... not because all the same characters and planets are featured.
Disney picking up the ghost of Star Wars past isn't inherently bad. The sequel trilogy gave fans Kylo Ren and other tried-and-tested ideas from Legends canon, while Rogue One represents the perfect example of enhancing a franchise with untold stories from across the timeline. But Disney's Star Wars also ran headfirst into original trilogy obstacles such as, "How does Palpatine return?" and "Should Luke Skywalker be an absolute dick?" Even more damning, Disney-era Star Wars movies have found themselves caught between creative minds pulling for a new direction (Rian Johnson, Colin Trevorrow, Lord & Miller) and the status quo, with the latter invariably winning. Taika Waititi's stated intention to incorporate completely new characters in a totally removed story solves both problems. No more contrived returns or ruined character expectations, and no destructive backstage conflict between doing something new and doing something not.
The other major drawback of Disney's present approach is risk of repetition. Across screens big and small, Star Wars is exploding and expanding, but there's only so many tales Lucasfilm can cram between existing trilogies. Just look at how Disney+ has completely exhausted Tatooine over the past 3 years, leaving audiences empathizing with Anakin Skywalker over sand. If Star Wars is truly destined to become a multi-platform entity comprising an annual gallery of interconnected movies and TV shows, Taika Waititi is absolutely right - the only way to expand Star Wars is to expand its world, characters and stories first.
