Before Solo came along and tanked so spectacularly hard that Disney and Lucasfilm completely – and wisely – abandoned plans to release a new Star Wars movie every year, there were already countless filmmakers who’d come and gone from the franchise.
There may be several projects currently in development hailing from notable talents including Taika Waititi and James Mangold, but if history has taught us anything about the Mouse House’s stewardship of a galaxy far, far away on the big screen, it’s not to take anything at face value until cameras are rolling.
One of the many names to have stopped by Star Wars for a cup of coffee was three-time Academy Award winner Guillermo del Toro, who was working on a Jabba the Hutt movie. Sure, it sounds unnecessary, but we’d have loved to see it through his unique perspective, although he admitted to Collider he hasn’t let himself get hung up on missing out.
“We had the rise and fall of Jabba the Hutt, so I was super happy. We were doing a lot of stuff, and then it’s not my property, it’s not my money, and then it’s one of those 30 screenplays that goes away. Sometimes I’m bitter, sometimes I’m not. I always turn to my team and say, “Good practice, guys. Good practice.
We designed a great world. We designed great stuff. We learned.” You can never be ungrateful with life. Whatever life sends you, there’s something to be learned from it. So, you know, I trust the universe, I do. When something doesn’t happen, I go, “Why?” I try to have a dialogue with myself. “Why didn’t it happen?” And the more you swim upstream with the universe, the less you’re gonna realize where you’re going.”
Jabba most definitely didn’t need a standalone feature film, but on the other side of the coin, you’d imagine del Toro would have justified its existence and then some. Maybe he’ll get his shot one day, but for now he’s too busy crafting Netflix’s blockbuster Frankenstein reboot.
