Star Wars has a bad habit of announcing projects that never go anywhere. Over the years Kathleen Kennedy has unveiled many movies with great fanfare, given rough release dates, and then… radio silence.
Years pass, and inevitably there’s a low-key press release that creative differences or scheduling conflicts have come up. Movies from Guillermo del Toro, Josh Trank, David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, JJ Abrams, and Kevin Feige are lying in the Star Wars trashcan.
Some of these never reached the scripting stage, but others seem to have gotten close to pre-production before the hammer came down. Beyond these are many projects whose status is in limbo, as opposed to the three movies announced in 2023 that have release dates.
So, let’s look at each of them and decide how likely it is that they’ll ever reach a screen.
Lando
Solo: A Star Wars Story is something of a narrative dead-end. It seems unlikely we’ll ever see Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo again, the dangling Darth Maul plot thread remains unresolved, and the future of Qi’Ra and the Crimson Dawn has been relegated to comic books rather than live-action. But there’s at least one green shoot poking through the rubble.
In December 2020 Lucasfilm announced Lando, a Disney Plus show following Donald Glover’s younger version of the character. Nothing more was heard until July 2023, when director Justin Simien departed the project and Donald Glover and his brother Stephen were confirmed as showrunners. Earlier this month we also learned that Lando had been upgraded from streaming to a theatrical release.
None of that means it’s a done deal, but the future looks pretty bright for Lando right now.
Chances of it ever coming out: 8/10.
A Droid Story
Animated movie A Droid Story was also announced in December 2020, putting C-3PO and R2-D2 in the spotlight. The official synopsis says:
“This epic journey will introduce us to a new hero guided by our most iconic duo on a secret mission known only to them. What could possibly go wrong?”
The project was being developed by ILM and Lucasfilm Animation, though it’s been three years and all we have is a logo. C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels posted an image of him in a mocap suit to his Instagram account in January 2022 which may be connected to A Droid Story, though there’s no confirmation one way or the other.
The absence of a major creative figure directing or writing (and it being computer animated) should eventually work in A Droid Story’s favor, as it can be worked on when ILM and Lucasfilm Animation have the time and resources between other projects.
Chances of it ever coming out: 7/10.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
In 2019 Kathleen Kennedy set the Star Wars fandom alight by appearing to confirm that a Knights of the Old Republic movie set in the franchise’s distant past was being worked on. In an interview with MTV, she said:
“You know, we talk about that all the time. Yes, we are developing something to look at.”
Further information has been scarce, though Avatar and Shutter Island writer Laeta Kalogridis has been mentioned in connection with the project. Beyond that, the 2023 Star Wars Celebration unveiled a new timeline, with “The Old Republic” appearing between “Dawn of the Jedi” and “The High Republic”.
We suspect James Mangold’s “Dawn of the Jedi” movie may have temporarily paused Knights of the Old Republic as the two projects would be broadly similar. That said this can be kept on the back-burner at Lucasfilm as the setting shouldn’t conflict with any other story in the franchise. We suspect there will eventually be some kind of live-action Knights of the Old Republic project, but it may be far, far away.
Chances of it ever coming out: 7/10.
Rogue Squadron
Patty Jenkins was a hot property after Wonder Woman and her Star Wars project Rogue Squadron was unveiled with an official teaser showing her passion for the project. Lucasfilm promised:
“Lock S-foils in attack position: Rogue Squadron arrives in theaters Christmas 2023!”
Needless to say, that isn’t happening. In December 2022 Jenkins confirmed she’d left the project, but that she’d since gotten a new deal and claimed Rogue Squadron “has been in active development ever since”. Even so, we’ve heard little about what’s actually happening. At the 2023 Celebration Kennedy hinted that Rogue Squadron could be reworked as a Disney Plus show but, with Disney wanting to scale back original streaming content, it’s probably not looking good.
Chances of it ever coming out: 3/10.
Untitled Taika Waititi project
Taika Waititi has already directed an episode of The Mandalorian and, after Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit it was easy to see why Lucasfilm wanted to tap his talents for a Star Wars movie. This was officially unveiled on Star Wars Day 2020, along with confirmation that 1917 writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns was on script duty.
It doesn’t appear to have gotten any further since then. In September 2023 Waititi referenced the project while presenting an award to fellow director Shawn Levy, noting that that Levy is also working on a Star Wars movie. Waititi said: “Unlike me I hope he manages to finish a script for that.” Back in 2022 Waititi also hinted at script problems, saying to the New York Times:
“I’m trying to write the Star Wars idea at the moment. I’ve got to see how that goes, because once I submit it, that might determine when it gets made or if it gets made, even.”
That doesn’t bode well, and the complete absence of Waititi’s project from the line-up at the Star Wars Celebration doesn’t bode well. On top of that, Waititi’s next confirmed movie is Klara and the Sun and he’s listed as the director on many other upcoming projects.
Chances of it ever coming out: 5/10.
Untitled Shawn Levy project
Shawn Levy is currently hard at work on Deadpool 3 and his Star Wars movie is, in his own words, “in pretty early development”. He also outlined his ambitions:
“My goal is to make a Star Wars movie that is like a lot of my movies, which is visual spectacle and a healthy dose of wish fulfillment, levity, and big heart.”
Little else is known, though Levy will only start work on it once Deadpool 3 and the final season of Stranger Things is complete. Though we don’t have much else to go on, this at least sounds promising, though Levy has admitted he’s taken into account the many other directors whose Star Wars movies have gone nowhere:
“I’m very aware of the ratio of filmmakers who get to the starting line. … I’m a student of the business, and so of course I note that. But here’s my attitude: I have this golden ticket into a galaxy far away, and I’m going to devote myself to developing a screenplay that gives me the privilege of making this movie.”
Chances of it ever coming out: 7/10
Untitled Rian Johnson trilogy
Back in 2017, Lucasfilm was so excited about The Last Jedi they announced before its release that Rian Johnson would soon be getting his very own Star Wars trilogy. The profoundly negative fan reaction to the movie and their subsequent catastrophic course correction in The Rise of Skywalker seems to have made them think twice.
Johnson has now achieved critical and financial success with the Glass Onion franchise, and impressed with Peacock show Poker Face. Despite this, Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy isn’t necessarily dead. Johnson has confirmed he still occasionally speaks with Kennedy about the project, but even he admits the chances are now slim. Speaking with Insider, he said:
“It wouldn’t be the end of the world for anyone, I think. But I would be sad. I love the world. I love the people. I love ‘Star Wars’ fans. I love the passion of how they engage in it, there’s nothing like telling a story in this world and then experiencing people truly connecting to it and letting you know that. It’s extraordinary.
After the hate he received for The Last Jedi, we can’t blame him for sticking with Benoit Blanc over Luke Skywalker:
Chances of it ever coming out: 1/10
As always, the future of Star Wars remains in flux. We’ll keep this list updated if anything changes, but our advice is to only start getting hyped when shooting has officially begun. Even then, perhaps it’s best to wait for a trailer.
Published: Sep 28, 2023 05:34 am