The future of Star Wars on the big screen is currently shrouded in mystery, but Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy has recently confirmed that the next film will be directed by Taika Waititi.
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Speaking to Total Film, Kennedy confirmed various reports that the next film slated to release under the Star Wars banner would be Waititi’s currently unknown project. Kennedy went on to reveal that they are currently aiming to have it release sometime in “late 2023,” with no official date set as of yet.
“Yeah. Well, not 2023, but late 2023,” Kennedy said of the project. “We haven’t locked anything in.”
Kennedy also briefly touched on the future of Star Wars films, noting that tons of projects have been “in movement all along,” and that the folks behind-the-scenes are aware that a new saga must be created sometime in the future.
“Of course, they’ve been in movement all along,” said Kennedy. “As we leave the saga, we have all this great, exciting work happening on the television side that informs so much about where we’re going. We want to be very intentional about that. And we have great talent that we’re working with – people who care so deeply about what the next iteration of Star Wars is and about getting people back into movie theatres, so we can really come out with a bang. That’s important to us … Oh, yes. We need to create a whole new saga. That takes a lot. There’s a lot of conversation around that.”
Not too much is known about Waititi’s planned Star Wars film, although the director did note last year that he’d already mapped out what the story for the film will be. Waititi is no stranger to the world of Star Wars, having directed an episode of The Mandalorian and having also lent his voice to the series, playing the droid IG-11.
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The future of Star Wars films has been a hot topic of conversation as of late, especially due to the rise in popularity of the many Disney+ television series currently in the works. As far as films go, the only two films currently in the works for Star Wars are Waititi’s movie, and the Rogue Squadron film that director Patty Jenkins is set to film at an unknown time in the future. A planned trilogy from Rian Johnson had also been announced, but seems to be on the backburner as of now.