At Least Two Star Wars Movies Axed, Leading to a Lack of Variety (So Says Variety)

By Adam Pawlus — Tuesday, March 7, 2023

In 2013 if you told me that Lucasfilm had planned a Star Wars movie and shelved it, I would be incredibly sad.  I liked the prequels just fine.  I have no complaints about the Ewok movies.  They were fine, they were fun.  But after 5 movies in 5 years, I have learned that when Lucasfilm says "you know what, nevermind" that it's probably a good idea to say "yeah, yeah, you aren't wrong."   (But still, if you liked or loved 4 out of 5 that's a pretty good batting average!)

Over at Variety, the story is explained by the headline  ‘Star Wars’ Shakeup: Kevin Feige and Patty Jenkins Movies Shelved, Taika Waititi Looking to Star in His Own Film (EXCLUSIVE).  Basically, the big news? No news.

From the article:

As for Rian Johnson, the in-demand filmmaker has made no secret that he still wants to make the “Star Wars” movies he first announced in 2017 before the release of his film “The Last Jedi,” and Kennedy has been clear that Lucasfilm still wants him, too. But Johnson’s immediate priorities — continuing his Benoit Blanc movies with Daniel Craig for Netflix and Season 2 of hit Peacock series “Poker Face” with Natasha Lyonne — will keep him occupied for the foreseeable future.

I can confirm, we're watching Poker Face here at GHHQ and it would be a delight to see any of those people involved with whatever Star Wars are on deck some day.  (Having said that I'd probably bet on money we won't be seeing those.)

Other highlights:

And although Lucasfilm has yet to officially confirm it, sources say the studio is committed to a “Star Wars” movie from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a two-time Oscar-winning documentarian (“Saving Face,” “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness”), who made her live-action narrative debut with two episodes of 2022’s “Ms. Marvel” for Disney+. Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen”) and Justin Britt-Gibson (“Counterpart”) were attached in October to write the script for that movie.

And also:

Whether one of those films, or some as-yet-unannounced project, lands at the front of the line has been a fiercely guarded secret at Lucasfilm, but sources say the studio will begin to unveil its plans for the future of “Star Wars” cinema at the Star Wars Celebration convention in London the weekend of April 7.

So really, we don't know anything new here.  But hopefully The Mandalorian will move the plot forward in a few hours, and The Bad Batch will... something.   But also many of us are older than we've ever been (and now we're getting older,) so maybe we'll just cling to our VHS tapes and our retro Kenner figures while the kids figure out what they want.

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