While Taika Waititi is still hard at work on his untitled, not-yet-dated “Star Wars” project according to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, she says the writer-director is pacing himself “a little slow.”
“He is working away,” Kennedy told TheWrap at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London over the weekend. “He is just a little slow, but he’s working away. And he’s very busy.”
Lucasfilm first announced Waititi would be directing and co-writing a film set in a galaxy far, far away on Star Wars Day in 2020, but little has been said about the project since.
Waititi’s presence at this year’s Star Wars Celebration hasn’t been felt so far, though his absence has been easy to miss given the myriad of new projects LucasFilm has announced to be in the tank. On Friday, the company said Daisy Ridley would return as Rey in a new film, helmed by “Ms. Marvel” director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and set 15 years after the events of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Additionally, “Logan” director James Mangold and “The Mandalorian” co-creator Dave Filoni have each been tagged to direct their own feature film. All three of the newly announced films will take place in various eras across the franchise’s newly updated canonical timeline.
When asked whether Waititi’s project fell within this timeline, Kennedy told TheWrap it was measured.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say what the timeline is but yes, it falls within the storytelling that we’re doing and he is working away,” she said.
Disney and Lucasfilm have yet to assign release dates for any upcoming “Star Wars” films. After releasing five films in five years from 2015 to 2019, the company has slowed its pace with its big screen productions in favor of its TV hits like “The Mandalorian.” Lucasfilm’s next slated live-action project “Ahsoka,” a “Mando” spinoff series starring Rosario Dawson as the titular fan favorite, is set to release on Disney+ in August.
