Taika Waititi Will Direct and Co-Write a New “Star Wars” Movie

Taika Waititi at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in 2018. Photo by Maria Laura Antonelli/REX/Shutterstock (9877145j)

Taika Waititi still has his hands in the Star Wars universe as he’s set to direct and co-write a new Star Wars film with 1917 scribe Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

Disney made the announcement on Monday and confirmed that a new untitled Star Wars TV series from Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland is still in the works at Disney Plus.

Back in January, it was rumored that Waititi was developing a Star Wars film after he directed the season finale of the Disney Plus Star Wars series The Mandalorian.

When Variety asked Waititia about the project in February he said, “Are there discussions about the ‘Star Wars’ film? Like, yeah, I discussed with my friends in 1996 how cool ‘Star Wars’ was. I think people see me hanging out with people, especially with ‘Star Wars,’ and think I’m having some big discussions about it. I would f—ing love to.…If it was right. I would want to do any kind of movie if it made sense, and if it felt not like career suicide.”

It’s still unclear if this film will be one of Disney’s three untitled Star Wars films that are supposed to be released December 2022, 2024, and 2026, or if Waititi’s project is separate.

This project will be the first official Star Wars feature film to be confirmed after Games of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss turned down their deal to make a series of Star Wars movies last October.