Taika Waititi’s ‘Star Wars’ movie is on hold after 6 years in development
Taika Waititi’s long-rumored ‘Star Wars’ film is officially delayed. The director shared the news in an interview with Inverse published on October 18 while promoting his upcoming film ‘Klara and the Sun.’ He noted that the ‘Star Wars’ production is currently on hiatus while he focuses on another film with the same screenwriter, stating that they are “going to actually put it on ice.” However, he did save a bit of good news for fans by revealing, “Ice ages do come to an end.”
The screenwriter is Tony McNamara, who has earned Oscar nominations for ‘The Favourite’ and ‘Poor Things,’ wrote the script for ‘Cruella,’ and created ‘The Great.’ Waititi said that he has around four other films trying to make, including a ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ movie and ‘We’re Wolves,’ which will be the sequel to ‘What We Do in the Shadows.’ When asked about the new project with McNamara, he double-checked with his publicist and shared nothing else.
Lucasfilm announced the film on May 4, 2020 (Star Wars Day), just several months after ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ ended the Skywalker saga. The film was to be directed and co-written by Waititi and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who worked on ‘1917.’ Waititi was not a stranger to the ‘Star Wars’ universe, as he directed the Season 1 finale for Disney+’s ‘The Mandalorian’ and provided the voice for the droid IG-11. He is also Oscar-nominated for ‘Jojo Rabbit’ and has a ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ credit on his resumé. Notably, Wilson-Cairns exited the project in 2023. At Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy revealed that McNamara was now writing the film so Waititi could focus on directing. Kennedy also told Screen Rant that “Taika is on Taika time.”
In January 2026, Kennedy left her post, and in her exit interview, she revealed that Taika had submitted a script that she found “hilarious and great.” She also noted that the project was currently ongoing and that although its fate was not in her hands, the film would continue to be made. Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan were then named Lucasfilm co-presidents. At the Sundance Film Festival later that month, where Waititi starred in the children’s adventure comedy ‘Fing!’ as the villain, he spoke exclusively to Variety about his plans for the ‘Star Wars’ film. He said that the project would “harness a little bit more of the fun from the original films.” This was nine months before he confirmed the hold to Inverse.
The ‘Star Wars’ film is just the latest in a line of officially announced but ultimately canceled film projects. Besides the trilogy helmed by Rian Johnson (‘The Last Jedi’) that was announced in 2017, there was also another ‘Star Wars’ film promised by the creators of ‘Game of Thrones,’ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who were set to begin their work in 2018. Waititi’s attention has since turned to his upcoming film ‘Klara and the Sun,’ an adaptation of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s book, for which he wrote the screenplay with Dahvi Waller. The film is set to hit U.S. theaters on October 23 via Sony’s Columbia Pictures.
