Lucasfilm has announced that Taika Waititi has signed on to write and direct a new Star Wars feature film. Joining him as a writer is Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who was nominated for an Oscar for her work on 1917.
In addition, the studio confirmed that Leslye Headland is also developing her own live-action Star Wars series for Disney +.
Rumors have been floating around since January that the studio was courting Waititi to develop his own project. The project is the latest on the New Zealand director’s plate: He’s currently at work writing and directing Thor: Love and Thunder, as well as a sports comedy, Next Goal Wins.
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Waititi already has Star Wars on his resume: He voiced IG-11 in The Mandalorian, and directed the finale of the show’s first season, “Redemption.” There’s no word on casting (please be an IG-11 origin story?), when or where it’ll be set, or when it’ll be released. What we do know is that this will be a theatrical film, rather than a Disney + project.
Word broke at the end of April that Headland was developing her own Star Wars project, a reportedly “female-centric” live-action project that’s set apart from the existing entries in the franchise.
This new project adds to the growing number of films and TV shows that Lucasfilm is working on in the post-Skywalker era of the franchise. Already, shows about Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi are in the works, as well as a second and third season for The Mandalorian. While theatrical films are currently “paused”, Rian Johnson, Kevin Feige, and J.D. Dillard all have film projects that are in development.
