Taika Waititi is coming fresh off his third Oscar nomination, this time for Searchlight’s “Jojo Rabbit,” and Hollywood industry rags are reporting that Lucasfilm and Disney have approached him about directing a future film in the Star Wars galaxy. As an actor, director, and producer, Waititi is one of Hollywood’s busiest, but we hope he finds time for this on his schedule.
Waititi is already familiar with the world of Star Wars, having directed the final episode of Star Wars: The Mandalorian’s debut season. It’s likely that any film he directs would be part of the new Cinematic Universe model of movies being orchestrated in coordination with Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige who is reportedly sharing his creative brain space with the Star Wars galaxy to work on a ‘High Republic Era‘ themed movie.
If it’s not the Feige vision, it could be part of what Rian Johnson (“Knives Out,” “The Last Jedi”) is developing for Star Wars at Lucasfilm. We know it’s not anything from the Game of Thrones producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as they’ve dropped out of their Star Wars trilogy.
Taika Waititi already has a lot on his plate. He’s producing or directing a ton of TV (“What we Do in the Shadows,” “Time Bandits”) and animation (Flash Gordon, Akira). He’s directing another film for Searchlight (now a Disney studio thanks to the Fox purchase) called “Next Goal Wins.” After that he will presumably be busy with a sequel to “Thor: Ragnarok” – “Thor: Love and Thunder.” But after that we hope he’ll find time to bring a little bit of his trademark humorous point of view to the Star Wars galaxy.
Hat tip: THR