After six years of will-they-won’t-they, Taika Waititi has finally given a straight answer about his Star Wars movie: it is officially “on ice.” The Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit director delivered the blunt update while speaking to Inverse during a press junket for his new film, Klara and the Sun.
Asked directly about the state of the project he has been developing with writer Tony McNamara, Waititi did not dress it up. “I hate to break this to you, but we’re going to actually put it on ice and we’re working on a different thing together,” he said. Pressed further, he added: “I don’t even know how to dress it up or make it even vague.”
Six Years of False Starts
The road to this point has been long. Rumours that Disney and Lucasfilm had approached the What We Do in the Shadows filmmaker for a Star Wars project stretch back to January 2020, with an official announcement confirming his attachment arriving a few months later.
Early signs were promising. In 2021, Waititi said he had finished the film’s story, and in 2022, then-Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said the goal was to bring it to theatres in late 2023 — while admitting Disney had not “locked anything in” yet. That caveat proved telling. Waititi was said to be “still working away” on the third anniversary of the announcement in April 2023, but later that year he admitted he planned to prioritise other projects, and updates went quiet.
Earlier this year, Waititi resurfaced to promise his Star Wars movie would “harness a little bit more of the fun from the original trilogy.” Now, the project is frozen solid.
A Slate in Constant Flux
Waititi’s film is only the latest Star Wars project to stall. Lucasfilm’s theatrical slate has been in near-constant reshuffle for years, with multiple announced films from high-profile directors quietly fading away. In that context, “on ice” may be the most honest status update any Star Wars project has received in some time — neither officially dead nor meaningfully alive.
For now, Waititi seems content to let it sit. Between Klara and the Sun and the four other films he says he is trying to get made, the director’s dance card is full without a trip to a galaxy far, far away.
What Is Waititi Doing Instead?
“It’s very iced,” Waititi told Inverse. “I’ve got about four other movies I’m trying to do.” Whatever those projects are, a galaxy far, far away is not currently among them — and with Lucasfilm’s theatrical slate in constant flux, there is no telling if or when his Star Wars film will thaw.
For fans who have waited since 2020, the news stings. But in true Waititi fashion, at least the delivery was honest — no vague promises, no corporate spin, just ice.
Taika Waititi (Credits: IGN)
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Source: IGN — read the full story there.
