Taika Waititi is so hot right now. His Thor: Ragnarok is considered one of the best Marvel movies in existence. His direction on the final episode of The Mandalorian was heralded as the best of the series and his film, Jojo Rabbit, was just nominated for multiple Oscars including Best Picture. The dude has a lot of great stuff going on.
So it’s no wonder that apparently he is being courted by Disney and Lucasfilm to direct a Star Wars movie. THR reports that Waititi has been approached to take on the most popular film franchise of all time but there is no word on where talks stand or what sort of film Waititi would make. Believe it or not, the Star Wars movie universe is at kind of a crossroads right now. Lucasfilm is being very, very careful about the next steps following The Rise of Skywalker. They don’t want to overdo it and release too many films but they also don’t want to lay off the gas too much. There is a sense that the entire series really is at a turning point and it’s anyone’s guess where it could go next.
THR notes as much, saying that Disney and Lucasfilm perhaps see Disney+ as the new frontier for Star Wars. After the huge success of The Mandalorian, the studio views the streaming service as a place to groom filmmakers before sending them off to make bigger and more expensive Star Wars projects. Of course they are also planning more theatrical films though the new film proposed by Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff has been scrapped and the upcoming trilogy from Rian Johnson is apparently on the back burner as he works on his Knives Out sequel. So we really don’t have a Star Wars film in active development right now. Is that why Disney and Lucasfilm are eying Waititi? Do they want him to be the one to carry the torch forward?
He would be a great choice. Not only is he a wonderfully talented filmmaker and has worked with massive budgets before but the man has whip-smart humor, something that Star Wars could use more of. I am not saying future Star Wars film should be straight-up comedies but they should continue to have a sense of fun and wonder to them, something Waititi can deliver. His would be a welcome voice to the Star Wars cinematic universe.
But the man is busy. He’s working on a new film, Next Goal Wins, and then he has to start putting Thor: Love And Thunder together and he is still attached to the live-action Akira. So he wouldn’t get to Star Wars for some time. But, hell, maybe that’s for the best.
