Taika Waititi’s long-gestating “Star Wars” film is on hold, the director confirmed, ending six years of development with no title, release date or start of production. Waititi delivered the news in an interview with Inverse while promoting his new film, “Klara and the Sun.” “I hate to break this to you, but we’re going to actually put it on ice,” he said, adding that he and screenwriter Tony McNamara are working on a different project together. When he asked his publicist how much more he could say, he got a blunt reply: “If you have to ask, the answer is no.” Waititi took that as his cue. “It’s very iced,” he said.
He stopped short of declaring the film dead. “Ice ages do come to an end,” Waititi said, noting he has about four other movies he wants to make first. Reports on the interview listed adaptations of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the graphic novel “The Incal” and the satirical novel “Barn 8,” plus a sequel to “What We Do in the Shadows” titled “We’re Wolves.”
Lucasfilm announced the project in May 2020, with “1917” writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns attached as co-writer. Waititi said in 2021 that he had finished the story, and Kathleen Kennedy, then Lucasfilm’s president, once aimed for a late 2023 release. McNamara, the writer behind “The Favourite” and “Poor Things,” took over scripting in April 2025 so Waititi could concentrate on directing. As recently as January, Waititi promised the film would recapture some of the fun of the original trilogy, and Kennedy, leaving her post, said the project was still somewhat alive.
The freeze lands as Lucasfilm turns to other titles. “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, arrives in 2027, and no later films have been officially announced. Waititi’s own profile in the franchise rests on a celebrated “Mandalorian” season one finale and his voice work as the droid IG-11.
His timing is awkward. “Klara and the Sun,” starring Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams, opens in theaters Oct. 23 after drawing mixed early reaction from critics and fans. Waititi also hinted at the shape any revival would take. A “Star Wars” film from him, he said, would need to feel “a little bit more its own thing.”
