Taika Waititi is bringing his unique brand of movie mojo to Star Wars

May the Fourth be with you, and with Waititi as he prepares to bring us a new story from a galaxy far, far away.

What you need to know

• Disney and Lucasfilm are confirming that Taika Waititi, who directed an episode of The Mandalorian as well as voicing droid IG-11 in the series, will direct and co-write a new theatrical Star Wars film.
• Waititi previously directed Thor Ragnarok — in which he also voiced rocky comedic sidekick Korg in the film — and World War II satire JoJo Rabbit.
• Also confirmed by Disney, Leslye Headland is also developing a Star Wars series for Disney+, though the series does not have a title or a current timeline for release.

Today’s a day full of Star Wars fanfare and fan tears — that final scene with the lightsaber and the helmet, man! — and it’s also a day of Star Wars news: Disney is now confirming two recent rumors about upcoming Star Wars projects, the most noteworth being that Taika Waititi will direct a Star Wars film that will be coming to theaters sometime in the future. He’ll be co-writing the story for this new film with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who wrote the screenplay for last year’s World War I epic 1917.

Little is known about the story the duo will be telling; with the Skywalker saga ended, Star Wars now has a mostly blank slate with which to tell a new story. We don’t know if this film will connect with the trilogy Rian Johnson is working on, but I’d wager this film is more of a standalone like Rogue One or Solo. One thing’s for certain: this is probably going to be the first film in a while to strike that magical sweet spot of action, comedy, and drama that Waititi has perfected between Thor: Ragnarok, JoJo Rabbit, and his directing of Chapter 8: Redemption in The Mandalorian.

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We also got news of a third untitled Star Wars series in underway at Disney+. Leslye Headland will helm the series as writer, executive producer, and showrunner, which doesn’t have a projected release date at this time. Considering basically all film and TV productions have ceased due to coronavirus, this isn’t surprising, but unlike the other two series, we have no focus for the series — the other two focus on Casian Andor (from Rogue One) and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

It’ll be interesting to see this series when it comes, but it will be a ways off. In the meantime, I’m off to re-watch Star Wars: Rebels and try not to think about the ending of The Clone Wars too much.

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