What’s going on with Academy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s “Star Wars” movie centering on Rey Skywalker (Daisy Ridley)? Rumored to be called, “Star War: A New Jedi Order” and then more recently, “Star Wars: Episode X – A New Beginning” (who knows if any of that’s true), for months, all Daisy Ridley has said is she’s been waiting to read a script from Academy Award-nominated writer Steven Knight, the creator of “Peaky Blinders,” and writer of “Eastern Promises,” “Spencer” and more.
And well, Obaid-Chinoy, doing press for her new Diane von Furstenberg documentary, ‘Woman In Charge,’ (read our review), has given a mild update on her “Star Wars” film to Sirus XM and Variety.
To Sirus XM, the gist of her statement is that she’s consulted with nearly everyone involved with “Star Wars,” including George Lucas, but it also sounds like it’s not coming anytime soon because everyone wants to take their time to make sure “justice” is done to Rey Skywalker’s story (and honestly, that sounds like code for another rewrite is eventually going to happen from a different writer given how long its taken).
“I’ve had conversations with J.J. Abrams. I’ve had conversations with George Lucas and, of course, Dave Filoni, who is a big part of the Star Wars universe now,” she explained to Sirius (watch the clip below) “We speak very often, and Kathy Kennedy, [and “Star Wars” storygroup member] Carrie Beck, and [Lucasfilm producer] Simon Emanuel—I think the team is really taking time to make sure that we do justice to telling the story of Daisy.”
What that story is, was always said to be Rey Skywalker training a new generation of Jedis, picking up where Luke Skywalker left off and then facing a new threat and that’s more or less what Obaid-Chinoy says the story is calling it a “Jedi Academy” movie.
“At the heart of it, for me is Rey Skywalker, Daisy Ridley and her story and taking her on an adventure to a Jedi Academy and sort of creating a world that is a natural dovetail to the story that we’ve seen her go through on the last three episodes,” he continued.
To Variety, the filmmaker has similar thoughts, for her, the story centers on Daisy Ridley, which might be more of an indication, she’s the actually lead of it all—original reports had kinda pegged her as sort of more of a supporting player to a new generation.
“The story that interests me most is in Rey’s journey as a female Jedi,” Obaid-Chinoy told Variety. “That’s how I can best bring my experiences to it.”
As for the toxic fandom that is surely going to complain about a woman and woman of color directing the first female-led “Star Wars” feature? For Obaid-Chinoy, that’s drowning out the noise and focusing on the film which she hopes will appeal to the older generation of fans.
“The greatest thing about ‘Star Wars’ is that everyone has a personal connection to it,” she continued. “Everyone is passionate about it. And throughout the fandom, people have clear ideas about who should direct or what the stories should be about. I’m just drowning out those voices until I’m done. As a storyteller, I’m focused on drawing new moviegoers into the cinema, and bringing a sense of nostalgia that will appeal to older fans of the series.”
The film has gone through some issues already. Originally, it was a project conceived by writer/producer Damon Lindelof (“Prometheus,” “Watchmen”) with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, but he parted ways with Lucasfilm which sounded like some fundamental creative differences (Steven Knight was hired as the writer after that).
“Star Wars: The New Jedi Order,” or whatever it’s ultimately called has no release date, but currently there is a TBD December 2026 placeholder date in place should it be ready in time. “The Mandalorian & Grogu” film will arrive first in May of 2026.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy says she's had conversations with J.J. Abrams and George Lucas and speaks with Filoni "very often."
— Pedro (@pedrolms20) June 20, 2024
And the team is "really taking time to make sure that we do justice to telling the story of Daisy."#StarWars pic.twitter.com/3K5HXA6GpU
