‘Star Wars: New Jedi Order’: Screenwriter George Nolfi Talks Legacy Of George Lucas Exploring Politics & Fascism In ‘Star Wars’

While Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian & Grogu” will be the next “Star Wars” adventure to hit the big screen next year, there is still work being done to get “Star Wars: New Jedi Order” starring Daisy Ridley (reprising her role as Rey Skywalker) in good enough shape for filming to begin. Screenwriter George Nolfi (“The Bourne Ultimatum,” “Ocean’s Twelve”) was recently tasked by Lucasfilm to take over scripting duties on the new film from Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”) and is now talking about working on the “Star Wars” film in an interview with Film Stories.

During a chat to promote his new film “Evelation,” Nolfi is quite aware of the political sentiments that George Lucas inserted into his six films (something echoed in the first season of “Andor”) and doesn’t sound shy about potentially continuing that, “If you think about George Lucas, the six movies that he did, and the universe that he created, it’s actually very steeped in broad notions of politics,” Nolfi explained to Film Stories when trying to distill some of the real-life concepts from history applied to the fantasy universe setting.

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He added, “It’s not talking about today, per se, but there’s the Empire’s Nazism slash Roman Empire. The democracy of the Roman Empire collapsing and becoming an empire and the perennial story of human beings organizing themselves and against chaos, and then the tools that help human societies tamp down on chaos becomes oppression.”

“The way I approach it is, you look at what’s come before you, you look at the broad ideas of what they want to do,” Nolfi said when asked about what he would be bringing to the franchise and mused on the collaborative process of working on a sandbox assignment with all sorts of ideas being tossed around. “Meaning: Lucasfilm, Disney, Sharmeen [Obaid-Chinoy], the director, and then you do what a writer does, and try to try and put beats of a story together. Try and imagine characters, and then you present that with an understanding that it needs to honor, obviously, a long, incredible tradition.”

This movie wouldn’t be the first sci-fi adventure-focused project Nofli’s been involved with after once being attached to produce 20th Century Fox’s attempt to reboot “Flash Gordon” (serials influenced the original “Star Wars” movies and the character Han Solo) with Taika Waititi attached to direct before those plans stalled out after switching from animation to live-action. In November, he told Collider he was no longer involved with “Flash Gordon.”

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What’s next for “Star Wars”?

Well, a growing number of options are being cooked up at Lucasfilm/Disney. Actor Ryan Gosling (“The Fall Guy”) is being courted for Shawn Levy’s (“Deadpool & Wolverine”) untitled film, James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown,” “Indiana Jones & The Dial of Destiny”) is working on “Star Wars: Dawn of The Jedi,” a story taking place 25,000 years before “A New Hope.” The ultimate fate of things like the Rian Johnson trilogy of movies, Patty Jenkins’ “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron,” and Waititi’s (“The Mandalorian,” “Thor: Ragnarok”) mystery film seems a bit less promising than what Levy and Mangold are working on.

The final season of “Andor” begins April 22 on Disney+, and the aforementioned “The Mandalorian & Grogu” feature film heads to theaters on May 22, 2026.