Nearly six years after Lucasfilm announced Taika Waititi would direct and co-write a new “Star Wars” feature with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1918”), the project had drifted into near-myth status—quiet long enough to be widely presumed dead. That changed earlier this month when outgoing Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy said the film was “still somewhat alive,” putting it back on the board, giving fans a ton of new hope.
And a second jolt arrived this weekend at Sundance, where Waititi outlined the tonal problem he’s been trying to solve. Looking back to the original trilogy, Waititi framed his approach around restoring a sense of play without hollowing out the stakes. “I’m just trying to go back and harness a little bit more of the fun from the original films,” he told Variety, emphasizing that those movies managed to balance danger and levity without feeling strained.
Crucially, Waititi also seemed to give the reason why his “Star Wars” adaptation was taking so long to get off the ground. With so much active storytelling already mapped across the franchise, he suggested the only viable version of his movie would need room to breathe distinctly from the rest of the galaxy. “I was trying to work in a world that was a little bit separate,” he explained. “For me to do something there, it would need to be a little different and a little bit more its own thing.”
Kennedy’s comments helped put real context around the long delay: she confirmed a script existed and said Waititi had turned in one she called “hilarious and great,” while the filmmaker was still describing a specific creative lane instead of a vague attachment. There’s still no title, no era, and no release date, but the conversation has shifted from whether the film exists at all to whether Lucasfilm’s new leadership wants to make room for a standalone idea that only works if it earns its space.
Watch the clip below.
Taika Waititi says his #StarWars movie in development at Lucasfilm will “harness a little more of the fun from the original films.”
— Variety (@Variety) January 24, 2026
“The stakes are very high, and there are serious things going on, but there’s also a lot of fun to be had.”
Waititi is promoting his new family… pic.twitter.com/Akli1pSo2t
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