Taika Waititi To Direct New Star Wars Film

Academy Award winning filmmaker, Taika Waititi confirmed as director of new Star Wars Movie

Taika Waititi will co-write and direct a new Star Wars feature film for theatrical release.

It was announced via StarWars.com on May 4th (May 4th), the unofficial holiday celebrating all things Star Wars, that Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi will be directing the new Star Wars film.

Waititi will be penning the script and be joined by Academy Award nominee and BAFTA Award-winning writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night in Soho).

The official confirmation that Waititi – the man behind Thor: Ragnarok and Oscar-nominated Jojo Rabbit, which recently won Best Adapted Screenplay – is on board the new Star Wars project comes after reports this past January from The Hollywood Reporter that the producers of the Star Wars franchise, Disney and Lucas Films were in talks with Waititi.

The announcement that Taika Waititi was on board with the new Star Wars film was made on May 4th (Image Credit: Tech Advisor)

Waititi, who has already shot upcoming soccer film Next Goal Wins as well as the much-anticipated Ragnarok follow-up Thor: Love and Thunder due for release in February 2022, has already been involved in the Star Wars world by directing the season one finale of critically-acclaimed The Mandalorian on Disney+ and voicing the assassin-turned-hero droid IG-11.

Adding to the Star Wars stories on Disney+ is Emmy-nominated writer Leslye Headland (Russian Doll, Bachelorette), who is currently developing a new, untitled Star Wars series the platform. This series, which Headland will be writing, executive producing, and serving as showrunner for, will be the third Star Wars series on Disney+ including The Mandalorian in, and two other previously announced series.

No release date has been set for Waititi’s new film yet, and the wait for Star Wars fans will likely be a long one considering the production shutdowns due to the pandemic – but that doesn’t make it any less exciting!

Are you excited to see what Waititi will do with a Star Wars movie? Which other directors would you love to see take the reins for a fresh take on similarly beloved franchises? Let us know in the comments below!