‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Director Taika Waititi is Getting His Own ‘Star Wars’ Movie
Hopefully you’re having a great May the Fourth, because Taika Waititi (and probably everyone who works at Lucasfilm) sure is. After a few months of rumors, it was officially announced through the Star Wars social media feeds that Waititi, the Thor: Ragnarok writer and director would be doing the same two jobs on a new original Star Wars feature film. He’ll be joined on the writing side by 1917 co-writer (and Academy Award nominee) Krysty Wilson-Cairns.
It won’t be Waititi’s first experience in the Star Wars world; he directed the first season finale of The Mandalorian, and also voiced the bounty-hunting droid IG-11 in three of the season’s eight episodes. In fact, he frequently pulls double duty while directing—in Thor: Ragnarok, he voiced the very funny alien Korg, and he played Hitler in his latest movie, the World War II satire Jojo Rabbit, which won him the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay earlier this year.
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Waititi is widely considered one of the freshest and most exciting voices in film storytelling today. Before he was the man behind the comedic ‘reboot’ of the Thor franchise in Ragnarok, an Oscar winner, and tapped for his very own Star Wars film, Waititi made his name directing smaller comedies. He directed four episodes of HBO’s cult favorite Flight of the Chonchords, and had his major breakthrough in 2014, with the comedic vampire mockumentary What We Do In The Shadows.
He starred in the film alongside Jemaine Clement, whom he also directed in Conchords. And if that title sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve probably seen at least a couple advertisements for it lately—the movie has been translated into an FX series of the same name (of which Waititi has directed three episodes).
Incoming news from a galaxy far, far away….
Academy Award winner @TaikaWaititi to direct and co-write a new Star Wars feature film for theatrical release; Academy Award nominee Krysty Wilson-Cairns (@WeWriteAtDawn) to co-write screenplay with Waititi: https://t.co/o3Exz8ndy9 pic.twitter.com/Yrt0LQbi7B
Waititi had previously said that he wasn’t working on a Star Wars movie; he referenced this by tweeting “Psych!” after the Star Wars announcement.
Psych! https://t.co/mTZ6ybqnZf
Rian Johnson, who directed The Last Jedi, seemed excited about Waititi getting the chance to tell a story in a galaxy far, far away. He also made reference to another new project announced, a series on Disney+ that from Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland. “I have NO idea what kind of SW will come out of Taika and Krysty’s and Leslye’s brains, if I tried to guess I’d be wrong, and that is the most exciting thing I can imagine,” he wrote.
I have NO idea what kind of SW will come out of Taika and Krysty’s and Leslye’s brains, if I tried to guess I’d be wrong, and that is the most exciting thing I can imagine. https://t.co/kJYiKVJDVl
Waititi’s Star Wars movie is announced with production still in progress on his latest Marvel endeavor, Thor: Love and Thunder, which was announced last year. That movie has yet to begin filming, but already has pulled together an epic cast: Ragnarok‘s Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson will return, and will be joined by Christian Bale, a returning Natalie Portman, and, yes, Waititi once again voicing Korg. That movie was originally planned to be released in November of 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic is now scheduled for a February 2022 premiere.
Given Waititi’s committments to Love and Thunder and the ongoing pandemic, it’s not likely that we’ll see this newly-announced project anytime soon. But still, it’s fun to imagine what this movie could possibly be about. The subject would need to be something that can capture that same comedic tone that he so thoroughly nailed in Ragnarok. Maybe a Poe Dameron spinoff? We’ll take a Poe Dameron spinoff. Maybe this could be entirely new characters. We’ll take that too. Really, it’s all good. Let’s just get it made. We’re ready.
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