One of the most worrying recurring aspects of Disney-era Star Wars was the sheer number of filmmakers to have signed on to tackle projects set in a galaxy far, far away that ended up dropping out in short order, never to be heard from again.
It’s beginning to look as though Lucasfilm has a one in, one out policy when it comes to calling the shots on a blockbuster set in the iconic sci-fi sandbox, because shortly after news broke that Deadpool 3 and Free Guy director Shawn Levy was on his way to the franchise, filmmaker J.D. Dillard has confirmed in an interview with The Wrap that his movie is no longer happening.
“[Star Wars] is unfortunately no longer a thing. It was not for lack of trying.”
The Sleight and Devotion architect was first announced to be developing a Star Wars feature back in February of 2020, but that’s about all we’ve had to go on since then. It hasn’t slowed him down, though, with Devotion currently winning strong notices from critics, and it’s not as if he’s going to be short of offers in the very near future.
Levy might have boarded the good ship Star Wars, but we can now add Dillard’s name to the discard pile that already includes Colin Trevorrow, Josh Trank, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and quite possibly Patty Jenkins given that we haven’t heard a peep out of Rogue Squadron since it was first placed on an indefinite hiatus.