The upcoming Star Wars Celebration taking place in London this April is expected to come with the announcement of the first Star Wars film since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The Star Wars universe has been very busy with television shows since then with the success of The Mandalorian amongst others, but now they are preparing to return back to the big screen.
Star Wars films have been having some trouble getting off the ground with projects helmed by Hollywood heavyweights such as Kevin Feige and Patty Jenkins getting scrapped in recent months. It was more recently announced that screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have also exited their roles writing the next Star Wars movie that still retains Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel) as director.
The pair are said to have exited after submitting a script back in February that likely did not work for execs. Lindelof spoke out about working on the project and “the degree of difficulty is extremely, extremely, extremely high” when it came to meeting expectations and that “if it can’t be great, it shouldn’t exist.”
Replacing the duo is Steven Knight, a veteran of the industry having worked on gritty dramas such as Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises as well as more lighthearted fare such as drama comedy The Hundred-Foot Journey, all on top of creating the much-loved BBC drama Peaky Blinders which is available to watch in the U.S. on Netflix.
As reported by Variety, more information about the next Star Wars film is expected to be announced at the celebration in London, including the premise and name (A representative for Lucasfilm did not respond to a request for comment). The only other Star Wars film still said to be in the works amidst all this shuffling around and discarding is Taika Waititi’s project which will see him direct and star, as he is wont to do with many of his projects.