Star Wars returns to theaters this weekend with the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, while other upcoming film projects include Star Wars: Starfighter from director Shawn Levy starring Ryan Gosling, Mia Goth, and Amy Adams, along with James Mangold’s Jedi origin story and Taika Waititi’s mysterious project. Among these, the most high-profile effort was Daisy Ridley’s Rey Skywalker spin-off, tentatively titled Star Wars: New Jedi Order. These initiatives demonstrate Lucasfilm’s broad push to expand the franchise across theatrical releases and new storytelling directions. Yet amid this renewed momentum, one ambitious project from years past has resurfaced in new detail, as Damon Lindelof’s scrapped Rey Skywalker spin-off highlights the creative challenges of steering such a massive saga.
In a recent interview with the The Ringer-verse podcast, Damon Lindelof confirmed he was “fired off of a Star Wars movie.” The film has since been reworked by a number of screenwriters, including Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. Yet Lindelof had ideas that would have been fascinating to see unfold in a galaxy far, far away. His departure followed two years of development on the Rey Skywalker project.
“To talk about the bantha in the room, I was fired off of a Star Wars movie,” Lindelof explained in the podcast interview. “They asked me, ‘What do you think a Star Wars movie should be?’ And I said, ‘Here’s what it should be.’ And they said, ‘Great, you’re hired.’ And then, two years later, I was so fired. So I was wrong, at least through that prism.” His remarks illuminate the high-stakes nature of franchise filmmaking. Creative alignment often proves difficult when expectations evolve rapidly.
“What we were attempting to do, my partner Justin Gibson and Rayna McClendon and I, was have this conversation in the movie,” Lindelof continued during the discussion. “There is a force of nostalgia and there is a force of revision, and these are at odds with one another. And they are at odds with one another. Let us do The Protestant Reformation inside Star Wars. You have your cake and eat it too. But the conversation the fandom is having, without winking and looking at the audience, that didn’t necessarily feel that risky. They seemed to really like the premise.”
Bringing such an ambitious and introspective story to life proved far more complicated than expected. “The writing was really hard,” described Lindelof. “It was slow. The tone, getting it right. Where it was inside of the canon. What its relationship was with Episode IX. Is it starting a new trilogy? All of those things. They’re so massive. They’re so big. It’s the old tanker equation. You turn the wheel and it takes five minutes before it turns a little bit.” The team wrestled constantly with balancing innovation against the weight of decades of established lore. Every decision carried enormous implications for the future of the franchise.
Lindelof also shared how he and Lucasfilm were intently “looking for the center of Star Wars” in the aftermath of the sequel trilogy, seeing the new generation of heroes as the answer. “When Episode VII came out, we all knew what [the center of Star Wars] was – it was Rey, it was Finn, it was Poe, and then we were migrating back in Luke and Leia and Han and Chewie and all those guys. We got the sense then that, when this [sequel] trilogy was over, we were going to be launching with these new characters and that was the center of Star Wars.“ The plan was to hand the torch fully to this fresh trio and build the saga’s next chapter around them. This vision represented a thoughtful attempt to evolve the franchise while staying true to its emotional core.
During the conversation, Lindelof voiced his uncertainty about the current direction of the franchise, openly wondering what the “center of Star Wars now” truly is. He pondered if The Mandalorian and Grogu has taken over that central role or whether the vast galaxy no longer revolves around any single focal point. Such questions reveal the deeper uncertainty facing Star Wars as it moves forward. His comments arrive just as the saga prepares for a major theatrical return.
Lindelof stands as one of the most accomplished and brilliant screenwriters working today. In addition to creating the critically acclaimed ABC series Lost, he developed and wrote the HBO series The Leftovers and Watchmen. He also created the Peacock show Mrs. Davis and contributed screenplays to films including Prometheus, World War Z, and Star Trek Into Darkness. His upcoming project, the DCU series Lanterns, will debut this August on HBO and continues to build excitement.
The Mandalorian and Grogu premieres in theaters on May 22, 2026. The movie brings beloved characters from the Disney+ series to the big screen for the first time.
