Taika Waititi's Star Wars movie is being put "on ice," with the director and his co-writer Tony McNamara moving on to a different project together instead. The update ends — at least for now — one of the longest-running question marks on Lucasfilm's film slate, a movie announced six years ago that never received a title, a story reveal or a release window.
Waititi gave the update in an interview with Inverse during the press junket for his upcoming film Klara and the Sun. "We're going to actually put it on ice and we're working on a different thing together," he said. "It's very Iced. I've got about four other movies I'm trying to do."
Six Years of Development, Nothing to Show for It
Lucasfilm announced Waititi's Star Wars film in May 2020, fresh off his Oscar win for Jojo Rabbit and his well-received work in the galaxy far, far away — he directed the first-season finale of The Mandalorian and voiced the bounty-hunter-turned-nurse droid IG-11. In the years since, the project surfaced only in occasional status updates, each one confirming it was still being written and none of them revealing what it was actually about.
The most recent restructuring came in April 2025, when Kathleen Kennedy announced at Star Wars Celebration Japan that McNamara had taken over writing duties so Waititi could concentrate on directing. McNamara, who worked with Waititi's sensibilities well on paper after scripts like The Favourite and Poor Things, now appears to be following him off the project entirely — the "different thing" the two are developing instead.
What Happens to the Star Wars Movie Now
Waititi stopped short of calling the film cancelled, and "on ice" leaves the door technically open for Lucasfilm to revive it one day. Pressed on what the replacement project with McNamara actually is, however, neither would say — Waititi's publicist shut the question down, and Lucasfilm offered no comment on the film's status.
Practically, an indefinite freeze after six years of development usually means a project is done in all but name. Waititi's own schedule points the same way: with roughly four other movies competing for his time, a return to a galaxy far, far away would have to wait behind all of them even if Lucasfilm kept the film alive.
For Star Wars on the big screen, the freeze removes one of the most distinctive voices ever attached to the franchise. Waititi's irreverent tone made him an unusual fit for the saga and, to many, the most intriguing one — a director who might have taken Star Wars somewhere genuinely strange. Instead, his Star Wars legacy stays where it started: one beloved Mandalorian episode and a scene-stealing droid.
