Disney’s current handling of Star Wars is something of a mess, and making the MCU look brilliant by comparison, even if perhaps that too is past its prime. Extracting themselves from the mess of The Acolyte, a little-watched show that cost an insane amount of money and sparked an enormous fan firestorm (as did its cancellation), now Disney is continuing to stumble trying to make any new Star Wars movies. The latest? The new post-sequel-trilogy Rey film is now apparently in jeopardy.
According to a new report from Puck, screenwriter Steven Knight of Peaky Blinders fame has apparently left the project, which now means the film, if it does end up existing, will probably miss its rumored December 2026 release date, already over two years from now. The director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, is still attached, from what we can tell.
The film was supposed to return Rey to screens after the events of Rise of Skywalker for further adventures forming a new Jedi Order, perhaps with old cast members as well, which would mark an actual move forward for Star Wars rather than constantly staying in past eras. But if this doesn’t end up happening, it is yet another Star Wars movie project falling to pieces, which has happened a stunning amount of times before this. We have:
- The cancelled Patty Jenkins Rogue Squadron movie
- The cancelled David Benioff and DB Weiss Star Wars trilogy
- The cancelled Rian Johnson Star Wars trilogy
- The cancelled Kevin Feige Star Wars movie
- The cancelled JD Dillard Star Wars movie
- Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie is supposedly on “indefinite hold”
Disney only managed to get out the sequel trilogy, Rogue One and Solo, before the underperforming Solo had them put on the brakes and switch to Disney Plus content, which has been hit or miss for them namely due to insane budgets that are not earning traditional box office returns. Now, its most prominent, definitely-happening movie is birthed from one of those shows, and will be The Mandalorian and Grogu. There are reportedly still James Mangold and Shawn Levy films potentially in the works, as some of the last few projects left.
It is possible the Rey movie comes together eventually, but we are talking years from now at this point, if it does, closer to a decade after 2019’s Rise of Skywalker in all likelihood. Whether any of these other projects come together besides The Mandalorian and Grogu is anyone’s guess, but Disney is not doing a good job getting a grip on this universe at all at this point.
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