Last week the Star Wars-verse got some good news: After a long time of dilly-dallying, the franchise was finally getting not one but three more films, having been AWOL on that front since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. But some questions remained unanswered. What about Taika Waititi’s mystery film? Will Obi-Wan Kenobi be getting a second season? And whatever happened to Rian Johnson’s long-ago planned trilogy that seemed to have died?
Variety got some answers, sort of. In a chat with the publication, Star Wars honcho Kathleen Kennedy was a bit vague on all three.
Let’s start with Waititi’s film, which was announced back in 2021 but whose progress had been kept under wraps. At one point it was supposed to be released at the end of this year. Doesn’t look like that’s happening, with Kennedy saying he’s “still working away.”
“He’s writing the script himself,” she said. “He doesn’t really want to bring others into that process and I don’t blame him. He has a very, very unique voice. So we want to protect that and that’s what he’s doing. But we’re going to make that one day.”
But what about Obi-Wan Kenobi Season 2? On that front Kennedy was a bit gloomier. “That is not an active development,” she said. Still, she offered a “never say never,” then praised the first season.
“That show was so well-received and [director] Deborah Chow did such a spectacular job,” said Kennedy. “Ewan McGregor really wants to do another. Everybody’s all hands on deck with what we’re doing right now, as you can see by what we showed everybody [at the Celebration]. We’ll turn our attention to that again maybe down the road.”
As for Rian Johnson, well, he is, as Kennedy, says “unbelievably busy.” After all, he’s pivoted to reviving the murder mystery genre, with two incredibly popular franchises: the Knives Out films and Poker Face, the show where Natasha Lyonne does a kind-of-not-really take on Columbo. That doesn’t mean Johnson couldn’t carve out some time to return to Star Wars.
“Rian and I talk all the time,” Kennedy said. Still, they’re “not actively involved in anything at the moment,” in part because he’s otherwise occupied with those films and that show and “God knows what else.” That said, Kennedy says Johnson “really wants to step back into the space,” but given how time-consuming doing a Star Wars trilogy would be a “big commitment,” and that “that’s really on him.”
So in short, who knows when/if we’re getting Taika Waititi and/or Rian Johnson Star Wars movies or another season with Ewan McGregor. Hope this cleared things up.
(Via Variety)