{"id":886670,"date":"2026-10-18T14:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T14:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/886670\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T14:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T14:02:09","slug":"exclusive-taika-waititis-star-wars-movie-is-on-ice-but-theres-a-silver-lining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/886670\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Taika Waititi’s Star Wars Movie Is “On Ice” \u2014 But There’s A Silver Lining"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taika Waititi gained a reputation for light-hearted, joyful, emotional epics with movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople<\/a>, Thor: Ragnarok<\/a>, and Jojo Rabbit. But since then, his reputation has changed to being \u201cbooked and busy.\u201d He\u2019s directed episodes of TV, starred in two seasons of an HBO Max original series, co-created Reservation Dogs, and made the feel-good sports movie Next Goal Wins. He even surprised his wife by appearing on The Masked Singer. <\/p>\n

Now, he\u2019s releasing his latest movie, Klara and the Sun<\/a>, an adaptation of the hit dystopian novel. But that\u2019s only the tip of the iceberg: there are still multiple Taika Waititi projects in development, including a long-gestating Star Wars movie. Apparently, however, that project is back on hiatus \u2014 but it\u2019s being replaced with something else. <\/p>\n

Taika Waititi is already part of Star Wars through voice acting and directing The Mandalorian. <\/p>\n

Lucasfilm\/Disney\/Kobal\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Fans have waited years for Waititi\u2019s Star Wars movie to actually materialize. It\u2019s been so long that even Waititi himself treats the slow process as a running joke, but the last we heard, things were actually moving as The Favourite and Poor Things screenwriter Tony McNamara<\/a> took over scriptwriting duties so Waititi could focus on directing. Inverse spoke to Waititi about the current state of the project during a press junket for Klara and the Sun. <\/p>\n

\u201cI hate to break this to you, but we’re going to actually put it on ice and we’re working on a different thing together,\u201d Waititi tells Inverse.<\/p>\n

So while we may not get these two visionaries\u2019 take on the Star Wars universe, we\u2019ll at least see them work together on something. Unfortunately, that\u2019s all the information we have. When pressed for more details, he asked his publicist if he could say any more and was told, \u201cIf you have to ask, the answer is no.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, there’s your answer,\u201d Waititi says. \u201cI don’t even know how to dress it up or make it even vague.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playwright and screenwriter Tony McNamara is working with Taika Waititi, but not in the Star Wars Universe anymore. <\/p>\n

Dave Hogan\/Hogan Media\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s very iced. I’ve got about four other movies I’m trying to do,\u201d he says. This is true: he\u2019s got a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie in the works, plus the What We Do In The Shadows sequel We\u2019re Wolves<\/a>, the graphic novel adaptation The Incal, and the adaptation of satirical novel Barn 8. That said, he doesn\u2019t rule out returning to the Star Wars universe. \u201cIce ages do come to an end,\u201d he teases. \u201cWho knows?\u201d <\/p>\n

Waititi\u2019s Star Wars movie has been on the bubble for years now, but this makes it seem like it\u2019s officially not happening. But with him working on another project with McNamara, we won\u2019t miss out on two of the most singular creative minds working today finally joining forces. It may not have lightsabers or Jedi, but it\u2019s sure to be a great time at the movies. <\/p>\n

Klara and the Sun premieres in theaters on October 23. Learn Something New Every Day<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taika Waititi gained a reputation for light-hearted, joyful, emotional epics with movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,1630,1708,114850,229682,206,6702,14791,5295],"class_list":["post-886670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-entertainment-news","tag-homepage","tag-hp-latest","tag-inverse-interview","tag-movies","tag-science-fiction","tag-scoop","tag-star-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}