The next “Star Wars” movie, to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chino, has lost its screenwriters. TheWrap has confirmed that Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson (“Counterpart”) have left the untitled, unannounced project.
“’Star Wars’ scripts are a lot like James Bond scripts or most tentpoles for that matter. It takes a number of writers to get it all the way home,” said an insider with knowledge of the project. “Script writing at this level is a lot like pitching in baseball. You have your starter, your middle relief, your specialists, your set up man and your closer. But almost no one can pitch a complete game.”
While details are still being kept under wraps, it was thought to be far enough along that Disney and Lucasfilm would announce the project at Star Wars Celebration next month in London. If the project ends up getting made, it will be the first “Star Wars” feature film since 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (which was met with a middling response from audiences and critics). It was thought that the Lindelof project was further along than other projects in development like a feature from “Thor: Love and Thunder” director Taika Waititi.
This is the latest Lucasfilm film project to run into trouble. This is coming hot on the news that Kevin Feige’s “Star Wars” movie, along with “Rogue Squadron” from “Wonder Woman 1984” director Patty Jenkins, have been temporarily shelved.
The Disney era of Lucasfilm has been largely defined by canceled or abandoned projects, including a film from “Fantastic Four” director Josh Trank, the Phil Lord/Christopher Miller version of “Solo” and Zack Snyder’s “Seven Samurai”-style project which was reconfigured into a forthcoming Netflix movie, along with an adaptation of YA novel “Children of Blood and Bone” (now being developed by Paramount).
It will be interesting to see if the project is still announced next month, or if this will be another movie that gets buried in the Lucasfilm graveyard.
Additional reporting by Umberto Gonzalez.
Above the Line first reported the news.
