Another big Star Wars movie may be in doubt

Damon Lindelof is no stranger to bringing sci-fi to the masses, having helped create the likes of Fringe and Lost, but his Star Wars film project sounds at risk of reaching a dead end, judging by what the man himself says.

After a year of reports on a Damon Lindelof Star Wars project in development, the director has spoken about the movie at the SXSW festival, and his words aren’t exactly reassuring.

He said the, “degree of difficulty is extremely, extremely, extremely high,” in an interview with Slashfilm (spotted via Film Stories) that “if it can't be great, it shouldn't exist.”

“I think it's possible that sometimes when you hold something in such high reverence and esteem, you start to get in the kitchen and you just go, 'Maybe I shouldn't be cooking. Maybe I should just be eating,’” he said.

This follows recent news that a Star Wars film directed by Patty Jenkins has been shelved, as has a Star Wars project in development with Kevin Feige.

New Star Wars movies

At this point, the rumoured Star Wars film with Taika Waititi at the helm looks to be in the best health — judging by the limited information leaked online.

Back at the end of 2022, it was reported the Damon Lindelof Star Wars movie would start filming right around now, in April 2023. Judging by Lindelof’s tone, our best guess is this is no longer the plan.

Earlier reports also suggested Lindelof’s Star Wars project would be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. She was largely a documentary filmmaker until she directed episodes of the Ms Marvel TV show.

Lindelof was — or is — part of the writing team on this possible future Star Wars movie. While you may still think of TV series Lost when his name pops up, Lindelof contributed to the writing of movies like Prometheus, World War Z, and the less-seen but far less contentious banger The Hunt from 2020.

There are no remotely solid release dates for any of the proposed Star Wars projects, making the universe feel oddly propelled by Disney Plus TV shows like Andor – which we think is the best Star Wars TV adaptation to date.

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