May the 4th be with you, friends! Today, on one of the nerdiest days of the year, it's been confirmed that WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS and JOJO RABBIT director Taika Waititi is set to helm an upcoming feature set in the Star Wars universe!
After reinvigotating THOR and telling Hitler to f*ck right off in JOJO RABBIT, Oscar winner Taika Waititi is about to make millions of STAR WARS fans cry out in happiness! Waititi will direct the film which, obviously, we know nothing about yet. He will also co-write the movie alongside Oscar-nominated writer Kristy Wilson-Cairns (1917).
Taika Waititi has been one of the hottest filmmakers in the last decade and is known for his balance of comedy and drama. Lucasfilm has not given the reigns to a filmmaker with these credentials before, unless you count Phil Lord and Chris Miller. As you recall, Lord and Miller's approach to blend humor in their production of SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY terrified Lucasfilm, who then parted ways and brought in Ron Howard, the directing equivalent of vanilla ice cream.
You can check out the tweet that officially announced Waititi's involvement below:
STAR WARS has traveled along a bit of a rough road in recent years, with THE LAST JEDI and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER dividing audiences, and the latter film returning the lowest profit of any film in the Skywalker saga. THE MANDALORIAN on Disney+ showed what George Lucas' intellectual property can do when given some creative freedom, and Taika Waititi may signal Kathleen Kennedy's willingness to venture a bit further away from the tried and true formula of the main STAR WARS saga.
While I've no doubt that some Star Wars fans will have their reservations about Waititi piloting a new Star Wars feature, I say bring it on. His is the kind of energy that I could see really working for the franchise, given his penchant for introducing intriguing characters, colorful worlds, and bizarre alien cretures. I'm of the mind that there's plenty of room in the Star Wars universe for experiementation, and after nine films-worth of the Skywalker saga, I'm craving something that's potentially unpredicatable and out of the box.
May the 4th be with you, always! Be sure to let us know what you think about this news in the comments section below!