Katheen Kennedy Gives Update On Taika Waititi’s In Development ‘Star Wars’ Film During Exit Interview

Kathleen Kennedy has given a new update about director Taika Waititi’s long-in-development Star Wars film.

Lucasfilm first announced the project in May 2020. Disney’s Investor’s Day Presentation of the film, that December, included concept art and a statement that Krysty Wilson-Cairns would co-write with Waititi. Since then, however, further developments have been sparse, with Waititi seldom mentioning it.

The next set of announcements came in 2023 when Waititi confirmed development was still ongoing, but at a slower pace due to his desire to get it right. Separately, he also hinted that some Star Wars fans might find his film controversial.

Because of the inconsistent updates, along with the growing list of in-development Star Wars projects being cancelled by Disney, some industry analysts thought the same fate would befall Waititi’s project, especially when it was announced last year that the director had signed on with fellow filmmaker Drew Pearce to an adaptation of Judge Dredd and that project quickly became a hot commodity with the studios.

Now, however, in her recent exit interview with Deadline, Kathleen Kennedy has said that Waititi’s film is still in the works, referencing a script for it:

…Taika has turned in a script that I think is hilarious and great. It’s not just my decision, especially when I’ve got a foot out the door… That’s going to really be up to the new team to figure out…

The new team mentioned will be Kennedy’s successors as the heads of Lucasfilm, Dave Filoni, and Lynwen Brennan. Kennedy stepped down as CEO of the company earlier this week.