Ryan Reynolds Pitched a Star Wars Movie (& It’s R-Rated)

Ryan Reynolds has left his mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Deadpool & Wolverine, and he’s also looked for a way to break into Disney’s other major blockbuster franchise. During an appearance on the podcast The Box Office, Reynolds shared that he once pitched the studio an R-rated Star Wars project. He didn’t provide any details about what the story entailed, just that he wanted to use the R rating as “a Trojan horse for emotion.” Reynolds remarked that he’s surprised studios aren’t more willing to take chances with their IP, believing an R-rated Star Wars film would be a great way to surprise audiences.

“I pitched to Disney, I said, ‘Why don’t we do an R-rated Star Wars property? It doesn’t have to be overt, A+ characters. There’s a wide range of characters you could use,’” Reynolds said. “And I don’t mean R-rated to be vulgar. R-rated as a Trojan horse for emotion. I always wonder why studios don’t want to just gamble on something like that. I’m not saying I want to be in it. That would be a bad fit. I’d want to produce and write or be a part of behind the scenes. Those kinds of IP subsist really well on scarcity and surprise. We don’t get scarcity really with ‘Star Wars’ because of Disney+, but you can certainly still surprise people.”

From the beginning, Star Wars has always been a family-friendly franchise, as children are a core part of the target audience. The first five films released were rated PG. Since 2005’s Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, all Star Wars movies have been rated PG-13, allowing the projects to appeal to the widest possible audience to maximize box office profits.

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After an extended hiatus from the big screen, Lucasfilm is planning to bring Star Wars back to movie theaters. Next summer sees the release of The Mandalorian & Grogu, while Star Wars: Starfighter follows in May 2027. Obviously, neither film has been rated yet, but the former is a direct continuation of the TV series The Mandalorian, which is rated TV-14 and features the cuddly character Grogu. Both titles are positioned as Disney’s Memorial Day tentpoles, meaning they’re likely targeting PG-13.

The specifics of Reynolds’ pitch sound pretty close to a movie akin to Andor, which earned rapturous acclaim over its two-season run for its mature tone. Andor is arguably as “adult” as Star Wars has ever gotten, and its success illustrates the franchise doesn’t need to be wrapped in kid-friendly packaging to make an impact. Like The Mandalorian, Andor was rated TV-14, but it was probably just a few tweaks away from an R rating. It’d be interesting to see what kind of emotional story Reynolds would want to tell in this sandbox. Andor showed there’s a place for an exploration of dark, dramatic themes and character arcs in Star Wars. There was a time when an R-rated Star Wars project might have seemed blasphemous, but after Andor, it doesn’t sound as far-fetched.

Reynolds also makes a good point about how surprise is necessary for a long-running property like Star Wars. After being around for nearly five decades, filmmakers need to be able to mix things up in order to keep the franchise fresh and viable for the years to come. With an entire galaxy at its disposal, Star Wars has unlimited potential for storytelling, and an R-rated movie would definitely inject some new energy into it. Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy previously noted Lucasfilm has a Star Wars horror project in the works. Perhaps that could be an outlet for something riskier like an R-rated film. With a modest budget and the right creative team in place, a more adult Star Wars movie could be a massive hit.