Dune Director Shoots Down Hopes of Star Wars Movie, Says Series “Derailed” With Fan-Favorite Sequel

Denis Villeneuve will not be working on the Star Wars franchise any time soon. The director has naturally been asked about the possibility since his adaptation of Dune has been so beloved. However, in a new interview on The Town podcast, Villeneuve said that his problems with Star Wars go way back to Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.

Villeneuve was born in 1967, so he said of Episode IV – A New Hope: “I was the target audience. I was 10 years old. It went to my brain like a silver bullet. I became obsessed with Star Wars. I mean, The Empire Strikes Back is the movie that I anticipated the most in my life. I saw the movie a billion times onscreen. I was traumatized by The Empire Strikes Back. I adore Star Wars.”

Six years later, Villeneuve was one of many lifelong fans who felt betrayed by the conclusion of the original trilogy. He said: “The problem is that it all derailed in 1983 with Return of the Jedi. It’s a long story. I was 15 years old, and my best friend and I wanted to take a cab and go to L.A. and talk to George Lucas — we were so angry! Still today, the Ewoks. It turned out to be a comedy for kids.”

Now 57, Villeneuve did offer some more nuanced complaints than a distaste for Ewoks. He said: “Star Wars became crystalized in its own mythology, very dogmatic, it seemed like a recipe, no more surprises. So I’m not dreaming to do a Star Wars because it feels like code is very codified.”

Villeneuve is Not Alone

The last complaint, at least, seems to extend beyond Return of the Jedi to the later installments – particularly the sequel trilogy. The Force Awakens was widely criticized for being remarkably similar to A New Hope in many ways. That problem was amplified in Rise of Skywalker, where fans wondered how the exact same villain could be behind all three trilogies. However, Return of the Jedi suffered from this affliction as well – it put another Death Star on screen with the same exploitable weakness as the one in the first movie.

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Villeneuve has already made his mark on the sci-fi space opera genre with Dune – one of the biggest influences on George Lucas in the creation of Star Wars. It’s a great time for Star Wars fans to dig deeper into the genre, as another influence, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, is two seasons into an excellent adaptation on Apple TV+. As for Star Wars, it will carry on without Villeneuve, with at least nine movies in the works at the time of this writing. Previous entries are streaming now on Disney+.