Damon Lindelof's Star Wars Movie Could Release Before Taika Waititi or Kevin Feige's Projects

Damon Lindelof's Star Wars movie, which was reportedly revealed on Sunday, may hit theaters before previously announced Star Wars projects from Marvel Studios producer Kevin Feige and Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi. Waititi's project, co-written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns, had reportedly been looking to start filming in early 2023 for a time. Feige's project has Michael Waldron attached to write. However, according to a report posted by Matthew Belloni to Puck, neither project has firmed up enough to reasonably expect to debut before 2025 at the soonest. Lindelof's project, with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directing, could pass by them and head into production first.

In the report, Bellonni notes that Waititi will be filming the new season of HBO Max's Our Flags Mean Death in New Zealand through the end of the year. Waititi said in June that he still hadn't come up with a story for his Star Wars movie. Meanwhile, Belloni implies that the Fiege-produced film may not come together at all:

That [Lindelof] movie could actually shoot before the Taika Waititi project with The Good Nurse writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns, which was announced back in 2020 with a spiffy logo and concept art. Taika's currently in New Zealand making his HBO Max show, Our Flag Means Death, until the end of the year, and in June—two years after the film was officially announced—he said, "I'm still trying to figure out what the story is." Not great. There's another concept that's apparently also far along, and that may be a rumored project from Marvel's Kevin Feige and writer Michael Waldron. Or not. There's other stuff in various stages, but nothing is apparently set.

Deadline's initial report revealing Lindelof's project stated that the film is a way off but that it had the most momentum of all the currently in development Star Wars film projects. "At some point, but certainly not in the immediate future, I feel like I would love to do something in the Star Wars universe," Lindelof said in an interview in March with Fandom. "Maybe a decade from now when I would no longer be blamed for ruining it. That would be a hoot."

Lucasfilm has two untitled Star Wars movies on the calendar for December 19th, 2025, and December 17th, 2027. The franchise's most recent theatrical release was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in December 2019, closing out the Skywalker Saga. Since then, Star Wars has lived on via streaming shows on Disney+.