7 Other Directors That Could Helm the Hell Out of a Star Wars Film

As the world of Star Wars continues to grow, many fans have skipped over guessing which actors and actresses could fill a variety of roles and have shifted instead to theorizing who Lucasfilm will tap to helm each installment to lend their creative vision to the galaxy far, far away.

For The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams was tapped as he was a proven filmmaker in the massive scale of a beloved property, having found success with reviving the Star Trek series. With The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson directed and wrote the chapter, having previously creating the sophisticated time-travel film Looper and high school-set noir tale Brick. Gareth Edwards took his gritty, street-level perspective from Godzilla to apply to Rogue One while Phil Lord and Chris Miller were tapped for their quirky senses of humor seen in the 21 Jump Street series with Solo: A Star Wars Story. (Though the last admittedly did not… last.)

Following the announcement that Game of Thrones co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss would be writing and producing a series of new Star Wars films, as well as Johnson helping craft a new trilogy which he will reportedly only direct the first installment of, there are seemingly many openings in the director’s chair.

Given the wealth of talent creating a variety of compelling films, we have a few ideas of who would be the perfect choices to direct some of the upcoming films in the franchise that can blend familiarity with fresh perspectives.

Ava DuVernay

Having recently worked with Disney to direct an adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more talented and desired filmmaker to share their perspective of Star Wars than Ava DuVernay.

From writing to directing to producing, DuVernay has done it all in the world of filmmaking, with her breakout film being 2014’s Selma. The filmmaker followed up her Oscar-nominated depiction of Martin Luther King, Jr’s quest for civil rights with Wrinkle in Time, a family-friendly film featuring science and fantasy.

Whether she focused on the melodrama of the characters or leaned into the fun and whimsy of Star Wars, whatever DuVernay decided to do with the franchise would result in fans clamoring for tickets following the mere announcement of her involvement.

Ryan Coogler

If Ava DuVernay is the first name fans throw into the ring for a Star Wars film, Ryan Coogler’s is almost always close behind.

The director’s debut, Fruitvale Station, was an intense drama that unfolded over the course of just a few hours that depicted what happens when tensions run high on a subway car, depicting a horrifying instance of police violence that was based on a true story. With Creed, Coogler reinvigorated the Rocky franchise with Fruitvale star Michael B. Jordan exploring the fate of the forgotten son of Apollo Creed.

Coogler’s latest, Black Panther, debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a perfect 100-percent score, confirming the filmmaker’s Midas touch with everything he touches turning to gold. 

Denis Villeneuve

The Star Wars saga is seminal science fiction, yet the series often leans more into fantastical elements, something that Villeneuve could potentially change.

The director’s recent two films, Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, were praised for their drastically different approaches to science fiction, with the former being a humanist interpretation of how our culture would respond to otherworldy visitors while the latter depicted a neon-drenched future in which the line between human and artificial intelligence was blurred beyond distinction.

Villeneuve isn’t just a compelling voice in the world of science fiction, as films like Prisoners and Sicario were devoid of sci-fi elements and explored more grounded subject matter. Whichever one of his filmmaking sensibilities he leaned more heavily into, it would surely be captivating.

Guillermo del Toro

One of the more ambitious and creative filmmakers currently working, del Toro consistently delivers the unexpected, leaping from one genre to the next in imaginative ways.

With his Hellboy films, del Toro has imagined all variety of monsters that waged war with a demonic character who hopes to save the world from destruction. With Pacific Rim, the filmmaker depicted a war between humanity and monstrous creatures, showing off massive amounts of death and destruction as skyscraper-sized beasts waged war with humans in giant mechs. Del Toro has also told incredibly intimate tales that feature a fair amount of whimsy, like Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak and, most recently, The Shape of Water.

Given the number of monsters living in his brain, we’d love to see what del Toro could do with any of the character seen in the Mos Eisley Cantina and explore the lengths of the spaceport’s scum and villainy.

Jordan Peele

Peele might not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of sci-fi fantasy, yet his filmmaking abilities can’t be denied.

In Get Out, Peele delivered audiences a gripping horror film that featured just as many frights as it delivered laughs, as the filmmaker masterfully manipulated every audience member’s emotions to get the exact response he was looking for. The film was his directing debut and has been earning praise ever since its debut. In addition to proving his skills at combining humor, horror and social commentary, Peele also shattered the expectation that films released in February were anticipated duds that studios hoped audiences would forget about before awards season.

Instead, Get Out stuck with audiences so strongly that it earned a theatrical re-release following its nomination for four Academy Awards. Peele’s already proven himself to be a Spielberg-level storyteller — so why not make the leap to something like this?

Kathryn Bigelow

Thanks to her work on award-winning war dramas like Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker, Bigelow has earned a resurgence in the film world, being one of the go-to names when trying to decide who should helm a variety of action-oriented blockbusters. 

Rogue One proved the concept of a slightly grittier exploration of the Star Wars universe, potentially paving the way for Bigelow to showcase more unsung heroes in the Clone War, the Rebel Alliance of the Resistance. Going further back into her career, Bigelow delivered audiences the adrenaline-fueled Point Break, the horror love story Near Dark and the sci-fi dystopia Strange Days.

No matter what the subject matter, Bigelow’s track record and diverse filmography would lead to a solid entry into the saga.

Matt Reeves

Reeves delivered audiences an unexpected hit with the found-footage monster movie Cloverfield and the adolescent romance Let Me In, which might be more than enough evidence for some audiences that he could join the Star Wars franchise. It’s his work on the Planet of the Apes films, however, that he managed to accomplish something many thought impossible.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes depicted the super smart primates heading out into the remote wilderness to live a life of peace, only for humans to intervene and shatter the status quo. War for the Planet of the Apes heightened that conflict, depicting the two species in a globe-spanning conflict, blurring the line between who is more “human,” the apes or those who aim to destroy them.

Thanks in large part to the motion-capture work from Andy Serkis, both Apes films took the concept George Lucas introduced with Jar Jar Binks of a CGI character that proved so compelling you could forget they weren’t real and told powerful dramas with the technology.

The world of Star Wars has featured countless crazy creatures, yet humans are always at the forefront while the aliens are lucky to be supporting characters. With Reeves at the helm, we think he’d be able to find a way to tell stories about Gungans that could be riveting.