Star Wars: Kathleen Kennedy Offers Status Updates on Taika Waititi Movie, Rogue Squadron, and More

By Patrick Cavanaugh

At last month's Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced what are expected to be the next three movies for the galaxy far, far away, yet failed to address multiple projects that were announced previously. While speaking with Empire Magazine, per r/StarWarsLeaks, Kennedy offered various updates about different projects, some of which were more concrete updates and others that were relatively vague. Given that Kennedy confirmed that the Kevin Feige project was never official, and that she was happy to debunk that project, it would seem she was being as straightforward as possible about these projects as opposed to being intentionally misleading. The new issue of Empire Magazine hits shelves on May 11th.

One film that hasn't been given substantial updates yet hasn't been scrapped or delayed is a project from Taika Waititi, which Kennedy detailed, "Taika is working away. He's just, and he won't get mad at me for saying this, slow. We've got a couple of acts, we need a third." In addition to his seeming speed with developing movies and his ever-growing list of projects he's involved with, we likely shouldn't expect significant momentum on that project anytime soon.

More than five years ago, Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson would develop a trilogy of Star Wars films, with both Johnson and Kennedy regularly claiming the only issue on those films is timing. Kennedy echoed those remarks, pointing out, "Rian and I talk all the time. He just keeps getting more and more successful, and it keeps moving things back further and further. One day we'll figure this out."

Back in 2020, Kennedy announced the TV series Star Wars: Lando and the film Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. While there has been no noteworthy momentum on Lando, various reports about Rogue Squadron imply that the Patty Jenkins-directed project was being scrapped altogether, yet Kennedy claimed, "Lando is still on the books, and Rogue Squadron is still on the books. We just want them to be great."

While these updates might not all be entirely satisfying, having Kennedy at least publicly address them and confirm that they haven't pulled the plug on any of them entirely will hopefully settle some lingering debates among fans.

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Stay tuned for details on future Star Wars projects.

Which of these projects would you most like to see? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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