Star Wars: Shawn Levy Offers Disappointing Update on His Movie

Star Wars fans learned earlier last year that Deadpool 3 and The Adam Project director would be venturing to the galaxy far, far away for a new film in the franchise, but the director recently confirmed that, like many other projects in Hollywood, development on his adventure has been halted by the writers’ strike. While it’s not much of a consolation, Levy did confirm that work had started on the movie, so while we won’t expect there to be any official progress on the project behind the scenes, the ideas and themes that he started crafting for the adventure have likely been percolating in his mind in the months since the strikes started.

“We were just starting the process of developing my movie, and the writers’ strike happened,” Levy confirmed with Collider. “So we are in that holding pattern that so much of our industry is in.”

Adding more disappointment to knowing that the film was halted due to the writers’ strike is that there’s currently no end in sight for the strike, so even if it is resolved before the end of the year, Levy likely won’t fully wrap up a script in 2023, potentially pushing any pre-production or possibly an actual production into 2024, with a 2025 release date feeling optimistic, at best. 

Levy’s remarks would seemingly apply to the other movies Lucasfilm has already announced, which include movies from Dave Filoni, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and James Mangold. These three movies were all confirmed earlier this year at Star Wars Celebration, with no official timeline given for which movie would be moving forward first. 

Not only do the writers’ and actors’ strikes delay the project, but Lucasfilm has a track record of starting collaborations with filmmakers before those talks end up fizzling out and the studio parts ways with creatives. Levy previously addressed those concerns and expressed his confidence in his project moving forward at some point.

“I’m very aware of the ratio of filmmakers who get to the starting line,” Levy shared with Collider last December. “I’m a student of the business, and so of course I note that. But here’s my attitude: I have this golden ticket into a galaxy far away, and I’m going to devote myself to developing a screenplay that gives me the privilege of making this movie. I don’t attach to things because it looks good in a trade announcement. I attach to things that I intend to make. And you better believe I’m not going to squander this juiciest of opportunities. I’m going to work my ass off. But first, I got to work my ass off on making Deadpool. So it’s definitely longer-term planning, but I want to be one of the movies that gets to the starting line because these are rare opportunities, and I want to make the most of it.”  

Stay tuned for details on Levy’s Star Wars movie.

Are you looking forward to the project? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!