Who Has Been Hired to Direct the 2022 Star Wars Film?

With Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy announcing that the director of the next installment of Star Wars has been chosen, which director will be given the keys to the kingdom to explore Star Wars outside of the Skywalker Saga? Let’s take a look…

Jon Favreau

The most obvious name to throw into the ring is the man whose stock has never been higher amongst Star Wars fans and Hollywood as a whole. Having been one of the pioneering minds behind Marvel’s Infinity Saga (having started it all with 2008’s “Iron Man”) Favreau has garnered huge acclaim for his Star Wars original series “The Mandalorian”(not only thanks to Baby Yoda) with critics and fans enjoying its almost old school serialized nature. He also has pedigree amongst fans having voiced Mandalorian leader Pre Vizsla in hit animated show “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”. No doubt a top choice for many. However, having declared he wants to direct episodes of season two of the “The Mandalorian” the timings may not fit.

Deborah Chow

Next in the frame is a director also under praise for their work on “The Mandalorian”, and with a female director of a Star Wars Movie long over-due, is Deborah Chow Kennedy’s choice?

Having not only directed episodes of Favreau’s show, but also hit shows such as “Better Call Saul”, “Mr Robot”, and “Jessica Jones”, Chow is someone with immense pedigree, and her work on “The Mandalorian”, undoubtedly the best work seen on the show so far, has announced her, in my eyes, as the next big director in waiting. LucasFilm could do much much worse than trusting Chow with the not too distant future of the franchise.

Patty Jenkins

Another obvious name for the list is someone with an action pedigree, “Wonder Woman” and soon to be “Wonder Woman:984” director Patty Jenkins. Having basically raised the dead by lighting a spark in the DCEU with her take on Amazonian Warrior Diana Prince, it could be interesting to see what Jenkins would create with a ready-made world and franchise, but also one that should give her license to play.

Ava DuVernay

The acclaimed and highly sought-after Ava DuVernay could be the latest director of hard-hitting, acclaimed (and important) projects plucked to reinvent the blockbuster. Having directed “Selma” and most recently Netflix’s award-winning “When They See Us” DuVernay has forayed into the blockbuster genre before, with Disney’s star-laden “A Wrinkle In Time” which although a box-office flop and only luke-warmly received, praised the way DuVernay attempted the ambitious, hopeful, and imaginative. Three qualities sowed into the very fabric of Star Wars.

Rian Johnson

Following 2017’s “The Last Jedi” which continues to polarise fans almost two years later, director Rian Johnson was apparently handed his own trilogy to work on for when the Skywalker saga hit its end. Since then, however, news has been shy, and Johnson himself has been pretty coy on the subject, leading to rumors his trilogy, like “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B Weiss’s had been shut down. However, there is as much love for Johnson’s film as there is to the contrary, and Kennedy was extremely vocal of her support for Johnson’s installment, so is it possible after all the secrecy, the film in 2022 is his? Well having just released his latest film, murder mystery “Knives Out” to waves of both critical and commercial acclaim (including Oscar talk), Johnson’s stock has never been higher, and with the film in 2022 critical to the future of the franchise post-Skywalker, could it be sensible to give it someone who already knows the world inside out?

Taika Waititi

An extreme long shot I know, but a name that has to be included. Unlikely as he is, given his attachment to “Thor: Love and Thunder” that’s set to shoot next year and release in 2021, Waititi’s experience in bringing new characters to the screen in established franchises would no doubt put him near the top of many wish lists for a film in this franchise. His work on “Thor: Ragnarok” proved that even genre’s set-in-stone has room for experiment and originality, something Kennedy will no doubt look for when attempting to craft a series of Films that stand apart from the world’s most famous saga.

Kathryn Bigelow

We end on one of the most famous directors in the business, and the only woman to ever win the best director Oscar. Having mostly avoided franchises throughout her glittering career, Bigelow’s catalog of reinventing the action genre, coupled with her talent for challenging racial and radical politics, would make her a stellar choice to lead the franchise into uncharted territory and may give a Star Wars Movie more to say than it possibly ever has before.