Steven Knight is officially out as the writer of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars/Rey movie, which is supposed to star Daisey Ridley, and has been plagued with numerous exits and delays. It’s turning into the ‘Blade’ of the Star Wars verse.
First things first, if you’ve been a reader long enough to remember, here’s the scoop I wrote on June 26 concerning Knight’s contentious disagreements with Lucasfilm over the film:
If only I could tell you what I’ve been hearing when it comes to the behind-the-scenes drama with [“Star Wars: The New Jedi Order”]. I swore not to say anything, and it’s killing me to not write about it, but I’m fairly certain some of it will eventually come out.
What I will say is that Steven Knight has been trying to crack the script now for well over a year. A final draft still hasn’t been submitted to LucasFilm. Knight, who is about to shoot his “Peaky Blinders” movie, has written a total of four drafts, with LucasFilm’s Kathleen Kennedy continuously giving him notes on how to improve the story.
Fast forward to this evening, and Puck’s Matt Belloni is reporting that Knight is out as screenwriter of ‘New Jedi Order.’ Lucasfilm is now looking for a new writer, which almost certainly means that the film will not be ready by December 2026, the date Disney had originally settled on for the film.
These issues with Knight, who clashed with Lucasfilm over creative direction of the film, come only two years after development on ‘New Jedi Order’ started, and various drafts had circulated, with different writers, including Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen”) and Justin Brit-Gibson (“Counterpart”) taking a crack at it, before both eventually exiting the project due to creative differences.
There’s also another issue: Disney might be second-guessing the entire nature of the project. Will they or won’t they allow this film to move forward? Do we really need another Rey movie? Plot details have been kept fairly hush-hush, but based on what I’ve heard, the film would focus on Rey’s tutelage at an Academy of up-and-coming Jedis, and part of her attempt to build a new Jedi order.
Disney/LucasFilm hired Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a documentary filmmaker, to direct the Rey movie, and there have also been whispers about her potentially being replaced. Regardless, what we have here is yet another Kathleen Kennedy mess over at Lucasfilm.