Taika Waititi Says His ‘Star Wars' Movie Has Been “Put on Ice"

This was inevitably going to happen. Taika Waititi's long-gestating "Star Wars" movie — first announced by Lucasfilm on May the 4th, 2020 — has been "put on ice."

While doing press for his latest bust, "Klara and the Sun," Waititi told Inverse that the project has been shelved and that he is now focusing on directing something else.

Waititi turned to his publicist mid-interview to ask if he could say more and was told, essentially, that if you have to ask, the answer is no. "It's very iced," he added. "I've got about four other movies I'm trying to do."

That's no exaggeration. Waititi's slate still includes a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" project, the long-promised "What We Do in the Shadows" sequel "We're Wolves," the Moebius/Jodorowsky adaptation "The Incal," and an adaptation of the satirical novel "Barn 8." Oh, and add a "Flash Gordon" remake that never seems to fully die.

Let's recap how we got here. Original co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns exited in 2023. Waititi then joked at an awards show that Shawn Levy's "Star Wars" movie would beat his to the finish line, and he was right. Kathleen Kennedy later brought in "Poor Things" screenwriter Tony McNamara and insisted Lucasfilm was happy to wait, saying Taika was on "Taika time." Back in 2023, Waititi told Variety his "Star Wars" film would "piss people off." As I wrote then, hiring him for the franchise was a mistake.

The timing is also telling. "Klara and the Sun" opens October 23 after a two-year post-production limbo, and the early reviews have been brutal, with a Metacritic score that opened at 27.

Waititi has been on a cold streak. He struck out with "Thor: Love and Thunder" in 2022, and his last film, "Next Goal Wins," which was also plagued by delays, was shot in 2019 and finally released in 2023 to very mixed reviews. "Klara" might be the worst of the lot, which has me wondering whether any major studio will want to greenlight another Taika Waititi movie in the near future.

Still, despite everything he's been through these last few years (the critical shellackings, the box office flops and more), Waititi isn't closing the door on that "iced" "Star Wars" movie. "Ice ages do come to an end," he teased. "Who knows?"