Kathleen Kennedy ‘Would Love’ for Taika Waititi to Direct a Star Wars Film

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy would love for Taika Waititi to direct a Star Wars movie. The acclaimed director recently made a splash in the filmmaking industry with his 2017 Marvel movie, Thor: Ragnarok, the third and final installment in Marvel Studios’ Thor trilogy. The movie took the series in a different direction and offered a fresh and invigorating take on the character, for the better, and now he’s looking for his next big project to helm.


Waititi recently mentioned interest in helming a Black Widow movie in the same vein as Thor: Ragnarok, leaning closer towards comedy than drama and inter-universe connectivity. But it seems a Black Widow movie may not be in the cards for quite some time, at least not until after Anthony and Joe Russo conclude their Avengers movies. Instead, the New Zealand-born filmmaker may be looking into adapting Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira onto the big screen. But if that doesn’t work out, then perhaps Waititi will consider helming a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm. After all, Walt Disney Studios must be happy with his work on making Thor an astounding critical and commercial success for them.


In an interview with Newshub, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said she would “love” for Taika Waititi to direct a Star Wars movie for them, and she wanted the outlet to pass the news on to Waititi to make sure he knows that it’s an informal job offer, should he want to move from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to a galaxy far, far away. Kennedy said:

“I would love for him to direct a Star Wars movie. I think he has exactly the right sensibility. It was very exciting to see him step into the Marvel universe and do such an amazing job with Thor.”


Lucasfilm certainly seems interested in Waititi helming Star Wars, but is the feeling mutual? Yes, and no. In October 2017, Waititi mentioned that he’s interested in making another Marvel movie, but not so much Star Wars. He feels Star Wars movies are too serious for his taste and that there probably isn’t much room for someone like him in that franchise. However, he later mentioned that he would be idiotic for him not to say yes to something like Star Wars. So, he’s interested in the franchise, but only if he could be himself. Well, it seems like Kennedy is all for that.


Of course, the studio has had issues before with directors who’ve put their personal filmmaking styles above the vision of the studio, namely with Solo: A Star Wars Story directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were fired from the Han Solo film mere weeks before wrapping production. Still, that doesn’t mean Lucasfilm hasn’t learned their lesson and are willing to move on – and Waititi is an ideal director to shake things up for the long-running Star Wars saga.