Star Wars | More problems as New Jedi Order film goes on hold

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The ongoing problems of getting Star Wars films moving this time centre on New Jedi Order, which would have brought Daisy Ridley back.

Earlier this year, we covered a report that had popped up at World Of Reel in which it was claimed that the continuation of Rey Skywalker’s Star Wars journey was in trouble.

Not long after the film Star Wars: New Jedi Order was announced last summer, it was revealed the project was the same one that Damon Lindelof and Justin Brit-Gibson had already walked away from. Its star Daisy Ridley, who’d appeared on stage to promote the film’s reveal, later admitted that she’d signed up to it without reading a script.

That was 2023, and as we head into the back end of 2024, Daisy Ridley still won’t have seen a script – not a finished one at least. Given that September was the month that the film was said to be going into production, Daniel Richtman (via World Of Reel) seems to have confirmed the story from a couple of months ago.

In short, writer Steven Knight has handed in four drafts and Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy still isn’t happy. Knight is now heading off to oversee his Peaky Blinders film, so he’ll be busy with other things for the foreseeable future.

The latest report also suggests that New Jedi Order's fate hangs in the balance, as is the future of documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who was drafted in to direct the project. The report states that the film is now internally ‘on hold’ rather than in development.

Lucasfilm has several other Star Wars projects brewing, including The Mandalorian And Grogu and a film based on the dawn of the Jedi. They’re set to be directed by Jon Favreau and James Mangold respectively. (There’s also Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, a movie that’s been on-again, off-again for years.)

Lucasfilm’s seeming inability to get its marquee Star Wars project off the ground speaks to the uncertainty and creative second-guessing that looks to have taken root. This follows 2019’s underwhelming The Rise Of Skywaker and the recently cancelled TV series, The Acolyte, a Star Wars show that was scrapped after one season due to poor viewing numbers.

We’ll bring you more on this story in due course – but frankly, it doesn’t look good for the future of New Jedi Order.

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