A new report claims that Lucasfilm is seeking another new screenwriter for its New Jedi Order film that is expected to star Daisy Ridley and be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: (L-R) Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
A report from Matt Belloni at Puck claims that Steven Knight, who had been tapped to write the film after Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson were dumped from the project, “is off the New Jedi Order film project.”
Belloni added, “Lucasfilm is now hunting for a new writer on New Jedi Order, which almost certainly means the film will not be ready by December 2026, the date Disney has staked out for a Star Wars release.”
Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Force Awakens (2015), Lucasfilm
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This report comes following Daisy Ridley claiming that “things are evolving” with the film during a screening for her recent film Magpie.
She added, “I continue to be very excited. There will be an update soon.”
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Lucasfilm
As far as Knight being off the project, this is not surprising. Back in September scooper and entertainment analyst WDW Pro speculated that Knight had moved on given he announced that he plans to open a studio in Los Angeles to film Peaky Blinders.
Knight told the BBC, ““I’m going to open a Digbeth Loc Studio here where people can go and look at what we’re doing. See pictures, decks and video of what’s happening, so people in LA can experience what we’re doing at Digbeth.”
Steven Knight, writer, Headshot
Following this report, WDW Pro speculated, “He is wrapped up in opening studios. That is no small endeavor. And our understanding was he was supposed to be working with the Rey movie, with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, with Lucasfilm and that would be an ongoing process. It seems to us, Lorn, and again, we could be wrong here, but seems to us that he is now going to be working on Peaky Blinders thing.
“And that makes us wonder if either the Rey movie has been delayed such that he can work on this for years and years and come back to it later or he’s been removed and nobody knows it yet, which would not portend well for the Rey movie either. So that’s where we are being led to believe that perhaps the Rey movie has experienced even more hiccups,” WDW Pro added.
Lorn Conner, WDW Pro’s guest, shared his own opinion, “I would say that I think is part of the reason why Lucasfilm and Disney over the last few years have tried to get away from people with clout in the industry to be their showrunners, their producers, and things like that. Because people that have that kind of influence can say, ‘No.’”
He continued, “So my guess is that rather than necessarily the production being halted eventually it wouldn’t surprise me if we got something that said, ‘Oh, there were creative differences,’ or ‘There were conflicts because he’s opening these studios. He’s just too busy to do it right now.’”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Daisy Ridley and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
Lorn added, “I do think that it would be far too big of an embarrassment to make some kind of an announcement saying the Rey movie is cancelled or even delayed. But my suspicion is they will find lots of ways to creatively delay it because right now they’re holding their breath and they’re trying to figure out how do we get out of this hole that we’ve dug for ourselves.
“I think The Acolyte has absolutely rattled them. I don’t think that you would be seeing what we’re seeing in the reactions in the fandom right now if they weren’t absolutely rattled by what happened with Acolyte. I think that it was a shock even to Lucasfilm and Disney,” he concluded.
(L-R): The Stranger and Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm’s THE ACOLYTE, season one, exclusively on Disney+. ©2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
On top of this speculation, Jordan Ruimy at World of Reel also reported back in January that the film had been delayed indefinitely.
He said, “I’ve been told that Disney has delayed the film ‘indefinitely’, which is why they surprised everyone last week and decided to announce The Mandalorian & Grogu as the next Star Wars movie.”
“They just don’t have confidence that New Jedi Order will be happening in the near future,” he added.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
As for the reason why, he shared, “The problems seems to reside in creative differences between screenwriter Steven Knight and LucasFilm. I’m told that a draft had originally been written for the film, but LucasFilm gave him so many notes that he had to start from scratch.”
Given this, Ruimy was hearing Knight would exit the project. He explained, “His frustrations have grown, he’s put Star Wars on the backburner and is now focused on the screenplay for his Peaky Blinders movie, which is supposed to go into production in the fall.”
Cillian Murphy (Tommy Shelby), Benjamin Zephaniah (Jeremiah Jesus) and Paul Anderson (Arthur Shelby) in Peaky Blinders, series three – Episode One BTS
Photographer: Robert Viglasky
© Caryn Mandabach Productions Ltd & Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd 2016
There have also been rumblings that Lucasfilm might replace Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Jeff Sneider shared during an appearance on The Hot Mic show that Shawn Levy, the director of Deadpool & Wolverine, might replace her.
He said, “I’m told that [Shawn Levy’s] project does have an element — I don’t know if Rey is front and center in it — but Rey is a character in Shawn Levy’s movie.”
He elaborated, “Now, is it Daisy Ridley’s Rey or an older Rey? We heard those rumors back in the day maybe about Helen Mirren being positioned as an older Rey. So I don’t know in Shawn Levy’s movie if a) Rey is the lead character or b) if Rey is Daisy Ridley age or she could be someone in her 40s or 50s or someone who’s 70 or 80 like Helen Mirren, I don’t know.”
READ: Rumor: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars Film “Needs More Work And Is Now On Hold”
Sneider then said, “Yes, Sharmeen is still on board, but you know how Lucasfilm goes through directors quickly. This hire has been questioned. She doesn’t have a ton of experience. So if it does for whatever reason go sour and she either quits, or is fired, or whatever. For whatever reason she exits the project depending on scheduling because again Shawn Levy is one of the busiest people in Hollywood … It’s my understanding that Shawn Levy could either slip in to direct that movie or Shawn Levy’s movie becomes the next movie or maybe Shawn Levy’s movie could be folded in to Sharmeen’s movie, I don’t know.”
“But he’s clearly interested in exploring Rey and that stuff and so if the Rey movie suddenly needs a director he may be the guy they turn to since they’re already in business with him,” Sneider added.
(L-R): Director Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds, and Hugh Jackman on the set of Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
What do you make of this report that claims Knight is no longer working on New Jedi Order and Lucasfilm is looking for a new writer?
