While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker disappointed a lot of fans, it was far from a box office flop. That makes it all the more surprising to see how the franchise has been absent from theaters ever since, though a combination of the pandemic and Lucasfilm being unable to get its act together are major contributing factors.
In the case of the latter, planned trilogies from Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have fallen by the wayside, while Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron movie similarly appears to have been lost in a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Next up, though, is a mysterious Star Wars movie from Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi.
He's penned the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, and the current expectation is that this untitled project will arrive in theaters in late 2023.
Doing the rounds to promote the God of Thunder's latest solo adventure, Waititi appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and was asked if he plans to "ruin Star Wars." Making it clear that's definitely not the plan, the filmmaker added, "No, I’m not. What if I was like, 'Yeah, I’m going to give you the Jar Jar Binks story.'"
The horror.
Funnily enough, while this is obviously a joke, fans have expressed a desire in recent years to see more of The Phantom Menace's divisive Gungan. For a time, there were rumblings he might appear in Obi-Wan Kenobi, though it appears that was an idea Lucasfilm had when the Disney+ series was still going to be a movie.
Tie-in novels have suggested Jar Jar may have ended up performing on the streets of Naboo as a revolved clown for his role in Emperor Palpatine's rise to power, though we'd like to see him show up at some point.
Check out this interview with Waititi about his Star Wars plans below: