It's often overlooked these days, but Louis Leterrier helped launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside Jon Favreau way back in 2008. He helmed The Incredible Hulk, a movie Marvel Studios expected to be a safe bet; instead, it was Iron Man that really soared.
Since then, Leterrier has gone on to direct the likes of Now You See Me and Fast X, while Favreau has played a crucial role in shaping Lucasfilm's Star Wars offerings on Disney+ as the creator of The Mandalorian.
Talking to Josh Horowitz on his Happy Sad Confused podcast, Leterrier recalled meeting with Lucasfilm to pitch a TV show which he strongly hinted wasn't all that different from some of those we've since seen on Disney+.
"I had my dream Star Wars idea a long time ago, when I came to them and pitched it: 'We should do a Star Wars TV show conceived as a lone wolf and cub,'" the filmmaker recalls. "And they said 'Uh, we don’t know if that’s a great idea. We'll come back to you.'"
"It was not Mando," he added. "It was two things. I wanted to do the missing part between basically before A New Hope when Obi-Wan takes Luke. I wanted to do that. But I was also very interested in the Boba Fett movie or TV show."
Leterrier obviously isn't trying to take credit for The Mandalorian or any other show here but no one could blame him for being a little annoyed that Lucasfilm did end up revisiting both the projects he pitched to them (the Obi-Wan Kenobi series and The Book of Boba Fett, for example) and the concept of a lone wolf and cub. Still, even he admits it's not the most original of concepts.
As for how the director feels about it now, he says, "That's okay, I did Hulk, I did other things. It's all good, it's all part of the thing. And, frankly, I had this idea because it was low-hanging fruit, I think it was so obvious, the characters are so iconic. Didn't go the way I wanted."
It's always interesting to hear about what might have been, though Leterrier isn't exactly in an exclusive club when it comes to being turned down by Lucasfilm. Even Guillermo del Toro attempted to come up with a Jabba the Hutt-led project for them (going so far as to begin creature design), only to later see it fall apart.
Do you think Leterrier would have been a good choice for Star Wars? As always, share your thoughts in the comments section below.