Daisy Ridley is set to return as Rey in Disney’s new untitled “Star Wars” sequel.
The project has hit a major roadblock after writer Steven Knight departed.
It’s the latest “Star Wars” movie that Disney has had trouble getting off the ground in recent years.
After writer Steven Knight quit the project, Disney ran into trouble with its next “Star Wars” movie, which will star Daisy Ridley.
Thursday, Variety said that Knight, who is best known for making the BBC drama “Peaky Blinders,” is no longer working on the movie.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will direct the follow-up, which is said to be about Rey (Daisy Ridley) trying to start a new Jedi Order after “Star Wars: Episode XI — The Rise of Skywalker.”
Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson quit writing the script, and Knight joined the project in March 2023.
It has been a great year for the galaxy on Disney+ since 2019 thanks to “Star Wars” TV shows like “The Mandalorian,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “Ahsoka,” and “Andor.”
The new sequel is Disney’s most recent movie project that has not come out yet.
In November 2017, one month before “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi” came out in theaters, Lucasfilm announced that director Rian Johnson was making a trilogy with characters from “The Skywalker Saga” that were not connected to the Skywalker Saga at all.
It is been almost eight years, and the project is still going, but it is not being worked on anymore, according to IGN.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who are the creators of Game of Thrones, had a deal with Lucasfilm to make their own Jedi trilogy, but they broke up with the company in 2019, according to Deadline.
In the same year, Kevin Feige, the head of Marvel Studios, confirmed that he was making a “Star Wars” movie. After 2023, though, he said he was done with the project.
“Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins said in 2020 that she was making a “Star Wars” movie about a fighter pilot called “Rogue Squadron.”
The project was then put on hold until March of this year. Jenkins said that work was still being done on it.
Lastly, “Thor: Love & Thunder” director Taika Waititi is making a movie, which was first announced in 2020. He told Business Insider in November 2023 that his movie is “still marinating.”
It may come as a surprise that so many “Star Wars” movies are being planned, since blockbusters cost a lot of money to make (“The Rise of Skywalker” cost just over $400 million).
It cost $4.1 billion for Disney to buy Lucasfilm in 2012. Forbes has calculated that, despite a number of box office hits, it has not yet recouped the cost of the purchase.
The studio’s problems with these projects suggest that there may be ongoing issues with scripts, stories, deadlines, contracts, shooting schedules, or a mix of these things.
Ridley is still on board for now, and she told Collider about a “exciting” new development in the movie while she was showing her next movie, “Magpie.”
“Things are changing,” she said. As always, I am very excited. “There will be news soon.”
It was not likely that Ridley was talking about Knight’s leaving.
“The Mandalorian & Grogu,” the next real “Star Wars” movie, is set to come out in May 2026.