# Taika Waititi puts his Star Wars movie 'on ice' six years after Lucasfilm announced it

Source: Searchable (https://searchable.pk/news/entertainment/taika-waititi-puts-his-star-wars-movie-on-ice-six-years-after-lucasfilm)
Type: News article
Author: Searchable Editorial
Published: 19 Oct 2026
Updated: 19 Oct 2026
Retrieved: 19 Oct 2026

> The Thor: Ragnarok director says the film is "very iced" while he and co-writer Tony McNamara work on something else. Lucasfilm has not cancelled it.

**Taika Waititi's Star Wars film has been put on hold with no new date, the director has confirmed, six years after Lucasfilm announced it.** Speaking to Inverse while promoting his new film Klara and the Sun, the Oscar-winning New Zealander said the project is now "very iced", as [The Playlist](https://theplaylist.net/taika-waititi-star-wars-movie-on-ice-tony-mcnamara-20261018/) and [Variety](https://variety.com/2026/film/news/taika-waititi-confirms-star-wars-movie-is-on-hold-1236916086/) reported.

## What Waititi said

Asked about the film, Waititi said he and his co-writer were going to "put it on ice" and were working on "a different thing together" instead. He added that he has "about four other movies" he is trying to make.

He did not close the door completely. "Ice ages do come to an end. Who knows?" he said. When pressed on the new project, he checked with his publicist and kept quiet. Lucasfilm has not formally cancelled the film.

## Six years in development

- **May 2020:** Lucasfilm announces a Star Wars feature directed by Waititi, first developed with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, the co-writer of 1917 and Last Night in Soho.
- **Later:** Tony McNamara, the two-time Oscar-nominated writer of The Favourite and Poor Things, joins as co-writer.
- **January 2026:** Outgoing Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy says Waititi has delivered a screenplay, and praises it.
- **October 2026:** Waititi says the film is on ice and that he and McNamara are now working on something else together.

Waititi already has Star Wars experience: he directed the Season 1 finale of The Mandalorian and voiced the droid IG-11. He won the Oscar for Jojo Rabbit's adapted screenplay and directed Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder.

## Part of a long list

The pause puts Waititi's film on a growing shelf of announced Star Wars movies that have stalled. The Playlist lists Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron, Rian Johnson's planned trilogy after The Last Jedi, the trilogy David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were to make, a Kevin Feige project that was dropped, and James Mangold's film about the dawn of the Jedi, which is also on hold. A trilogy from Simon Kinberg is still in development.

For Star Wars fans in Pakistan, that leaves no fixed date for a Waititi take on the galaxy. His next release is Klara and the Sun, his adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, which he is now promoting, as [Stuff reported](https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/361048274/taika-waititi-confirms-his-star-wars-film-has-been-put-ice).

More film news is on our [entertainment page](/news/entertainment), including [Quentin Tarantino's update on his 10th film](/news/entertainment/quentin-tarantino-says-his-10th-and-final-film-script-is-written-but-the-play).

## Frequently asked questions

**Is Taika Waititi's Star Wars movie cancelled?**

Not formally. Waititi says it is on ice while he works on a different project with co-writer Tony McNamara, and Lucasfilm has not cancelled it.

## Sources

- Taika Waititi Confirms His Star Wars Movie Has Been Put on Ice Indefinitely (Variety): https://variety.com/2026/film/news/taika-waititi-confirms-star-wars-movie-is-on-hold-1236916086/
- Taika Waititi Says His Long-Delayed Movie Is Very Iced As He Moves On To A New Project (The Playlist): https://theplaylist.net/taika-waititi-star-wars-movie-on-ice-tony-mcnamara-20261018/
- Taika Waititi confirms his Star Wars film has been put on ice (Stuff): https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/361048274/taika-waititi-confirms-his-star-wars-film-has-been-put-ice

How to cite: "Taika Waititi puts his Star Wars movie 'on ice' six years after Lucasfilm announced it", Searchable, 19 Oct 2026, https://searchable.pk/news/entertainment/taika-waititi-puts-his-star-wars-movie-on-ice-six-years-after-lucasfilm