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Austin Manchester is a writer and editor living in New York City. At Polygon, he covers gaming and entertainment news, reviews new video games, interviews behind-the-scenes talent, and more. He enjoys discovering hidden gems and sharing them with Polygon's audience. Previously, he was the gaming editor for AIPT Comics and has written for other outlets like XDA, How-To Geek, and The List.
He enjoys soulslikes, character-driven RPGs, and third-person shooters plucked straight out of the Xbox 360 era. He also likes to flex his non-video game nerdy knowledge sometimes, whether that's explaining who's who in the new Wolverine game or recommending a comic book series about a sentient sword.
The director has been on quite the cold streak
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Taika Waititi's newest film Klara and the Sun is out on Friday, but, based on its initial reception (25% on Rotten Tomatoes), its time in the sun may not be long. One Waititi project that may never see the light of day is his long-gestating Star Wars film. Waititi recently gave an update on the movie, telling Inverse it's "on ice."
Waititi's Star Wars movie was announced in 2020, but the public has heard little of it since, apart from a 2023 update that the film was still planned. Now? That seems unlikely. "I hate to break this to you, but we're going to actually put it on ice," Waititi said.
According to Inverse, Waititi asked his publicist if he could say any more about it. "If you have to ask, the answer is no," he was told.
"Well, there's your answer. I don't even know how to dress it up or make it even vague," Waititi said. He called the film "very iced" and said that he has at least four other movies he's trying to make too.
The current state of Star Wars on the big screen
While "on ice" doesn't necessarily mean canceled, it doesn't sound like Waititi will be directing in a galaxy far, far away any time soon. (He did offer a tiny speck of hope: "Ice ages do come to an end. Who knows?")
A big-name Hollywood talent not being able to get his Star Wars movie off the ground isn't an experience unique to Waititi. Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss were supposed to make a trilogy, but left it when they signed a deal with Netflix. The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was confirmed to make a trilogy as well, but it never materialized, and instead the director has been focused on his Knives Out mystery series. Other Star Wars movies that never went anywhere include a project Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige had been developing, a canceled Ben Solo film from Adam Driver and Steven Soderbergh, and a pitch from David Fincher that never advanced further, among others.
Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Deadpool & Wolverine's Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, will put Star Wars back in movie theaters next summer on May 28, 2027. Disney has several other Star Wars movies in development, but time will tell if any of them work out or if they get put on ice like Waititi's.