Taika Waititi Says His ‘Star Wars’ Will ‘Expand the World’

In a recent interview with Total Film, Taika Waititi explained his take on where the Star Wars franchise stands now, and where it could be heading in the near future. Waititi is working on his own Star Wars film, although details about what it might entail are very scarce.

Waititi said:

Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand. I don’t think that I’m any use in the Star Wars universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother.’ That all stands alone, that’s great, though I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world, otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story.

Those words closely echoed a recent interview conducted with Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm. She explained that for Star Wars to stay engaging, they need to explore a “whole new saga.“ Most fans would probably agree after the backlash caused by the most recent trilogy, which some felt relied too much on tropes and characters from the original films. That being said, Star Wars fans are notoriously hard to please.

There’s an absolute wealth of expanded-universe Star Wars material to draw from. There’s everything from comics to video games, and they all take place across a gigantic timespan. Even if Waititi recycled some old, non-canon characters and scenarios, it would be unlike anything most of the film-going public had ever seen. Then again, if he really does whip up something entirely original, all the better.

Taika Waititi’s style of filmmaking definitely lends itself to something new and exciting for the Star Wars universe. His signature blend of comedy and obvious love for film come together to make him one of the most fun directors working at the moment. He’s also shown time and time again that he can make huge blockbusters… Most notably Thor: Ragnarok and hopefully, the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, which opens in theaters next month.

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