If you were holding out hope for a Denis Villeneuve-directed, absolutely miserable Star Wars installment, you might want to sit down, as he hasn’t really enjoyed the series since 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
He briefly spoke about the matter during a recent episode of The Town podcast (via IGN), where he commented on the spell that both A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back cast on him and how it all got demolished with the conclusion to the original trilogy of movies, which he thought was “a comedy for kids.”
While most people will agree that Return of the Jedi isn’t as fantastic as the two previous installments, it’s consistently bundled with them and praised as a satisfying conclusion to the original trilogy, so Villeneuve’s scorching hot take here isn’t a very common one. Moreover, it’s odd to completely write it off as “a comedy for kids” after loving the very first movie, which is admittedly damn funny and lighthearted too. Perhaps the difference is that he wasn’t a kid anymore when he watched the Ewok-filled threequel.
In any case, he’s not in a rush to jump into the Star Wars galaxy at the moment. “Star Wars became crystallized in its own mythology, very dogmatic… It seemed like a recipe, no more surprises. So I’m not dreaming to do a Star Wars because it feels like code is very codified.” The ‘second part’ of his comments is far more reasonable; he’s not wrong in pointing out that one of Star Wars’ biggest struggles is trying to escape its own shadow and past. Mind you, it’s found success over the decades by slowly but steadily expanding its galaxy and timeline, but with even more new Star Wars TV shows and movies on the horizon after a pretty busy first decade of the IP under Disney, bolder swings such as Andor are needed to keep things fresh.
Villeneuve’s comments also mark a change of heart if we compare them to what he said about the possibility of directing a Star Wars movie back in 2017: “It’s something that, again it’s like, I would be intrigued… I don’t know, it’s very difficult. What is dangerous with ‘Star Wars‘ right now is it’s become its own vocabulary. I would love to see them — I think ‘Rogue One‘ was a very interesting attempt to get out of the mold… I think it would be a great idea to get out of there and to go on a new part of the galaxy, that I would be open to.” While he acknowledged the same underlying issue with Star Wars, he seemed far more open about the idea back then. What’s changed?
Well, for starters, Star Wars has become more bloated since 2017, resembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe model quite a bit, at least on the big and small screens. That seems to be the opposite of what Villeneuve is looking for even with his biggest movies, such as his ongoing Dune trilogy. Also, with so many projects waiting to be made after he’s done with Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe, it’s normal that he doesn’t feel the need to jump into an entirely different one with an even bigger history and more ferocious fanbase.
Still, I personally think his ‘rejection’ of what Star Wars has become (and sort of always has been) is exactly why I think a Villeneuve-helmed Star Wars would be quite interesting to see. Andor isn’t the only recent project that’s been a success, but it’s the one that has attracted more ‘outsider’ attention for sure and proved the Star Wars canvas is far wider (and deeper) than you’d think at first. You only need to find a voice that isn’t beholden to the established canon to tell a new story… but respects it enough to collaborate within that sandbox. Tony Gilroy did exactly that with his team, and I’m certain that’s an approach Villeneuve could get behind.
The filmmaker’s next movie is pretty much confirmed to be an adaptation of Dune: Messiah, the second novel in the series, and it’s currently dated for December 18, 2026.
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