When you had been holding out hope for a Denis Villeneuve-directed, completely depressing Star Wars installment, you would possibly need to sit down, as he hasn’t actually loved the collection since 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
He briefly spoke in regards to the matter throughout a latest episode of The City podcast (by way of IGN), the place he commented on the spell that each A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Again solid on him and the way it all obtained demolished with the conclusion to the unique trilogy of flicks, which he thought was “a comedy for youths.”
Whereas most individuals will agree that Return of the Jedi is not as unbelievable as the 2 earlier installments, it is constantly bundled with them and praised as a satisfying conclusion to the unique trilogy, so Villeneuve’s scorching scorching take right here is not a quite common one. Furthermore, it is odd to utterly write it off as “a comedy for youths” after loving the very first film, which is admittedly rattling humorous and lighthearted too. Maybe the distinction is that he wasn’t a child anymore when he watched the Ewok-filled threequel.
In any case, he isn’t in a rush to leap into the Star Wars galaxy in the intervening time. “Star Wars grew to become crystallized in its personal mythology, very dogmatic… It appeared like a recipe, no extra surprises. So I am not dreaming to do a Star Wars as a result of it looks like code could be very codified.” The ‘second half’ of his feedback is much extra affordable; he isn’t improper in mentioning that certainly one of Star Wars’ largest struggles is attempting to flee its personal shadow and previous. Thoughts you, it is discovered success over the many years by slowly however steadily increasing its galaxy and timeline, however with much more new Star Wars TV reveals and flicks on the horizon after a fairly busy first decade of the IP beneath Disney, bolder swings corresponding to Andor are wanted to maintain issues recent.
Villeneuve’s feedback additionally mark a change of coronary heart if we evaluate them to what he stated about the potential of directing a Star Wars film again in 2017: “Itβs one thing that, once more itβs like, I might be intrigued… I donβt know, itβs very troublesome. What’s harmful with βStar Warsβ proper now could be it is turn out to be its personal vocabulary. I might like to see them β I believe βRogue Oneβ was a really fascinating try and get out of the mould… I believe it could be a fantastic thought to get out of there and to go on a brand new a part of the galaxy, that I might be open to.” Whereas he acknowledged the identical underlying difficulty with Star Wars, he appeared way more open in regards to the thought again then. What’s modified?
Nicely, for starters, Star Wars has turn out to be extra bloated since 2017, resembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe mannequin fairly a bit, at the least on the massive and small screens. That appears to be the other of what Villeneuve is in search of even along with his largest films, corresponding to his ongoing Dune trilogy. Additionally, with so many tasks ready to be made after he is executed with Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe, it is regular that he would not really feel the necessity to bounce into a completely totally different one with a fair greater historical past and extra ferocious fanbase.
Nonetheless, I personally suppose his ‘rejection’ of what Star Wars has turn out to be (and type of all the time has been) is precisely why I believe a Villeneuve-helmed Star Wars could be fairly fascinating to see. Andor is not the one latest undertaking that is been a hit, but it surely’s the one which has attracted extra ‘outsider’ consideration for positive and proved the Star Wars canvas is much wider (and deeper) than you’d suppose at first. You solely have to discover a voice that is not beholden to the established canon to inform a brand new story… however respects it sufficient to collaborate inside that sandbox. Tony Gilroy did precisely that along with his crew, and I am sure that is an strategy Villeneuve may get behind.
The filmmaker’s subsequent film is just about confirmed to be an adaptation of Dune: Messiah, the second novel within the collection, and it is presently dated for December 18, 2026.
