Taika Waititi to direct and co-write new Star Wars film

Disney has announced on Tuesday that filmmaker Taika Waititi will direct and co-write a new Star Wars film.

Waititi, who recently won as Oscar for Nazi satire film Jojo Rabbit, will co-write the untitled film with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night in Soho). This will be Waititi’s second outing in the franchise after helming the season finale of Disney Plus’ hit television series The Mandalorian.

The “May the 4th” announcement also revealed that a new untitled Star Wars series for Disney Plus is currently being developed by ‘Russian Doll’ co-creator Leslye Headland. She will be the writer, executive producer and showrunner for the Disney Plus series. It was previously rumored that the upcoming series will be “female-centric” set in an alternate timeline in the Star Wars universe.

In addition to the growing list of Star Wars titles under Disney’s streaming platform, two live-action series of the franchise are also in development at Disney Plus, including a spin-off to the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and a series which will feature the much-awaited return of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi.

There’s no official theatrical release date of Waititi and Headland’s Star Wars projects. However, the series of Star Wars films is slated to come out in December 2022.