# New Star Wars director named **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143 "2020-05-04T21:49:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/1 "2020-05-04T21:49:53Z")
His movie JoJo Rabbit was terrible but I guess Disney must have liked it. > **[Taika Waititi to write and direct new Star Wars](https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018745183/taika-waititi-to-write-and-direct-new-star-wars)** > > Taika Waititi is going to direct and write a new Star Wars film. > The move was announced to coincide with May the 4th in the United States, the date known as Star Wars Day. > Susie Ferguson speaks to Variety's executive editor Steven Gaydos, who said... ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/2 "2020-05-04T21:55:20Z")
Terrible? He won an Oscar for it. It was probably my favorite movie of last year. _Ragnarok_ also rejuvenated the Thor franchise. This is an excellent choice. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/3 "2020-05-04T22:00:57Z")
They’re still doing Star Wars movies? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/4 "2020-05-04T22:03:37Z")
James Bond has 24 movies in almost 60 years with no end in sight. SW only has 11 so far. As long as the tickets sell they will keep making them. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/5 "2020-05-04T22:04:04Z")
Now that Disney has wrapped up the never to be sufficiently damned Skywalker Saga, they can get on to making original shit in the SW Universe. I expect Waititi’s movie to be set during The Old Republic. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/6 "2020-05-04T22:05:34Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They’re still doing Star Wars movies? It may come as a surprise to you but franchises are the big thing going on in Hollywood, with all of the studios trying to create new ones or extend existing ones. Disney is probably the most aggressive about this so it’s no surprise that they’re going to do another Star Wars movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/7 "2020-05-04T22:06:38Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > His movie JoJo Rabbit was terrible but I guess Disney must have liked it. > > [https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018745183/taika-waititi-to-write-and-direct-new-star-wars](https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018745183/taika-waititi-to-write-and-direct-new-star-wars) Rotten Tomatoes has the critic score at 79% and the audience score at 94%. I’ve had several friends recommend it. I suspect your opinion is the minority opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/8 "2020-05-04T22:42:04Z")
> [@Tinker\_Grey](#): > > Rotten Tomatoes has the critic score at 79% and the audience score at 94%. I’ve had several friends recommend it. _Jo-Jo Rabbit_ is the best movie ever made about the Hitler Youth. “It’s definitely not a good time to be a Nazi.” However, although Waititi directed what is arguably the best episode of _The Mandalorian_, I don’t know how good of a choice he is for a _Star Wars_ feature film. It’s not his abilities I doubt, but while the original trilogy made room for humor, the generally darker tone of the films seems ill-suited to Waititi’s brand of irreverence. It worked in _The Mandalorian_ because the show has low stakes to begin with (taking the Western themes into Spaghetti Western territory), and perhaps it can translate into a full feature, but that is definitely a tonal shift that hardcore fans may not care for and casual viewers may not expect. Then again, _Solo_ was originally going to be more comedic until studio execs got spooked and decided to make it a more conventional film directed by a competent but uninspired director, and it ended up being he least memorable of any _Star Wars_ film. I mean that literally; there are better films and some that are worse, but all I can remember from the film is that he is named Solo because he has no family, and for some reason Lando Calrissian is having sex with a droid, which seems like a gag directly from a Robot Chicken spoof, and nothing else about the film left any impression whatsoever. So, maybe what _Star Wars_ really needs is a shot of wacky, offbeat humor. It certainly doesn’t need any more J.J. Abrams, but then, I can’t think of anything that does. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/9 "2020-05-04T22:59:13Z")
13 movies so far, not 11. I swear, I’m the only one who remembers the other two. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/10 "2020-05-04T23:06:10Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > 13 movies so far, not 11. I swear, I’m the only one who remembers the other two. Fourteen. If we’re counting the TV movies [_The Ewok Adventure_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087225) and [_Ewoks: The Battle for Endor_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089110) then you also have to count…[_The Star Wars Holiday Special_](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193524). Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/11 "2020-05-04T23:29:26Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > His movie JoJo Rabbit was terrible but I guess Disney must have liked it. > > [https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018745183/taika-waititi-to-write-and-direct-new-star-wars](https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018745183/taika-waititi-to-write-and-direct-new-star-wars) _Jojo Rabbit_ was great, but Disney was probably looking at his direction of _Thor: Ragnarok_, which has a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. It had humor but also dark elements. Watiti is also directing the next _Thor_ film. He also did the original film of _What We Do in the Shadows_, which I haven’t seen but also got good reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/12 "2020-05-04T23:31:33Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > _Jojo Rabbit_ was great, but Disney was probably looking at his direction of _Thor: Ragnarok_, which has a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. It had humor but also dark elements. Watiti is also directing the next _Thor_ film. He also did the original film of _What We Do in the Shadows_, which I haven’t seen but also got good reviews. I very much enjoyed that film. You should definitely give it a shot. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/13 "2020-05-04T23:37:03Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They’re still doing Star Wars movies? While I kind of have the same reaction, I’ve also always maintained that there’s _gotta_ be something else interesting going on somewhere else in an entire “galaxy far, far away” that doesn’t have anything at all to do with these same like 5 people that all of the other films have revolved around. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/14 "2020-05-04T23:47:57Z")
> [@Tinker\_Grey](#): > > I very much enjoyed that film. You should definitely give it a shot. Now that I see that Watiti was the director, I probably will. (I’ve been kind of burned out on zombie/vampire type shows.) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/15 "2020-05-04T23:56:09Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > While I kind of have the same reaction, I’ve also always maintained that there’s _gotta_ be something else interesting going on somewhere else in an entire “galaxy far, far away” that doesn’t have anything at all to do with these same like 5 people that all of the other films have revolved around. Plus, Disney has invested US$4B in Lucasfilm, and even if the films suck they’re still going to make bank on the licensing. They don’t want to be like Paramount, losing out on _Star Trek_ for letting it lapse into production limbo, but they also don’t want to take the risk of introducing totally new characters with no connection to those same “5 people”, which is the same reason Bond films kept bringing back Blofeld until they could no longer legally do so. To be fair, although the prequels were pointless filler, and the sequel trilogy was an uneven and poorly crafted effort to appeal to nostalgia, there is a lot left to be mined from the _Star Wars_ universe. From the start is was a vibrantly characterized space opera milieu that looked lived in, with a rich backstory only hinted at by the characters, and if Lucas had been smarter than to hem in his prequel trilogy by simply having to run up to the original movies (and fill them with then-cutting edge CGI that now looks worse than a random episode of _Babylon 5_) then it could have expanded the world of _Star Wars_ to encompass any amount of stories with loose references and connections. The _Mandalorian_ shows what could have been done with _Star Wars_, and while it is narratively far from original or perfect it has created new characters, as did _Rogue One_ (despite existing just to plug a plot hole) which were memorable in their own right. Nobody asked for or needed a film that explained how Han Solo got his name, where his dice came from, and how he did the Kessel run in 12 parsecs, but they could (and should) make a Lando Calrissian movie where Han is mentioned or shows up for a cameo but otherwise delves into the previous unspoken tales of a grifter who made good, or a New Republic scout hunting down a secret Empire development lab where a potent weapon was being developed by a clan of malevolent space dwaves who forged it in the heart of a dying sun. No, wait, that is Nidavellir. Well, the appeal of _Star Wars_ was never that it was terribly original; it is that it sewed together various elements into an entertaining and appealing story with compelling characters and richly designed set pieces. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/16 "2020-05-05T00:14:07Z")
I can confidently predict this will be the best Star Wars film based on this alone. Also Jojo Rabbit was fucking great. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/17 "2020-05-05T00:46:36Z")
Jojo Rabbit WAS fucking great. Like several others, I’d like to widen the scope. Even if we keep it roughly the same time there’s an enormous galaxy out there to make stories from. Even keeping with the western motif, you could do drama, adventure, political thriller, ranch or water wars, whatever. Hell, a variation on The Searchers would be great. Even vary the genre. Imagine - well, Nora Ephron’s dead - but imagine a romcom in Ephron’s style set on some planet we’ve never heard of yet. I could see that being made. It would be great. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/18 "2020-05-05T00:57:58Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Like several others, I’d like to widen the scope. Even if we keep it roughly the same time there’s an enormous galaxy out there to make stories from. Even keeping with the western motif, you could do drama, adventure, political thriller, ranch or water wars, whatever. _The Man Who Blasted Darth Valance_: “When the legend becomes fact, hologram the legend.” Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/19 "2020-05-05T01:14:20Z")
Exactly. Ten Little Tusken Raiders The Corellian Who Knew Too Much Sleepless in Mos Eisley The Hutt Connection ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143/20 "2020-05-05T01:18:07Z")
What We Do In The Shadows is a great movie, and so is Thor 3. I liked Jojo Rabbit as well, but not quite as much. Boy was very popular in NZ, but I only thought it was OK. He was good on The Mandalorian as well. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-star-wars-director-named/853143.md?page=2)