Taika Waititi Says His Star Wars Movie Is 'On Ice' as He and Tony McNamara Change Projects

Taika Waititi says his proposed Star Wars movie is on hold while he and Tony McNamara develop a different project. In a first-hand interview published by Inverse on October 18, 2026, the filmmaker describes putting the film “on ice”, while leaving an eventual return open.

That establishes Waititi’s account of the current pause. It does not amount to a new Lucasfilm announcement permanently cancelling the film, and the alternative collaboration has no disclosed title or subject in the interview.

What did Waititi tell Inverse?

Inverse’s Dais Johnston spoke to Waititi while he was promoting Klara and the Sun. Asked about Star Wars, he said he and McNamara were shifting to another piece of work. He declined to explain that project further and did not rule out revisiting the Star Wars idea later.

The distinction matters: a paused film and an announced permanent cancellation are different statuses. There is no restart timetable in his remarks, but his comments also do not support a claim that it can never happen.

Klara and the Sun is the separate film he was promoting. Its release date is not a date for his Star Wars feature, and the newly mentioned collaboration should not be presented as a replacement Star Wars movie.

What Lucasfilm originally announced

Lucasfilm’s May 4, 2020 announcement attached Waititi to direct and co-write a theatrical Star Wars feature, with Krysty Wilson-Cairns as the announced co-writer at that time. It did not provide a release date.

The same announcement noted Waititi’s direction of The Mandalorian’s first-season finale. He also voiced IG-11, the droid shown in the authentic archival image above. Those completed credits are separate from the proposed feature’s development status.

The 2020 writer pairing should not be silently carried forward as the current one: the October 2026 interview discusses McNamara, not a fresh Wilson-Cairns attachment. Nor should the original announcement be used as evidence that shooting is proceeding today.

Does this settle the film’s future?

Variety’s October 19 report corroborates the pause and places it after earlier remarks about Waititi wanting a distinct, playful approach to the franchise. That earlier creative ambition is context, not an approved plot or production commitment.

No verified title, cast, filming start or theatrical date for the feature is established by the checked announcements. The current evidence also does not identify the new Waititi–McNamara project’s distributor or connect it to Lucasfilm.

Other developing Star Wars films remain separate reporting threads. Our Jon Watts and Simon Kinberg article concerns a different prospective project; nothing in Waititi’s interview identifies it as his film’s replacement.