The New Star Wars Movie Featuring Rey Loses Its Writer, Will Likely Be Delayed (Just Like Most New Star Wars Projects!)
Just days after Daisy Ridley told fans to expect an update on her 'Rey Skywalker' movie soon, in an interview many thought was encouraging towards the status of said-film (announced in April 2023), Steven Knight has exited as the writer. It is now reportedly "highly unlikely" the Rey Skywalker film makes its release date in December 2026.
Steven Knight is best known for creating/writing a lot of 'Peaky Blinders', but he's also (strangely) one of the creators of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' - and has written/directed movies like 'Locke' and 'Serenity'. Hit or miss to be honest.
You guys probably know me as an incredibly positive Star Wars fan; even when a large percentage of the fanbase isn't on board with something in the franchise, I'm usually trying to rationalize it or "find the light in it" if you will. Not always - I won't defend the Reylo kiss in 'Rise of Skywalker' or the 'Carrie Poppins' scene in 'The Last Jedi' - but I will die on the hill that 'The Last Jedi' is a great movie any day of the week, I love the sequels (and prequels!) as a whole, and am one of the people genuinely looking forward to watching the continuation of the Rey Skywalker story.
I say all of this to make sure you know I'm not just one of these negative Star Wars fans who hates everything post-original trilogy before I ask: WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON AT LUCASFILM, KATHLEEN KENNEDY?!
Look, Kathleen Kennedy gets a lot of shit nowadays. They just made a whole South Park special about her. I'm sure all of it isn't deserved, like when people blame her for the creative choices in some of the Disney Plus shows or something I think that's ridiculous. There's no way she's involved in that sorta shit (and I've defended her on My Mom's Basement for years saying as much)....but what about all of the announced projects that have been cancelled and delayed in the past few years?
That's the sorta shit that keeps me up at night as a fan, and the list is piling up like CRAZY recently!
I mean what the fuck is going on over there?! Are these movies just announced to make shareholders happy waaaay too early into their development?! Am I to believe that none of these projects were deemed "ready" or "quality enough" to be given the green light but the 85% of 'The Acolyte' that stunk out loud was fine? Why is every 1 in 10 Star Wars projects getting through pre-production lately?
I've been a Kathleen Kennedy defender for years, because again, I don't think she's to blame for most of the shit she gets blame for (and don't really know what the business side of her job entails at all) - but we're reaching the point where I feel like Star Wars may need someone a little closer to Kevin Feige than Kathleen Kennedy going forward. And I know Feige isn't even the best guy to bring up here, because he's had his share of cancelled/delayed projects as well (BLADE being a big one!) but at least most Marvel projects on the slate actually happen eventually.
I wonder if Dave Filoni's promotion a few years back would allow him to be next man up in that position. Maybe even someone like Jon Favreau himself? If he'd even want it? Star Wars fans ran George Lucas himself outta town and into retirement for his work on the prequels. Satisfying them is like bullseyeing womp rats from your T-16 back home....so I don't know what the answer is, but still - something needs to be done about the amount of announced projects that will never see the light of day. Star Wars can't have this level of incompetence associated with the franchise forever.