Star Wars (PEAKY BLINDERS creator Steven Knight to write next Episode)

Rumor: Walt Disney Executives See Star Wars Brand As “Damaged,” Allegedly Have New Plan Involving Rey And Baby Yoda

A new rumor claims that Walt Disney executives see the Star Wars brand as damaged and allegedly have a plan involving Grogu and Rey to fix it.

This new rumor comes from scooper and YouTuber WDW Pro in a video about Lucasfilm’s rumor next steps for Star Wars.

Before jumping into the information he heard about Lucasfilm’s plans for the future of Star Wars, he noted, “I am told there was a decision point in the last few months concerning Star Wars. And that decision point came about because the brand is seen as damaged even internally at Disney.”
He went on to explain why, “That’s due to declining viewership for Disney+. It’s due to declining interest in the parks.”

Next, he illustrated, “And that’s particularly destructive on two fronts. First of all, Star Wars supposed to be an evergreen franchise that has its own marquee spot on Disney+. And second of all, it has some of the most premium real estate in any of the Disney parks, both on the west coast and on the east coast.”

“Star Wars cannot fail for Disney,” he asserted. “And the decision point is that Star Wars is failing.”

He continued, “So it is my understanding that the top level leadership — you make of that what you will — but the top level leadership of Lucasfilm was brought with the top level leadership of Disney as to what they’re going to do in the future to reconcile this problem they have.”

WDW Pro then got into the meat of his video about what Disney’s plans for the future of Star Wars are. First he outlined a number of options that Disney executives allegedly discussed, “I’m told that some of those options included retconning the sequel trilogy as well as continuing the story, the narrative, around what they’ve done so far.”

He then relayed, “I’m told that Disney is going to bring back Rey.”

After a brief discussion with his panel guests about what their thoughts are about Rey returning, WDW Pro revealed, “This contact, this source tells me that the reason that they are going to potentially bring Rey back is to test it out. Put out a big merchandising push with a theatrical release to go along with it and find out: can Rey invigorate Star Wars with a number of other characters around her.”

Later in the video WDW Pro explained that Disney plans to roll out what he calls a galaxy pillar system. He explains, “The galaxy pillars, which will be the big characters going forward, which Disney hopes to united the fan base by putting these characters together and having them be part of a unified story that they’re going to attempt to bring Rey back to get the sequel trilogy fans, should there be any, and some other characters.”

He continued, “I received information from this source that in testing with random people, huge numbers of people, consulting firms brought in for this, that R2-D2 was far and away more popular than BB-8. It did not matter if people had seen the droids before. It didn’t matter if they had never heard of Star Wars whatsoever.”

“And so in this next push you can expect for BB-8 to be what’s referred to as a tier two character in the story and R2-D2 will be upfront as a main character,” he asserted. “And that’s coming off of this testing that they’ve done with audiences to see — sort of engineer this story from the fans up trying to determine it that way.”

After claiming that R2-D2 will be united with Rey in this new vision, WDW Pro revealed it also includes three other characters.

“Rey is the character who leads it all. She’s the one that they want to pin this on and try to revive it. If it doesn’t work they are willing to go back and scrap, but Rey is there,” he says. “Chewbacca is back. I am told Chewbacca is in this.”

Next, he says, “R2-D2, number three is what I am told. Number four is a brand new character.” Finally, the fifth character is Grogu.

WDW Pro goes on to detail, “The idea is that somehow Grogu is going to unite with Rey in the next movie if they can work out all the contracts, if they can get Daisy Ridley back that Grogu will be apart of it along with R2, Chewie, and a brand new character.”

As for where this plan originated from, WDW Pro says, “I’m told that this new thing they’re trying now is an Iger initiative to try to rejuvenate the franchise.”

This rumor does come after Daisy Ridley recently shared to her Instagram Story that she was at Lucasfilm. However, as noted by Movie Web, Ridley indicated she was only there for a lunch visit

The actress also recently indicated that “Rey’s story ended in a wonderful way.”

She told The Hollywood Reporter when asked if there were plans to revisit her character, “Honestly, I have no idea. I feel like Rey’s story ended in a wonderful way with the last film.”

She continued, “I feel like quite a different person. We’ve all gone through a massive change in the last three years, with lots of crazy things happening.”

Ridley then asserted, “So I really don’t know if there are plans. I just don’t know. But ultimately, I loved my experience, I loved what I got to do and I love the people I got to work with.

“So, should that happen again, even once, amazing. Because the dream is to really be around nice people that make you feel good and feel heard while you do good work,” she concluded.

There was also a recent report from The Hollywood Reporter back in October that a Star Wars film written by Watchmen creator Damon Lindelof “would take place after the events of 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, although it would not be a continuation of the Skywalker saga.”
However, the report added, “It could, however, feature some of the characters from the Star Wars trilogy made in the 2010s.”

What do you make of this rumor that Disney executives believe Star Wars is a damaged brand? What do you make of this rumored plan for the future of Star Wars?

Source: BoundingIntoComics

Steven Knight to Write New ‘Star Wars’ Movie After Damon Lindelof, Justin Britt-Gibson Exit

“Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight is set to write the screenplay for the untitled “Star Wars” movie that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) is attached to direct, as original screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have departed the project, Variety has confirmed.

The movie is widely expected to be among Lucasfilm’s first “Star Wars” films since 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” More information about the movie, including a possible title, is expected to be announced at the Star Wars Celebration in London in April. (A representative for Lucasfilm did not respond to a request for comment.)

Knight is a veteran screenwriter who launched his career specializing in gritty crime dramas like 2002’s “Dirty Pretty Things” and 2007’s “Eastern Promises,” eventually branching out to lighthearted dramedies (2014’s “The Hundred-Foot Journey”), war thrillers (2016’s “Allied”), and biopics (2021’s “Spencer”). He also created and executive produced the BBC period crime drama “Peaky Blinders,” which streams on Netflix in the US.

Lindelof — best known as the co-creator of the TV series “Lost,” “The Leftovers” and “Watchmen” — brought on Britt-Gibson (“Counterpart,” “Into the Badlands”) to write a “Star Wars” movie together. After turning in a draft earlier this year, the duo departed the project in February, becoming the latest creatives to part ways with Lucasfilm after signing on to develop one or multiple new “Star Wars” film projects to great fanfare.

Earlier in March, Variety reported that separate movies — one shepherded by director Patty Jenkins, the other by producer (and Marvel Studios chief) Kevin Feige — had been shelved by Lucasfilm and were no longer in active development. Director J.D. Dillard (“Devotion”) told TheWrap in November 2022 that he was no longer developing a “Star Wars” project at the studio.

In October 2019, “Game of Thrones” executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss walked away from a series of “Star Wars” films they were set to write and produce, which were first announced 20 months earlier. In September 2017, Luscasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy fired Colin Trevorrow from what became “The Rise of Skywalker”; three months earlier, she fired Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” even though the film had completed a large fraction of principal photography. While Gareth Edwards retained directing credit on 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” he was replaced by Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton,” “The Bourne Legacy”) for extensive reshoots on the project. (Gilroy went on to create the “Rogue One” prequel series “Andor” for Disney+, which received some of the strongest reviews of any “Star Wars” project, film or TV, when it premiered in September 2022.)

The “Star Wars” films known to still be active at Lucasfilm include a project from filmmaker Taika Waititi in which he would likely star, as well as a prospective film from Shawn Levy that would follow his commitments to direct “Deadpool 3” and complete work on the Netflix limited series “All the Light We Cannot See,” which Levy developed with Knight.

Above the Line first reported the news about Lindelof and Britt-Gibson.

Source: Variety