In response to Disney’s tweet that read: “A brand-new Star Wars feature with acclaimed filmmaker Taika Waititi is in development. Get ready for an unforgettable ride!” Waititi took a screenshot and posted it to his Instagram with the caption: “What?? Ugh, as a longtime fan of Star Wars I’m so angry about what I’m about to do to ruin it.” This is a perfect example of Waititi’s unique brand of self-deprecating humor, one of the many reasons why he has become such a successful and well-known director today.
There is not a lot of information available regarding Waititi’s Star Wars, but at the moment, it is certain that he and Krysty Wilson-Cairns are working on a final script. Waititi is no stranger to the Star Wars franchise, as he is the voice of IG-11 in The Mandalorian, and he also directed ‘Chapter 8: Redemption’ of the show, the final episode of season 1. Despite how it is largely unclear as to what the upcoming film will involve, it is clear that Waititi should do what he did when he directed Thor: Ragnarok.
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Prior to Waititi’s iteration, the film series was in the weaker half of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Thor (2011) was a film without much of a plot, the script seeming to exist primarily as means with which to get from one cool effect to the next. Thor is not an especially interesting character, defined largely by his powers and his inability to function on Earth in the way that society dictates people should. The movie gives Thor a love interest seemingly only in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. The villains also are not particularly interesting, but a bigger issue is that they lack any clear motivation.
Thor: The Dark World has a lot of the same issues as the first film, with characters who are still forgettable and villains without specific goals, focusing again on romantic aspects, which are never really significant to the MCU. When Waititi took on Thor: Ragnorak, he was able to rectify many of the mistakes of the previous two films. His film manages to maintain the seriousness of what is happening, but it also continuously pokes fun at itself and at the tropes that are often present in Marvel movies. It is also much more aesthetically interesting with bold, bright colors, exemplifying the appearance of what people might have thought the future would look like in the 80s. It is bright and comical and has the appeal of a classic Marvel comic book.
The characters are also much more dynamic in this film. From Grandmaster, to Valkyrie, to the Hulk, to Korg, to Loki and Thor himself, they all have motivations and backstories and they are all interesting to watch on screen. Admittedly, the villain, Hela, does seem to follow the same notion of destruction for the sake of destruction, as many villains in the MCU do. Although, at the very least, she does provide valuable insight into the past of Asgard and Thor’s own heritage.
Thor: Ragnorak pretty much abandons everything from the first two films and takes the series in a completely different direction. It makes so many more jokes than any of the other Marvel films, which some have complained was almost too much. If every Marvel movie had as many jokes, that might be a valid criticism, but to have just one be a little more comedic than the rest allows for this film to be a breath of fresh air in between other long and complex storylines. Even still, from Waititi's other work, it's clear he is just as adept at making audiences cry as he is at making them laugh.
When Thor: Ragnarok came out, Waititi was just an indie director. He was able to work on this project because he had directed two short films with Marvel that followed Thor’s life in Australia with his roommate. This idea would eventually branch out into how Thor is portrayed in Avengers: Infinity War. Now, Waititi is a highly acclaimed director, his most recent film, Jojo Rabbit was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and it won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He is also doing another Marvel film, Thor: Love and Thunder, and of course, is now working on a Star Wars film as well.
Along with the announcement of the upcoming Star Wars film was a new Star Wars logo, bearing quite a resemblance to the logo from the 1959 film, Ben-Hur. There also has been a promotional image featuring a ship that fans believe to be a Tho Yor, a ship/weapon from the comic book series The Dawn of the Jedi. From this, fans have theorized that this might mean that Waititi is working on an adaptation of The Dawn of the Jedi, which is set more than 25,000 years before the events of the film Star Wars: A New Hope.
The Tho Yor was a pyramid-shaped ship that carried individuals capable of using the force to the planet Tython. These people would become the predecessors of the Jedi, and this event occurs before virtually everything else in the Star Wars universe. It is supposed to be in a time before the light and dark sides of the force split apart. The Star Wars movies don’t need as much help as the Thor movies did, but if Waititi could create an almost standalone film, with the comedic and aesthetic appeal of Thor: Ragnarok, taking place either physically or chronologically far away from the rest of the Star Wars films… it would be something to get excited about.
With films like Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and What We Do in the Shadows under his belt, it is clear that Waititi is a skilled filmmaker, and that was even prior to blockbuster projects like Thor: Ragnarok. With Ragnarok, he proved himself capable with these types of big-budget projects, and he has also proven himself capable with the Star Wars franchise from his work in The Mandalorian. It will be great if Taika Waititi can do what he did for Thor with Star Wars, but it doesn’t seem like there is any reason to worry with a talent like him at the helms of the project.