Taika Waititi set to release new Star Wars film in 2025

Taika Waititi at the 25th annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California. Photo / AP

Originally published by Māori Television

Taika Waititi's debut Star Wars feature film is set to hit movie screens in 2025.

In May it was announced Waititi would direct and co-write the untitled Star Wars feature, and this week during Disney's virtual investor day event Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said the filmmaker was currently working on the screenplay and audiences should be prepared for a wild ride.

"A brand-new Stars Wars feature with acclaimed filmmaker @TaikaWaititi is in development. Get ready for an unforgettable ride!," the official Star Wars account tweeted.

Waititi was quick to get in on the fun, joking "What?? Ugh, as a longtime fan of Star Wars I'm so angry about what I'm about to do to ruin it."

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Earlier this year, Kennedy told Newshub, "I would love for him to direct a Star Wars movie and I do agree he has exactly the right sensibility."

Waititi is co-writing the film's screenplay with Scottish screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns who last year received an Academy Award nomination for British war film 1917.

The Whānau-ā-Apanui filmmaker already has Star Wars whakapapa, directing the first season finale of the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian on Disney+ and voicing droid bounty hunter IG-11 in the first episode of season one.

"He's like a Terminator, but he looks a bit more wonky looking and tall and lanky," he told Variety.

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