When it was announced that director Taika Waititi would be directing the third Thor movie, he already had a successful film career, having directed hit films such as Hunt for the Wilderpeople and What We Do in the Shadows. But after Thor: Ragnarok came out to both critical and commercial success, his career really exploded.
Waititi was soon attached to several high-profile projects, including directing a live-action version of Akira, an animated Netflix series based on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as a fourth Thor movie (the first Marvel character to get more than three movies with their name in the title).
Of course one of the biggest announcements concerning Taika Waititi is that he will be writing and directing an upcoming Star Wars film headed for theaters.
Is Taika Waititi filming Star Wars next?
Waititi has been working on the fourth Thor movie (Thor: Love and Thunder) for a while now, but filming on the project recently wrapped on June 1. While Love and Thunder could still likely be in post-production on the movie until at least February of next year, he is already starting to look forward to which of his many projects will be next. Could it be Star Wars? He certainly hopes so, as he mentioned in a recent interview with The Sydney Morning Herald:
“I don’t know if that’s going to be Star Wars,” he said in the interview. “I hope it’ll be that but there’s a whole lot of other little things that I’ve got my sticky little fingers attached to so we’ll see.”
It’s not surprising that the director isn’t yet sure what his next project will be. In addition to being a very busy writer and director, Waititi is becoming a well-known actor as well, having already starred in several movies and set to appear in at least two more this year alone, The Suicide Squad and Free Guy.
Still, even with all of the exciting projects Waititi is currently attached to, it’s easy to see why he hopes that Star Wars will be the one that rises to the top of the pile. While we don’t know anything about Waititi’s upcoming Star Wars movie, or where in the Star Wars timeline it will take place, it’s safe to assume that with this director, the franchise is in good hands.
This won’t be the director’s first time directing a story set in the Star Wars universe. Waititi directed the season finale of the first season of The Mandalorian and also voiced the role of fan-favorite IG-11 in the series.
Judging from some of the behind-the-scenes material, it’s clear that Waititi had a good time working on The Mandalorian, and it’s possible that he might return to direct another episode in a future season or possibly an episode of one of the many upcoming Disney+ spinoffs of the show. But for now, his focus will hopefully be on bringing Star Wars once again to the big screen, just as soon as he’s wrapped on Thor: Love and Thunder.