Taika Waititi reportedly sought for post-Skywalker Star Wars movie

He’s already voiced droid IG-11 and directed the Season 1 finale of The Mandalorian, and turned heads outside the Star Wars universe with critically-adored directing takes on Thor and the Best Picture nominated JoJo Rabbit. So what does a guy who also just happens to voice what might be the friendliest Fortnite-playin' rock-man in the MCU do for an encore?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi may just be heading to a galaxy far, far away. Details are super-light and far from confirmed, but the versatile director/producer/actor is reportedly being "courted" by Disney and Lucafilm to develop a Star Wars movie of his very own.

News of Waititi’s potential entry into the new, uncharted post-Skywalker phase of the 42-year-old Star Wars franchise comes on the heels of a series of shifts in studio strategy as The Rise of Skywalker ushers out the mainline nine-movie era that George Lucas launched way back in 1977. The report states it’s not clear whether Waititi could join the previously-announced Star Wars project from Marvel creative chief Kevin Feige (who Waititi developed Ragnarok with), or if he's developing his own take.

Deadline also confirmed Waititi "has been approached about a Star Wars movie," while noting "it’s not clear yet if it’s a feature for Disney+ or the big screen."

Granted, Waititi's latest tweet casts some doubt over all of this...

SYFY WIRE has reached out to Disney for comment.

Along with Feige’s arrival to the world of Star Wars, word of Waititi’s potential involvement may indicate an evident change in direction for Disney and Lucasfilm following a series of major announcements about the franchise's creative future — announcements that have since either changed course entirely, or received muted followup from the studio.

Originally handed the keys to an entirely new Star Wars movie trilogy, Game of Thrones TV creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss bowed out of the franchise last fall after inking a major creative deal at Netflix. And The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson has spent the past few months talking far more about his Oscar-nominated whodunnit, Knives Out, than sharing substantial updates on his previously-announced role as the director of his own future Star Wars trilogy. As recently as the past week, it sounds as though he’s still on board, though, with Johnson revealing to Variety that he’s “still talking to Lucasfilm but they haven’t announced anything on their slate yet.”

If Waititi indeed gets his hands on a Star Wars project, at least it’s a safe bet that the humor and lightheartedness that pierced through the darker themes of Lucas’ original trilogy will likely shine through in Waititi’s own inimitable way. After all, if Thor can dangle from a giant chain while mercilessly taunting a pissed-off fire giant, we’d love to see the kind of tongue-in-cheek insults Waititi could devise to deflate a super-serious Sith lord.