Kathleen Kennedy would “love” to have Taika Waititi direct a Star Wars movie

Taika Waititi is a full-blown superstar now thanks to his success with THOR: RAGNAROK, which stands as one of the best-reviewed comic book movies ever and is on its way to surpassing $300 million at the domestic box office (and is nipping at the heels of the global box office of WONDER WOMAN and GUARDIANS 2). Naturally, everyone wants him to work his New Zealand magic on their movie, and that includes Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, who said she would love to have Waititi helm a STAR WARS film.

The mega-producer recently spoke with NZ’s Newshub in promotion for STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI, and during the interview, the reporter brought up Waititi, and how they think he should take on a STAR WARS film. Kennedy agreed immediately, saying he has the right style and “sensibility” for the job:

I would love for him to direct a Star Wars movie. I think he has exactly the right sensibility. It was very exciting to see him step into the Marvel universe and do such an amazing job with THOR.

Having already worked for Marvel with THOR, and seeing as how Lucasfilm is owned by Disney, the director already has that working relationship with the studio that could lead to him working on a WARS movie someday. However, when asked about doing a WARS movie by a fan on Twitter, he replied “Lolz. I like to complete my films,” in a joking reference to the recent firings of directors on SOLO (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller) and EPISODE IX (Colin Trevorrow).

As popular as that tweet was though, Waititi spoke more seriously about the prospect of doing WARS with Uproxx, saying that in reality, he would be a fool to turn it down, even if the idea of doing it would make him very nervous:

Look, I’m not an idiot. Who would actually say no to STAR WARS? Of course, I didn’t send that idea very seriously, it’s more that in light of all the things that were happening over the last couple of months, it would make me a little nervous.

This is by no means news that the two parties have any sort of discussion about Waititi taking on a WARS movie, but at this point, I feel like an actual conversation is not outside the realm of possibility.  Though J.J. Abrams has EPISODE IX locked up, and Rian Johnson is developing a whole new STAR WARS trilogy, there are still plenty of spinoff movies that would be perfect for Waititi to direct. The director has reason to be nervous about helming such a massive movie, but perhaps if he had a deep enough discussion and relayed to them how he does business, perhaps Lucasfilm would be open enough to let him make the movie he wants. The STAR WARS films will probably need shaking up in the future, and that universe would benefit very much from Korg and his pamphlets. 

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is in theaters December 15, and THOR: RAGNAROK is still in theaters.