Lucasfilm carnage, blah, blah, creatives walking, blah, endless cancelled movies, blah, blah. You know the ballad of Kathleen Kennedy’s Star Wars by now. No new story about internal strife is any surprise anymore.
However, a report from Culture Crave a few days ago lays bare the true extent of the creative paralysis and confusion, which is even worse than we thought.
According to the report, multiple films are in development that overlap characters and timelines. What happens in one could impact the events of others, but only some of the directors are aware of what is happening in other projects. Some are not.
Rey is a key character in several of them, but there appears to be no clear plan on how to create a coherent timeline for her because of this lack of structure and plan.
The report also says that Lucasfilm considers the original trilogy as the Old Testament. On this, their source says:
“You’re being asked to create the new New Testament. And no one can agree on anything and there’s a lot of second guessing about meanings.”
Another source nails even more Lucasfilm incompetence, declaring:
“Star Wars is a nostalgia-based enterprise and they are running out of ways to create nostalgia.”
The studio is struggling with an existential crisis over whether to continue Skywalker Saga in any form or just make standalone movies.
Lucasfilm chief Kennedy had previously said that three in-development movies right now are meant to showcase the past (the Mangold film), the present (the Filoni film), and the “future” (the Rey film) of the entire Star Wars chronology. This is all very interesting, but as anyone who has been placed under pressure to start an immediate large DIY or renovation job at home and complete it in mere hours can tell you, sometimes they simply need to be told that you can’t do anything without a proper plan.
A report in The Hollywood Reporter that seems to echo a lot of the sentiments of the original report quotes a producer who knows Lucasfilm well who says:
“They don’t have a George. Kathy is not George. Filoni is kinda the closest at this stage.”
A different producer who has also worked closely with Lucasfilm, talking about the remaining fanbase, says:
“If they don’t make at least that Rey movie Lucasfilm will burn whatever goodwill it has left with this fan base.”
The report says things are rosier on the television side of things, where there is said to be much more creative freedom.