Dear Lucasfilm – Delay Or Cancel Star Wars ’22

Dear Lucasfilm,

It’s time to cancel Star Wars ’22! There is a bit of a dark cloud hanging over the Star Wars franchise. Currently, the TV plans are strong, defined and seemingly ready to produce, but what about the movie side? After the relatively cold reception for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker the movie plans seem alarmingly weak right now. Now, The Rise of Skywalker wasn’t a good movie for me. In fact, I don’t think there is a single LRM contributor who loved it. That is, unless I missed someone’s quiet protests while the rest of us collectively shredded Skywalker to pieces.

So, what is happening on the movie side? There was an announcement of three upcoming Star Wars movies before Skywalker released. Those were dated for December 22, 24, and 26 respectively. It’s those movies, or at least the one dated for December 22, I want to focus on in this plea to Lucasfilm to short their act out.

The Assassination of Game of Thrones by the coward Star Wars ’22

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Things began well for the movie and subsequent trilogy that I will refer to as Star Wars ’22 to make reading easier. The movie trilogy was announced to be overseen by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. We did not know if the pair were writing, simply producing, or maybe even directing? However, Benioff and Weiss were locked in, and it was assumed at the time this deal was the reason the pair wanted out of Game of Thrones, quick.

For those unaware, the only people involved with Game of Thrones that wanted the show to finish after eight seasons were Benioff and Weiss. Creator, and author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books upon which the show was based, George R.R. Martin, thought there should be ten seasons. HBO, who financed Game of Thrones, wanted ten seasons as well. The long story cut short, is that Benioff and Weiss got their own way and the show had a rushed and disappointing conclusion.

When Benioff and Weiss were announced as making a Star Wars trilogy, suddenly some clarity appeared. The Star Wars plans must have been in discussion for some time, and maybe that was the reason Benioff and Weiss wanted to wrap up Thrones. Unfortunately, even if Benioff and Weiss had made a great set of Star Wars movies, I’d have never forgiven them for abandoning Game of Thrones. But, of course, this is when things start to get really irritating as a fan of both Game of Thrones, and Star Wars.

Wait….What?

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Suddenly, and without much warning, a story broke that Benioff and Weiss were out of the Star Wars movies. There had been some preamble to this news breaking though. It was reported that Benioff and Weiss were all set to sign a mega-money Netflix deal. Most trades and scoop sites thought this might kick in after the Star Wars movies. Or alternatively, that Benioff and Weiss may only be producing those movies and able to multi-task. There were one or two who speculated this could be the end of the Benioff and Weiss Star Wars involvement, but not many.

Given the news of Benioff and Weiss Netflix deal, I like many expected that Lucasfilm must have someone lined up. Lucasfilm was surely not blindsided by this news. In fact, I speculated that perhaps it was Lucasfilm who got cold feet after the trashing Game of Thrones season 8 took from critics and fans? I am starting to think that was not the case, however.

RELATED: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – A New Rumor Says Steven Spielberg may Have Saved Babu Frik

So far, there are no creative talents attached to Star Wars ’22. So we have a Star Wars movie scheduled for 18 months from now, and no one is actually working on it. Now, I know what you are thinking. “Maybe this movie’s being worked on, but it’s a secret.” Alas, that is highly unlikely. Star Wars is Star Wars. That means that the amount of sources out there willing to share a secret or two are massive. I find it highly unlikely that Lucasfilm has not only found someone to lead these movies, but that they have been working on them in secret.

There is only one candidate who I think could pull off developing this film in secret and that’s Kevin Feige. We know Feige is going to get the chance to produce a Star Wars movie, fans probably hope he is developing this. However, he likely has nothing to do with Star Wars ’22. From all the reports we have heard surrounding the Kevin Feige Star Wars movie, it’s something that will come further down the line, not next year. No, it’s not Feige, in fact, it doesn’t appear to be anyone for now. So shouldn’t Lucasfilm cancel the movie?

No Star Wars delay?

The most logical course of action for Lucasfilm to take would be the cancel the movie, or delay by a few years. The latest we have heard from Disney’s former, and now current CEO(ish), again, Bob Iger. Iger said that the focus for the Star Wars franchise right now would be the TV side on Disney+. True to Iger’s word, all the news we have heard since has been TV-related. We have The Mandalorian Season 2, along with Cassian Andor, and Obi-Wan Kenobi led shows all coming. There are even rumors that Ahsoka Tano, probably played by Rosario Dawson will get her own show. Ahsoka is rumored to make her live-action debut in The Mandalorian Season 2 before spinning off into her own series.

All of this, and still not a word about Star Wars ’22? It is a bit strange, but has Lucasfilm delayed, or canceled the Star Wars ’22 release date? No, they have not, and they had several opportunities. A few months ago, before the Coronavirus situation, Disney released a new schedule and some dates were shifted around for all their properties. However, Lucasfilm didn’t cancel Star Wars ’22 and it’s subsequent sequels, and it surprised me then. Since then things have had to change dramatically for everyone as the Coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc across the World. The entire schedule of the MCU has had to shift along by one, and yet, once again, there was no change to Star Wars ’22.

Dear Lucasfilm, sort out Star Wars!

I genuinely do not understand what is going on over at Lucasfilm right now. Is this because Kathleen Kennedy’s contract is up next year? Would Lucasfilm suddenly announce a delay, or new dates once they have someone else as president? That’s all speculation, but Kennedy’s contract is up in ’21 and we have no idea whether Disney will renew it. Is this, instead, a political thing? Is Disney staying quite so the investors don’t get unhappy about the state of Star Wars?

One of the biggest errors of judgment with the Star Wars sequel trilogy was rushing the release date. Director J.J. Abrams wanted to throw out creator George Lucas’ ideas and start again. However, Disney was unwilling to delay the release date to Abrams preferred may 2016 slot. This meant Abrams had six months less to work on the movie than he wanted.  Release date was paramount for Disney, story secondary. Aren’t we now in the exact same place for whoever comes in to make Star Wars ’22?

Dear Lucasfilm, do everyone a favor and announce that you will cancel Star Wars ’22, or that is delayed to 2024. Take the time to get this one right. Because if it’s not…well, I don’t see Star Wars as a premium top drawer franchise going forward. There is one sure-fire way to take any movie franchise and flush it down the toilet, make consistently bad movies. For this Star Wars fan, Lucasfilm hasn’t made a really good Star Wars movie since 1983. Even then, I thought the Ewoks were a big mistake in Return of the Jedi.

Maybe Star Wars just isn’t for me anymore?

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Maybe the path Star Wars will go down to be successful is one I won’t like? But they need to pick a direction and go for it. The original trilogy had a darkness to it that I think has been sadly absent. We have Force powers that just get bigger and better with every new hand that muddies the waters. On the current trajectory, Jedis in Star Wars are going to end up like characters from Dragon Ball Z. One of our readers said this in an article’s comment section a few days ago. Star Wars has so much bullshit magic in it now that (Cassian) Andor could be resurrected by a Force Ghost.” You know, amazingly I wouldn’t even be that shocked if that came true anymore.

Star Wars needs to grow up as far as I am concerned, and that takes the right people with the right vision. Unless Lucasfilm is about to pull some big secret out its rear end, then making a Star Wars film for 2022 is a mistake. Lucasfilm, cancel Star Wars ’22, hire new talent, and then work out how long this movie will take to develop. Anything else is just too risky at this point.

Oh-so-lovingly yours,

Cam Clark

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