J.D. Dillard Star Wars project cancelled confirms the filmmaker! Following reports of a Shawn Levy directed Star Wars film, we now have confirmation that another Star Wars movie said to be in development is canned. J.D. Dillard has confirmed that he has now left the Star Wars movie he was working on. Sadly for some fans, Dillard has also confirmed he is no longer working on The Rocketeer sequel for Disney either.
Dillard’s involvement in a Star Wars project was first rumored back in 2020. However, since then, there has been no updates, till now. Here is what Dillard said when he spoke to The Wrap recently.
About “Star Wars,” he said that it was “unfortunately no longer a thing.” “It was not for lack of trying,” Dillard explained. Not that he’s totally done with the idea of making a space movie. It’s just that this time, “it will be an original idea.”
When we asked him what his “Star Wars” movie would feel like, he stopped short, hesitant to divulge too much. But he did say that playing an early “Star Wars” computer game called “TIE Fighter” changed his life.
“My dad being an aviator, we had a bunch of flight simulators,” Dillard said, including “TIE Fighter.” “I’m playing this game for months. And my dad’s flying it with me and I’m like, ‘Man, this game is just so cool, \and he’s like, ‘Well, you know, this game comes from a series of movies.’ And I was like, ‘You’re kidding me.’ That is where I watched ‘Star Wars’ for the first time and realized the full scope of what it meant to world build because I’d been playing this pseudo-16-bit game.”
Dillard also revealed he is no longer working on that The Rocketeer sequel. However, that does not necessarily mean the movie isn’t still a go.
Also not happening: Disney’s “The Return of the Rocketeer,” a project that Dillard has been linked to since 2020. “I am not on that movie,” Dillard said. “But, you know, it’s tricky. I love, love, love ‘The Rocketeer.’ What I have a slightly hard time wrapping my head around now is going back to pre-1970 aviation. You know, I’m not saying never. But I think I need a breather from period aviation.”
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It seems perhaps The Rocketeer was too similar to Dillard’s upcoming movie Devotion?
While Dillard admits that he has “no idea what version of that story they’re putting together,” he is fairly confident that “it would have a lot of common DNA with ‘Devotion.’” “I’m definitely trying to, as hopefully you can tell between ‘Sleight,’ ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Devotion,’ not to make the same movie twice. I’m going to keep it steady on that.”
It’s kinda hard to lament the loss of anything here. Frankly, my bet is that 90% of our readers won’t have even heard of the Dillard Star Wars rumor to begin with. Therefore, if there was nothing to get excited over, then there’s nothing to lose. Equally though Dillard may not be involved in The Return of the Rocketeer, it doesn’t mean the project is dead at Disney at all.
For now that leaves us with the following potential movies. Damon Lindelof’s Star Wars movie, Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie, Kevin Fiege’s Star Wars movie, and Shawn Levy’s Star Wars movie. Though I still think there’s a chance the latter two are the same film.
There has not been a Star Wars movies since The Rise of Skywalker officially became the worst Star Wars movie to date back in 2019. Skywalker was a movie unusual in Star Wars as it was almost universally panned by the fanbase, a fanbase that normally has wildly differing opinions. However the fanbase did come together to say no thanks to Rise of Skywalker. It is therefore understandable perhaps that Lucasfilm has been hesitant to push the go button since. However, it’s time to start making Star Wars movies again. After all, those box office dollars won’t put themselves in Disney’s pockets, will they?
What do you think of the news J.D. Dillard Star Wars project cancelled and that he’s no longer working on The Rocketeer sequel? Thoughts below as always.
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