Star Wars franchise confirms scrapped movie amid box office failure

A planned Star Wars movie has been canceled, marking yet another setback for the iconic sci-fi franchise amid dwindling audiences.

Simon Farnaby, who wrote hit movies like Wonka and Paddington 2, revealed in a recent interview with Variety that he had previously been on board to write a new Star Wars movie with his collaborator Paul King, who was slated to direct the film.

However, Farnaby said that the offer from Disney and Lucasfilm did not work out because their idea for the movie was based around a robot and did not involve any of the key Star Wars characters.

“They were like, we really need it to be a Star Wars movie, which is probably why it didn’t get turned into a Star Wars movie!” he told the outlet. “But we never really nailed it.”

Farnaby went on to add that the concept for the film is being reworked into another project outside of the Star Wars universe, explaining: “[Disney] basically said, ‘it’s not right for Star Wars, but do you want to rework it as a sci-fi film?’ So we’re working on that now.”

Although Farnaby did not say exactly when the project was scrapped, he told Variety that he and King moved on from the idea to work together on Wonka, which was released in 2023.

The future of George Lucas’s beloved franchise under The Walt Disney Company has been the subject of scrutiny after years of delayed movies, critically divisive TV series and, most recently, the departure of franchise chief Kathleen Kennedy, who exited Lucasfilm earlier this year and was succeeded by Dave Filoni, the studio’s former chief creative officer.

Audiences do not seem to be responding well to the turbulence, either. The franchise’s latest film installment, The Mandalorian and Grogu, delivered the lowest domestic opening weekend in franchise history earlier this year, earning about $82 million for its initial three-day weekend.

The Mandalorian and Grogu received a two-star review from The Independent film critic Clarisse Loughrey, who wrote: “How many nails can we realistically drive into Star Wars’s coffin before it’s time to give up hope of resuscitation?”

She continued, “The Mandalorian and Grogu merely stitches together what is clearly three episodes of the previously planned fourth season of The Mandalorian and calls it a day. There’s not a whiff of effort here.”

After focusing on streaming projects like The Mandalorian and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Lucasfilm’s current lineup is slated to focus on Ahsoka’s second season, expected to come out in early 2027, and Shawn Levy’s Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, which will be released in May 2027.

Lucasfilm did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment.