A new Star Wars movie will be directed by Thor: Ragnarok's Taika Waititi

(Image credit: Disney)

A new Star Wars movie will be directed by Thor: Ragnarok's Taika Waititi, Lucasfilm has confirmed. The untitled movie is a theatrical release, and Waititi will co-write the movie with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who won a Bafta for her screenwriting work on 1917. 

No release date for the movie has been given, suggesting this is a different project to the already scheduled Star Wars movie planned for late 2022. That said, it's possible Lucasfilm just isn't ready to get into specifics on that yet.

Waititi already has connections with the Star Wars universe. He directed Chapter 8 of The Mandalorian, and voiced the character of IG-11 in the show. Waititi's next directorial project before this one will be 2022's Thor: Love and Thunder. You can catch Waititi talking about his relationship with Star Wars in the new Disney Plus documentary series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. 

Lucasfilm announced the project for Star Wars Day. 

It also confirmed previous reports that a new Disney Plus Star Wars series was in the works from Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland. Headland will serve as the untitled project's showrunner... but that doesn't have a release date either. 

Star Wars after Episode 9

Star Wars' future on the big screen was a question mark after The Rise of Skywalker's release, with Lucasfilm doubling down on small screen projects like the upcoming Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan shows on Disney Plus. Now, it's looking a little clearer.

Waititi is such a fun director, and his Mandalorian episode is a real standout. This is an enormously exciting sign for Star Wars' future on the big screen. 

Samuel Roberts

Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.