(LOS ANGELES) — This Star Wars Day “will be a day long remembered” for fans. It’s the day news broke that fan-favorite director Taika Waititi has been officially tapped to direct a feature film in George Lucas’ galaxy far, far away.
Waititi, who recently won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award for Jojo Rabbit, isn’t a newcomer to the Star Wars universe. He directed the widely-acclaimed first season finale episode of The Mandalorian on Disney+, and also voiced the droid character IG-11. He also can be seen in the first installment of the behind-the-scenes documentary Disney Sketchbook: The Mandalorian, which debuted today on Disney+.
Waititi’s name had been bandied about as a Star Wars film director for some time, but Lucasfilm sources remained tight-lipped. He’ll direct and co-write the forthcoming Star Wars film with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who wrote the script to the Oscar-winning war drama 1917.
No word when the New Zealander’s Star Wars film may debut, but Marvel Studio’s Thor: Love and Thunder — his follow-up to Thor: Ragnarok, which he also directed — hits theaters in November of 2021.
Marvel and Star Wars are owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.