7 Cancelled Star Wars Movies Fans Wanted To See

Star Wars has been a huge science fiction franchise ever since the first movie hit theaters in 1977. The original Star Wars trilogy is iconic, and fans have lapped up the toys, games, and extended media based on the series for decades now. However, the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, changed people’s perception of this beloved trilogy when he launched the prequel movies in 1999. That perception changed again when he sold the rights to the property to Disney in 2012. Now, this initial trilogy has ballooned into a nine-movie juggernaut with three spin-offs, not to mention all the games and TV shows.

Despite the mixed reception regarding every subsequent Star Wars movie, creators are still lining up to work on a project set in a galaxy far, far away. With Disney at the helm, there is definitely an appetite for more Star Wars movies. Fans have heard a lot of announcements about future movies, but sadly, many of these anticipated movies have been canceled over time.

6 Josh Trank’s Boba Fett Movie

Announced: 2016

The initial plan behind Disney’s new era of Star Wars entailed creating a new sequel trilogy that releases a movie every two years. Additionally, they would release three spin-off movies that would come out in the years in between. The first spin-off movie, Rogue One, came out to many fans’ appreciation. However, the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the second spin-off, Solo, caused the movie to underperform at the box office.

With three spin-off movies planned during this era of the franchise, many outlets were reporting in 2016 that director Josh Trank was in talks to create a live action Boba Fett movie. Most people will recognize Trank’s name, as he was initially brought on to direct the disastrous Fantastic Four reboot for Fox. Sadly, the poor performance of Solo meant that Trank’s movie was scrapped. Boba Fett did eventually receive a Disney+ series, but many fans would have rather seen the character in a movie given the mixed response to the show.

5 David Benioff & D. B. Weiss’ Unnamed Trilogy

Announced: 2018

Benioff and Weiss were a big deal as a creative duo in the TV industry during the 2010s, and for all the right reasons. This pair of writers were the showrunners that took George R. R. Martin’s fantasy book series, Game of Thrones, and turned it into one of the most popular and successful TV shows in history. As a result, many studios were looking to bring the pair into their fold. It seemed like the best news possible when it was announced that Beinoff and Weiss had been meeting with Disney to work as the main creative force behind a new Star Wars movie trilogy.

What this new trilogy would be about was never announced, and the writers had to wrap up Game of Thrones before starting on a new Star Wars movie. Years went by, though, without any word on what was happening with the trilogy. The first movie was scheduled to be released in 2022, but the pair announced that they had signed a new deal with Netflix. As such, this new creative deal has taken precedence, and Benioff and Weiss’ Star Wars movies are no longer in the cards.

4 Colin Trevorrow Was Set To Direct Episode 9

Announced: 2015

With Disney launching Star Wars Episode VII in 2015, they had a lot of people looking in their direction. As such, the studio decided to make one of the biggest announcements yet. They revealed that they had brought on the director of the biggest movie of 2015 so far, Jurassic World, to helm Star Wars Episode IX.

Few fans had any expectation of how the new trilogy would unfold, but the announcement of Colin Trevorrow as the new director indicated that Disney had a clear plan for their new Star Wars trilogy. As we now know, this was not the case. Trevorrow left the project after failing to come to an agreement with the studio about the direction of his next movie. With some of his script and ideas leaking online later on, it is clear that Trevorrow’s version of Episode IX had the potential to be better than the movie that was actually released.

3 Guillermo Del Toro’s Movie Based On The Hutts

Announced: 2023

Many famous directors in Hollywood become successful by carving out a unique style and sensibility in their projects. For Oscar-winning director Guillermo Del Toro, his main vision usually focuses on using practical effects to create strange worlds or horror concepts. With this in mind, Del Toro is a great choice to helm a spin-off movie in the Star Wars universe.

The stars finally aligned when Guillermo Del Toro took to Twitter in 2023 to announce that he had signed on to work on a Star Wars movie. The film was written by David S. Goyer, and would chart the rise of the slug-like race of aliens, The Hutts. Unfortunately, the project was just one of many ideas canceled by Disney at the time. It is a shame, considering how great the matchup of Guillermo Del Toro and a race of alien monsters could be.

2 George Lucas’ Ideas For Episodes 7, 8, & 9

Announced: 2018

Rumors of how the creator of the Star Wars universe would have gone on to explore his galaxy have been circling since 1977. Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, once spoke about how the initial director of the franchise once had plans for twelve movies in the saga. It also seemed that Lucas was intent on moving forward with this plan when he started work on the prequel trilogy in the 90s.

However, George Lucas would go on to sell the rights to Star Wars in 2012 to Disney, as he wanted to slow down and spend more time with his family. This did not stop the creator from speaking about his idea for a sequel trilogy, and he opened up about his original plans for episodes VII, VIII, and IX in 2018. He wanted to explore the nature of the Force in more depth. Some fans have balked at this idea, while others still want to see where Lucas would take his iconic saga.

1 Patty Jenkins Was Going To Direct Rogue Squadron

Announced: 2020

The Star Wars fandom was split after the sequel trilogy wrapped in 2019, and so Disney needed to make a splash when they revealed what their next plans for the franchise would be. Everyone needed to love what came next, and fortunately, it seemed that the studio was going in a great new direction. Patty Jenkins was announced to be working on a new movie, called Rogue Squadron, at Star Wars Celebration in 2020. It wasn’t a small announcement either. The director starred in a short promo video that took place on an airfield, and she gushed about creating a movie that focused on the dog fights X-Wing pilots endured in space.

Jenkins had already made a name for herself after directing the first Wonder Woman movie, and properly exploring the idea of war in a new Star Wars movie was something that fans were eager to experience. Unfortunately, this project is yet to materialize, with the studio going back and forth on whether this movie will ever happens. As it stands, it looks like Rogue Squadron is just another one of many canceled Star Wars movies.