If you’ve ever wanted to see Chewbacca‘s nan, I’ve got bad news for you. Taika Waititi — the director behind the new Star Wars movie — has all but confirmed the fuzzy matriarch won’t be making an appearance in the new flick, which instead will focus on a totally new cast of characters.
“Look, I think for the Star Wars universe to expand, it has to expand,” Waititi said in a recent interview with Total Film.
“I don’t think that I’m any use in the Star Wars universe making a film where everyone’s like, ‘Oh great, well that’s the blueprints to the Millennium Falcon, ah that’s Chewbacca’s grandmother.’
“That all stands alone, that’s great, though I would like to take something new and create some new characters and just expand the world, otherwise it feels like it’s a very small story.”
For someone whose only foray into the franchise has been getting hooked on LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, a Who Do You Think You Are?-style movie that unpacks Chewbacca’s family tree sounds, frankly, adorable.
But I am also clearly not the target market for this new flick, so what the hell do I know? Get back to me when there’s a Ratatouille sequel in the works.
For true Star Wars fans, Waititi’s comments aren’t too much of a mic-drop moment, seeing as Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy recently told Vanity Fair the production company was “drawing to a close on the saga that George [Lucas] had created,” and it was “moving into the future of storytelling in the Star Wars universe.”
But if you’re chomping at the bit for new lore from a galaxy far, far away, it may be a while until you can, à la Lucille Bluth, go see a Star War.
Last month, Kennedy told Total Film the new movie’s release date hasn’t been set in stone but it could be on the cards for late 2023.
As for the LEGO Star Wars stans, we may need to wait a tad longer to find out if a new game is on the horizon. I’m aching to hear the new characters mumble and grunt as they swing their pixelated lightsabers around.
