Director Taika Waititi to Follow Thor: Love and Thunder with New Star Wars Movie

New Zealand filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi won over Marvel fans when he took the dour, Shakespearean tone of the Thor franchise and infused it with humor, the Hulk and Jeff Goldblum‘s “melt stick.” He then got the Star Wars fans on board with the “funny, thrilling, heartfelt” finale “showcase” episode of The Mandalorian he directed for Disney+. Now, it appears, Waititi has added Disney executives to his fan club, as well.

After scrapping Rian Johnson‘s planned new trilogy and then parting ways with Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and their planned trilogy, Disney seems to be making forward progress again and heading in an all-new direction. According to Variety, Waititi has been hired to direct a new Star Wars movie that he will also co-write with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917).

No other details about the new Star Wars movie or its place, if any, in the Saga or Story series, accompanied the announcement. Waititi already has several directing and acting gigs lined up after Thor: Love and Thunder so it’s unclear exactly when he will start working on the project and when we will hear more about it’s place in the “Galaxy.”

Thor: Love and Thunder is newly slated to open on February 11, 2022.

Images courtesy of Disney/Marvel Studios; Edits by Movie Nooz