James Mangold Seeks To Build The Lore, Not Be Handcuffed To It With His Dawn of the Jedi 'Star Wars' Movie
The 'A Complete Unknown' director doesn’t want anyone impeding on his sandbox
James Mangold is coming off of directing the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, starring Timothée Chalamet and Monica Barbaro. Even in the midst of a chaotic award season more chaotic than typical, he’s going to be asked what’s next. However, because we know what’s on his docket, he’ll be asked specifically about his DC Universe Swamp Thing movie, or in this case, his dawn of the Jedi Star Wars movie, which was announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe in April 2023. He has revealed that he purposely set his film in such an isolated and untouched corner of the world’s timeline so that he doesn’t have to deal with the pre-established canon that the worst and most fragile fans hold irrationally dear.
“The… movie would be taking place 25,000 years before any known… movies takes place,” the director told. “It’s an area and a playground that I’ve always [wanted to explore] and that I was inspired by as a teenager. I’m not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it’s almost immovable, and you can’t please anybody.” This comes after previously revealing that the film would center on the origins of the Force and how it was “understood, wielded and harnessed” with the gravitas of Biblical epics such as The Ten Commandments. He didn’t want it to be “holding so much lore in the air that you can hardly tell a story.” Of course, being so early in the timeline means he would be the one to create the lore and alienate those with similar philosophy to his. The period was first explored in the original expanded universe that is now considered Legends continuity, and in current continuity have been absent from narrative media but instead reference books.
'Andor' Writer Beau Willimon Stays In 'Star Wars' To Co-Write James Mangold's Movie
Beau Willimon may have written “One way out!”, but now he’s choosing to stay in. The playwright, screenwriter and American House of Cards developer has been chosen to partner with James Mangold on his script for his Star Wars movie that was revealed last year at
Mangold, who has directed The Wolverine, Logan, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is pragmatic enough to know that he can't force the audience to enjoy what he makes, saying "Success is never guaranteed, but the reality is that the way to get most people to agree is to move them; to somehow find the humanity in a situation.[...] It's the feelings, it's "the feels," right? That truly defines how we feel about these movies and whether we care to visit them again."
Mangold’s film is being written by Beau Willimon. Details are otherwise non-existent, and such being kept under wraps is likely part of why it hasn’t landed a release date yet. However with the next Celebration happening in Japan this April, updates regarding the film and the slate at large are likely in order.
Disney Switches Out December 2026 'Star Wars' Film For Sixth 'Ice Age'
A Knight off can have dire consequences. Disney has pulled what was the second Star Wars movie scheduled for 2026, which had been pegged for December 18, and replaced it with the sixth Ice Age film, which was announced a week ago at D23 Brazil.
