With Disney and Lucasfilm racing against the clock to complete the next Star Wars film, the studio has hired Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.
According to Variety, Disney has recruited Knight to write the script for the untitled next Star Wars film. Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers) and Justin Britt-Gibson (The Strain) were previously attached but dropped out, with Knight taking their places.
Little more is known about the picture, which will be the 12th live-action Star Wars film to be released in theaters and the first since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which concluded the Skywalker Saga in 2019. Since then, Star Wars has shifted its attention to streaming television, with The Mandalorian and Andor providing fans with their fill of all things Star Wars.
While releasing films too frequently can be detrimental to the box office, Lucasfilm and Disney’s inability to begin work on a new Star Wars picture has been an issue. It’s even more concerning that projects introduced with considerable fanfare by Lucasfilm, such as Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron, have been canceled.
In comparison, Marvel has released eight films since 2020, albeit at least two were completed in full or in part before lockdowns began. Yet, the struggle to keep Star Wars in theaters is an aberration given that Hollywood is focused on the sprawling mega-franchises that Star Wars helped create.
The employment of Knight can be interpreted in two ways. He has 18 scripts and 20 years of expertise in the profession. He’s more than demonstrated that he can write something that directors can shoot, which is useful to Lucasfilm and their search for a fresh path post-Skywalker.
While Peaky Blinders has created a fandom, Knight’s scripts aren’t often franchise-friendly. The majority of his films are dramas and thrillers, such as Eastern Promises in 2007 and Allied in 2017. There have been no sequels or spin-offs to any of his films.
Yet, Knight’s adaptability complements the brand. He’s written action (Hummingbird, starring Jason Statham), comedy (The Hundred-Foot Journey), and fantasy (The Hundred-Foot Journey) (Seventh Son). He also scripted the polarizing 2019 sci-fi Serenity, which appears to be a realistic adult mystery before a crazy plot twist reveals the characters’ actual nature.
Perhaps Knight isn’t the most apparent candidate for a Star Wars film, but he adds an aesthetic perspective that profit-driven brands like Star Wars don’t always accept. Given Star Wars’ deafening silence at the box office, Knight may be Disney and Lucasfilm’s only hope.
