Star Wars movies are taking another step back with the announcement that the New Jedi Order movie – featuring Daisy Ridley’s Rey Skywalker – has reportedly lost another set of writers. Entertainment news scooper Puck is claiming that Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, This Town) has left the project, following the departure of previous writers Damon Lindelof (HBO’s Watchmen) and Justin Britt-Gibson (Banshee, FX’s The Strain). Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (A Girl in the River) is reportedly still attached, but the report casts doubt on whether or not Lucasfilm can really get the film into theaters by its 2026 release date.
Daisy Ridley started off 2024 by hinting that New Jedi Order could start filming this year: “I think it could be this year,” Ridley told Collider. “It could be, but I’m not sure… the intention was later this year. Hopefully, it will be. Otherwise, top of next, I would imagine.”
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Hearing that New Jedi Order is burning through screenwriters is especially surprising: in a separate interview with Variety, Ridley was very confident about the story for the film that director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy had come up with: “Her idea for the story is cool as sh*t. No spoilers, but she gave me a rundown of the entire story. If it weren’t amazing, I would have been like, ‘OK, call me in five years.’ But it’s worthwhile.”
What Is Star Wars: New Jedi Order About?
We did get some insight into the story of Star Wars: New Jedi Order after Lindelof and Britt-Gibson left. Their version of New Jedi Order would have been set sixty years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and followed a much older version of Rey, who is trying to rebuild the Jedi Order.
Damon Lindelof was the first to admit that it was his deep love as a Star Wars fan that made him ultimately believe he wasn’t the one to write New Jedi Order:
“I will just say… the degree of difficulty is extremely, extremely, extremely high. If it can’t be great, it shouldn’t exist,” Lindelof told /Film. “That’s all I’ll say, because I have the same association with it as you do, which is: It’s [Star Wars] the first movie I saw sitting in my dad’s lap, four years old, May of ’77. I think it’s possible that sometimes when you hold something in such high reverence and esteem, you start to get in the kitchen and you just go, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t be cooking. Maybe I should just be eating.’ We’ll just leave it at that point.”
It’s a topic a lot of fans have been debating: whether fanboys are the most effective ambassadors for creating new chapters of their beloved franchises. Star Wars has been at the center of that debate ever since Tony Gilroy – a creator who was open about his lack of Star Wars fandom – created the franchise’s most acclaimed offering: Star Wars: Andor, a series that rebukes a lot of traditional Star Wars tropes.
It may take someone not all invested in Star Wars to tell the best story about how the Jedi Order gets rebuilt out of (near-)nothing, and why it matters that it does. It’s unclear how well (or not) Steven Knight fit that bill – but it is telling that yet another highly acclaimed TV creator is stepping away from this film.
Star Wars: New Jedi Order is in development for 2026.
