The Star Wars franchise has seen its fair share of ups and downs in the history of all its movies, shows, and spinoffs. Some of its films and shows have drawn praise universally and were also successful at the box office and in ratings.
The universe appears to be growing evermore, with multiple projects in the pipeline simultaneously. Despite this, Disney and Lucasfilm have scrapped multiple projects that never had the chance to see the light of day.
Here is every Star Wars movie and show that Lucasfilm has ghosted, ranked from a minor missed opportunity to the most massive.
20. The Acolyte
The Acolyte, also known as Star Wars: The Acolyte, is an American science fiction television series created by Leslye Headland for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the Skywalker Saga, and follows a Jedi investigation into a series of crimes.
The show was review-bombed heavily and divided its fan base, despite garnering favourable reviews by critics. It was eventually canceled in August 2024 due to low viewership and budget overruns, as reported by Deadline.
In an interview with Vulture, co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, Alan Bergman said:
We were happy with our performance, but it wasn’t where we needed it to be given the cost structure of that title, quite frankly, to go and make a season two. So that’s the reason why we didn’t do that.
During production and marketing, the series received criticism from some online commentators for being “woke”, attacking the creator Lesley-Headland, who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
19. Tatooine Film Anthology
According to Star Wars production designer Neil Lamont, one of the studio’s upcoming-but-stopped projects included a return to the legendary fictional planet Tatooine. In an interview with Cinema Blend, Lamont states:
We were just starting our work on another Star Wars spin-off and yeah. We were actually just making our mark on Tatooine — which would have been interesting and some other new galaxies. So hopefully, if that comes back, we’ll get the chance to be able to do that further.
Neil Lamont has served as production designer on both Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Despite Lucasfilm ghosting the project, we hope Lamont gets the opportunity to build a grand vision of one of the most famous planets in Star Wars.
18. Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon
Zack Snyder is the visionary filmmaker behind the DCEU, who was unceremoniously booted off Warner Bros. Snyder had pitched a Star Wars film to Lucasfilm’s president Kathleen Kennedy that was intended to be a mature R-rated take on the universe.
Snyder was in post-production on Man of Steel when he made his Star Wars pitch to Lucasfilm. In an interview with The Playlist, Snyder talks about the pitch:
They’re down for an R-rated movie for one, and it’s gonna be like some Jedi’s going nuts! And I remember thinking, “They need me! This is cool, I’m gonna fix ‘Star Wars!’” Also, because I had some issues with some of the [prequel] decisions—I’m not gonna say what it was, but I just felt like [Lucasfilm] had gone astray a little bit; I know that’s sacrilegious to say, but that was my feeling.
Lucasfilm turned him down, and the idea later became the Netflix film Rebel Moon. This might’ve been for the best, as Snyder is infamous for having creative disputes with studios for his singular vision.
17. Solo Sequels
Solo: A Star Wars Story remains a solo movie as its director, Ron Howard, confirmed there are no sequels in the works despite the actors Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, and Emilia Clarke signing on for two more films.
Howard spoke to SiriusXM’s Radio Andy regarding the scrapped sequel:
Well, there’s no sequel planned now. It’s amazing to be a part of a Star Wars movie that seems to be a kind of underground hit, which is not what you’d expect, but that’s been an odd, strange journey for that movie.
This probably comes as no surprise since the film did not meet box office expectations, with a worldwide gross of around $393 million on a $275 million budget (via Box Office Mojo).
16. JD Dillard’s Star Wars Movie
Adding to the list of Lucasfilm’s cemetery of ghosted projects is J.D. Dillard’s Star Wars movie. Dillard was first reported to be involved in the untitled project back in 2020 (via The Wrap).
The Sleight filmmaker later told The Wrap that he would not be involved in the project:
Star Wars [is] unfortunately no longer a thing. It was not for lack of trying
Dillard got his start working alongside JJ Abrams on a production capacity in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and played a stormtrooper in Rise of Skywalker.
15. Damon Lindelof’s Rey Skywalker Film
Damon Lindelof was originally in talks for developing a theatrical Star Wars movie that would feature Rey Skywalker. The movie was spearheaded and written by Damon Lindelof, with a concept from writer Steven Knight and direction from Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
Damon Lindelof is known for his work on Lost, The Leftovers, and HBO’s Watchmen series. On Lost, he worked closely with Star Wars director J. J. Abrams. Lindelof spoke to Slash Film regarding the film:
I have the same association with [Star Wars] as you do, which is, it’s 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.
Since then, Rey’s New Jedi Order film has been confirmed with Daisy Ridley reprising her role, with Lindelof’s ideas being scrapped in favor of a different approach.
14. Mos Eisley Spaceport Movie
In 2018, rumors of a Mos Eisley Spaceport film surfaced on the Making Star Wars website as part of an anthology movie series. All plans for this branch of the Star Wars universe were canceled following the underperformance of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
According to a now-deleted piece by Making Star Wars, Lucasfilm had gone so far as to reserve time at Pinewood Studios with the intention of beginning work. The report stated (via MovieWeb):
After speaking to a few more Pinewood sources, it sounds like there was going to be a movie or a premise along the lines of Mos Eisley Spaceport: A Star Wars Story (not an official title). Crew members of the previous Star Wars film said they believed the other movie was about the spaceport Luke Skywalker goes into the original film.
Obi-Wan Kenobi infamously described the spaceport with the famous line, “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious“.
13. George Lucas’ Prequel Plan
George Lucas, back in 1979, said that Empire was originally part of a 12-film plan; by the time it was released, the number had clearly been reduced to nine. The Star Wars website reports on Lucas talking about his prequel film ideas (via Star Wars):
The prequel stories exist — where Darth Vader came from, the whole story about Darth and Ben Kenobi — and it all takes place before Luke was born. The other one — what happens to Luke afterward — is much more ethereal. I have a tiny notebook full of notes on that. If I’m really ambitious, I could proceed to figure out what would have happened to Luke.
While filming Jedi, for many reasons, Lucas was burning out, tired of the whole enterprise. He completed the trilogy because he started it, and the prequel trilogy will all be “someone else’s vision”.
12. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ Star Wars Trilogy
Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss joined the Star Wars universe in 2018. They were set to write and produce a feature film trilogy in 2022.
Unfortunately, the duo had exited the project. Many believed it was the disappointing ending the duo produced for Game of Thrones that resulted in Lucasfilm’s lackluster approach to their deal.
In an exclusive with The Hollywood Reporter, Benioff and Weiss spoke about what went wrong on the project:
We wanted to do The First Jedi. Basically how the Jedi Order came to be, why it came to be, the first lightsaber. And we were annoyed as hell when [Rian Johnson, the duo’s longtime friend and 3BP producer] called his movie The Last Jedi. He completely destroyed the obvious title for what we were working on.
They added that Lucasfilm had no interest in pursuing the ideas they pitched:
[Lucasfilm] ended up not wanting to do a First Jedi story. We had a very specific story idea in mind, and ultimately they decided they didn’t want to do that. And we totally get it. It’s their company and their IP, but we weren’t the droids they were looking for.
This turned out to work in their favour as they made the very successful Netflix series 3 Body Problem.
11. Guillermo del Toro’s The Rise and Fall of Jabba The Hutt
In an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Batman Begins screenwriter David S. Goyer revealed that he had developed a project for the horror maestro Guillermo del Toro.
The movie was unfortunately shelved by Disney. Toro’s vision for the project sounds very exciting, as he explained in an interview with Yahoo:
I would do the sort of Godfather saga that Jabba the Hutt had to go through to gain control. One, because it’s the character that looks the most like me, and I like him. I love the idea of a Hutt type of mafia, a very complex coup. I just love the character.
In an interview with Collider, del Toro stated:
We were doing a lot of stuff, and then it’s not my property, it’s not my money, and then it’s one of those 30 screenplays that goes away.
Ultimately, due to Lucasfilm being disappointed with the Solo movie at the box office, they decided to go in a different direction.
10. Kevin Feige’s Star Wars Movie
In 2019, a Star Wars film was in development with Kevin Feige producing and Michael Waldron serving as writer.
The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted those plans, causing a reshuffling of projects. Feige indefinitely shelved his film following the disappointment of The Rise of Skywalker.
In an interview with IGN, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy denied Kevin Feige’s Star Wars movie ever being a thing:
Kevin Feige’s project was something announced in the press, or I suppose fandom, but there was nothing – nothing ever got developed. We never discussed an idea.
When asked if his Star Wars feature was happening, he told Entertainment Tonight simply: “No.”.
9. Josh Trank’s Boba Fett Movie
Once again, after the commercial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story, a solo Boba Fett movie was scrapped.
In 2014, Josh Trank, after the success of Chronicle, was brought on by Disney to develop a Boba Fett solo movie, although at the time it was an untitled Star Wars spin-off project. Trank presented the idea to Hart, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, and Disney chairman Alan Horn.
Trank spoke about the cancelled project in an interview with Polygon:
I quit because I knew I was going to be fired if I didn’t quit.
The studio brought James Mangold in as writer and director, but by October 2018, the movie had been canceled. However, fans got The Book of Boba Fett, which streams on Disney+.
8. Star Wars Episode IX: Duel of the Fates
In August 2015, Disney announced that Colin Trevorrow had joined Star Wars: Episode IX as director. However, the filmmaker dropped out in August 2017, citing creative differences as the reason for his exit.
Trevorrow had written a script called “Duel of the Fates,” inspired by the moniker from the piece of John Williams’ music that plays during the two-on-one lightsaber duel with Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
According to director J.J. Abrams himself, his version of Star Wars: Episode IX is completely different from the one written by Colin Trevorrow.
The script for the film leaked online and opens in a time when the First Order has all but completely dominated the galaxy. Communication between planets has been cut off, leading the Resistance to hijack a Star Destroyer and launch a surprise attack on Coruscant (now ruled by Chancellor Hux) in order to activate a hidden Jedi beacon that can pierce the First Order’s communication blockade and rally the Resistance’s allies. (via IGN)
7. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
One of the most beloved properties in Star Wars history is the 2003 video game Knights of the Old Republic, which is set thousands of years before the Skywalker Saga and follows an unnamed Jedi hunting a Sith Lord named Darth Revan.
Rumors surfaced in 2023 that a movie based on the popular game was in the works (via Star Wars Net). However, Lucasfilm wasn’t interested in releasing one film a year in theaters.
Once again, rumors have spread that Lucasfilm and Disney are actually working on a Knights of the Old Republic series, according to Hollywood insider Daniel Richtman.
According to Richtman, however, it will not be a direct adaptation of the popular game series, but rather its own interpretation and new content.
We can only hope that these aren’t just another flood of rumors that lead nowhere.
6. Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic
Initially announced as a spinoff to The Mandalorian, the show was rumored to focus on Cara Dune as a new inductee into the New Republic investigating the emergence of Imperial remnants in the Outer Rim.
Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic was cancelled after the controversy surrounding the actress Gina Carano. She was booted from Disney after she shared a meme comparing “hating someone for their political views” to the Holocaust.
5. George Lucas’ Sequel Trilogy
George Lucas had originally planned to do episodes VII, VIII, and IX. Episode VII would have continued Luke’s journey as a Jedi, Episode VIII would have introduced his sister (originally not Leia), and the final Episode IX would have introduced the Emperor and featured Luke’s final battle against him.
Lucas had penned 9 films in total, stating (via Star Wars):
It’s a nine-part saga that has a beginning, a middle and an end. It progresses over a period of about fifty or sixty years with about twenty years between trilogies, each trilogy taking about six or seven years.
Many of these elements were reworked into the original trilogy. Disney evidently went in a different direction after the Lucasfilm acquisition.
Lucas’ original plan was to have Darth Maul as the sequel trilogy’s main villain, with Darth Talon as his apprentice.
4. Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 8
Daniel Logan, who played fan-favorite character Boba Fett on the series, was at London Comic-Con when he revealed why Disney canceled the animated series.
Logan stated the reasons he believed the show was cancelled (via CBR):
Disney, they canceled it, I think it was getting too graphic. Actually, it was getting really graphic. Boba was doing some really, really cool stuff. He started actually becoming a bounty hunter.
The show was finally revived for a seventh season on Disney+, which aired in February 2020.
3. Star Wars: Detours
When Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, Star Wars: Detours became another show that bit the dust. The series, created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, had produced 39 episodes, with another 62 scripts written, when Disney shelved it indefinitely before any of it aired.
The show was set to be a parody, targeting a younger audience, with features from the likes of Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, and Jar Jar Binks himself, Ahmed Best.
Seth Green remains positive that the show will see a release.
2. Splinter of the Mind’s Eye
Author Alan Dean Foster was brought in to write the novelization of the first Star Wars movie and a second book titled Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. This was done as a backup in case the sequel to A New Hope didn’t pan out.
Star Wars became a massive hit, and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye remained a novel. The story centered on Luke and Leia on a planet called Mimban as they search for the Kaiburr crystal.
1. Star Wars: Underworld
A live-action series set between Episodes III and IV, Star Wars: Underworld is a proposed television series by George Lucas that has been stuck in Lucasfilm’s development hell since 2005. Lucas stated (via MovieWeb):
It sits on the shelf. We have 50 hours. We are trying to figure out a different way of making movies. We are looking for a different technology that we can use, that will make it economically feasible to shoot the show. Right now, it looks like the Star Wars features. But we have to figure out how to make it at about a tenth of the cost of the features because it’s television.
Over 100 episodes of Star Wars: Underworld had been planned out and were described as “complex, dark, and adult”. Test footage was allegedly leaked and posted on YouTube as well.
The YouTube video’s description describes the series’ potential in more detail, stating that it was set after the events of Order 66 and tied into the video game 1313. Unfortunately, due to budget issues and Lucasfilm’s sale to Disney, the show was delayed until its eventual demise.
Here’s a table that summarizes all the movies and shows mentioned, with the key details regarding their status.
With all these films and shows being ghosted by Lucasfilm, will the franchise start to pick them back up? Some of them do have the hope of gracing screens, but the rest are missed opportunities for Disney to create some unique content.
What would you like to see? Let us know in the comments.