In the last decade, Denis Villeneuve has helmed Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune adaptations, which rank as some of the best sci-fi movies ever. The director’s not distancing himself from the genre anytime soon, and he’s turned his attention to a feature version of Dune: Messiah next. However, if you’re someone who’s been hoping that Villeneuve will also sign on to direct one of the upcoming Star Wars movies, sorry, it’s not going to happen.
During his conversation with Matthew Belloni on The Town podcast, Denis Villeneuve admitted that he was the “target audience” for Star Wars: A New Hope when it came out in 1977 because he was 10 years old at the time, and added that The Empire Strikes Back was “the movie that I anticipated the most in my life.” However, his enthusiasm for a galaxy far, far away took a nosedive with the release of Return of the Jedi, with the filmmaker explaining:
The problem is that it all derailed in 1983 with Return of the Jedi. It’s a long story. I was 15 years old, and my best friend and I wanted to take a cab and go to L.A. and talk to George Lucas — we were so angry! Still today, the Ewoks. It turned out to be a comedy for kids. … Star Wars became crystallized in its own mythology, very dogmatic, it seemed like a recipe, no more surprises. So I’m not dreaming to do a Star Wars because it feels like code is very codified.
So this isn’t even a matter of Denis Villeneuve not approving of the more recent Star Wars movies and the TV shows that are streaming with a Disney+ subscription. He became disillusioned with this franchise over 40 years ago when he and his friend were disappointed by Return of the Jedi, with the Ewoks in particular being especially heinous offenders. So while other directors would jump at the chance to leave their stamp on the cinematic side of the Star Wars franchise, Villeneuve is content with never exploring that world.
Fortunately for Star Wars fans, there’s no shortage of movies that are in the franchise’s creative pipeline, although so far only one has an official release date, with The Mandalorian & Grogu coming out in May 2026. Among the undated movies include the Rey movie being directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Dave Filoni’s New Republic era movie, and James Mangold’s movie about the dawn of the Jedi and the origins of the Force. It was also recently reported that Simon Kinberg is developing a new trilogy of Star Wars movies that will be set after The Rise of Skywalker.
As for Denis Villeneuve, his latest movie, Dune: Part Two, can be streamed now with a Max subscription alongside its predecessor and the new series Dune: Prophecy. Last month, the director said he was in the middle of writing Dune: Messiah, and it’s looking like that will be the the “event film” he has lined up for December 18, 2026.
