Shawn Levy Says Development Had Started On His Star Wars Movie Pre-Strike

It's been almost a year since it was first reported and later confirmed that Free Guy and The Adam Project director Shawn Levy would take on a Star Wars movie after he'd completed work on Deadpool 3. The project has been mostly on the back burner since then, as Levy was focused on his Ryan Reynolds-led Marvel movie. However, the director said recently that they had started some behind-the-scenes movement on it right before the writers' strike was called on May 2.



Speaking to Collider at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the filmmaker is out backing his Netflix series All the Light We Cannot See, Levy was asked about the Star Wars movie he's confirmed to direct, and said the following:

Details on the project are very scarce at this point, and we don't even know if Levy will be credited as writer. (It should be noted, however, that he doesn't have a writing credit under his belt so far: Deadpool 3 will be his first.) Interestingly enough, the aforementioned Netflix series, which he directs and produces, was written by Steven Knight, who was also hard at work on Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's New Jedi Order film right before the WGA strike was announced.







We assume Levy's Star Wars film is not a priority for Lucasfilm (in fact, no one on Lucasfilm's side has acknowledged its existence so far), as he was not brought out on stage during Star Wars Celebration in April, where Kathleen Kennedy announced the next three filmmakers developing movies in a galaxy far, far away (neither was Taika Waititi). But the fact that at least he'd started brainstorming ideas for it, and maybe putting pen to paper on some of them before May, is worth noting -- after all, we know he will not commit to it before Deadpool 3 rolls out in theaters. The timing is also most interesting, as he said it was just before the WGA strike was called, something that happened mere days before Deadpool 3 was set to start filming in London.



For that reason, it seems hard to believe that Levy was typing away on the night of May 1 and was told to stop by midnight. It seems more likely that either he never started developing anything, because prepping a Deadpool movie must not leave a lot of free time, or he floated some ideas around months before the WGA strike and stopped once the schedule for the movie was impossible to keep up with (especially considering he will also be receiving co-writing credit). Bringing up the strike is his way of making the labor stoppage a part of the conversation while not being entirely untrue.



Production on Deadpool 3 was halted in mid-July after SAG-AFTRA also announced a labor stoppage. They were able, however, to shoot for a couple of months, and while it's highly unlikely they will be able to meet their targeted May 3, 2024, release date, Levy's schedule could be freed up next summer. He also has a Real Steel TV series in some stage of development, though we expect Star Wars to take priority over that.



The next Star Wars movie is scheduled for May 22, 2026. Lucasfilm has also reserved dates in December 2026 and 2027, yet they have five filmmakers confirmed to be working for them: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (whose project is in the most advanced stage), Dave Filoni, James Mangold, Taika Waititi, and Shawn Levy.



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