Ryan Reynolds is apparently setting his sights on a galaxy far, far away, and his vision is decidedly darker than what Star Wars fans are used to.
The multi-talented star, who's rumored to currently be working on a Deadpool ensemble film (possibly X-Force), recently revealed on Scott Mendelson's The Box Office podcast that he pitched a bold idea to Disney: an R-rated Star Wars movie.
"I pitched to Disney," Reynolds shared, "I said, ‘Why don’t we do an R-rated Star Wars property? It doesn’t have to be overt, A+ characters. There’s a wide range of characters you could use."
Reynolds quickly clarified that his push for a mature rating wasn't about gratuitous content. "I don’t mean R-rated to be vulgar," he explained. "R-rated as a Trojan horse for emotion. I always wonder why studios don’t want to just gamble on something like that.”
While the image of Deadpool brandishing a lightsaber might be amusing, Reynolds was quick to distance himself from an on-screen role. "I’m not saying I want to be in it. That would be a bad fit," he admitted. "I’d want to produce and write or be a part of behind the scenes. Those kinds of IP subsist really well on scarcity and surprise. We don’t get scarcity really with Star Wars because of Disney+, but you can certainly still surprise people.”
The fate of Reynolds' audacious pitch remains unknown. Disney has historically kept the Star Wars franchise family-friendly, with the critically acclaimed Disney+ series Andor (TV-14 rated) being the most mature offering to date. An R-rated entry would mark a significant shift from this established norm.
Interestingly, the concept of a darker, more mature Star Wars isn't entirely new. Before selling Lucasfilm to Disney, George Lucas himself announced Star Wars: Underworld in 2005. This live-action TV series aimed to explore the criminal underbelly of Coruscant during the Galactic Empire's reign, promising a grittier and more adult look at the galaxy. However, its ambitious scale and a reported $40 million per episode budget ultimately led to its shelving.
Could Ryan Reynolds' bold pitch spark a new, more mature direction for Star Wars, or is it destined to become another fascinating "what if" alongside the unproduced Star Wars: Underworld?
Time will ultimately reveal if Disney is prepared to gamble on such a different kind of "surprise" for its devoted fanbase. Following the significant backlash from the recent sequel trilogy, Lucasfilm has noticeably adopted a more cautious approach to greenlighting new projects.