Over the past few years, we've seen Lucasfilm shift focus to telling Star Wars stories on Disney+. While the franchise has found great success on streaming, it appears Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy's frequent creative clashes with filmmakers is why we haven't had a movie since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker.
Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron ended up falling apart, while the executive would later claim Kevin Feige and Michael Waldron's Star Wars movie was never happening...despite previously confirming plans for the project. And those two only really scratch the surface of what hasn't happened!
Before Solo: A Star Wars Story bombed in 2018, the plan had been for a number of well-known characters to take centre stage in their own big screen spin-offs. The idea was abandoned, hence why the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett became TV shows.
We recently learned that Guillermo del Toro (Pacific Rim) and David S. Goyer (Man of Steel) were developing a Star Wars movie four years ago and the filmmaker has now confirmed it was set to revolve around one of the franchise's most iconic villains.
"We had the rise and fall of Jabba the Hutt, so I was super happy," he reveals in the video below (via SFFGazette.com). "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. Sometimes I’m bitter, sometimes I’m not. I always turn to my team and say, ‘Good practice, guys. Good practice. We designed a great world. We designed great stuff. We learned.'”
"You can never be ungrateful with life. Whatever life sends you, there’s something to be learned from it. So, you know, I trust the universe, I do," del Toro continues. "When something doesn’t happen, I go, ‘Why?’ I try to have a dialogue with myself. ‘Why didn’t it happen?’ And the more you swim upstream with the universe, the less you’re gonna realise where you’re going."
According to Goyer, this Jabba the Hutt movie featured "a cool script" and added that, "there is a lot of cool artwork from it that was produced."
At this point, it's obvious we won't ever see it become a reality, a shame when we're sure del Toro had some very unique ideas for this creature-filled corner of the Star Wars Universe. Seeing that concept art would be a dream come true, anyway!
Take a look at the full interview below.