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In 2019, it was reported by various trades that Marvel Studios president, and the mastermind behind the MCU, Kevin Feige, would be teaming up with Lucasfilm to develop an untitled Star Wars movie for the studio which he’d be producing. Shortly after, it was confirmed by Disney’s chief creative officer, Alan Horn, that Feige was indeed working on a Star Wars project for Lucasfilm. Since then, we had very little information on the film, and as it stands currently, that project does not appear to be happening.
Last year we got word from the writer of Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Micheal Waldron, that he was in the process of writing the Feige flick. Shortly after, Waldron signed up to write Marvel Studios’ most ambitious project to date, Avengers: Secret Wars, which is scheduled to release in May of 2026, and due to this commitment, he was no longer able to commit to the Feige Star Wars project. Feige himself reportedly became so busy that he too was unable to commit to a Star Wars project, as Marvel Studios began releasing more projects than ever which included at least three movies a year and three to four live-action Disney+ series a year. Marvel Studios has also had a somewhat turbulent year, with multiple films underperforming commercially and critically, with growing division and disappointment in the fanbase – which has seemingly forced Marvel Studios to change their strategy. Marvel Studios are set to spend more time in post-production on their projects, have been hiring more experienced writers to re-write their films such as Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts and Blade, and intend to slow down on the number of series and movies released a year.
We knew that the project would be the brainchild of Kevin Feige, and that Micheal Waldron would write that vision, but one thing we never had an update on during the various years the Feige project was in development was just who would direct the project. Many fans speculated and assumed that whoever it was, they’d like have ties to the MCU and worked with Feige previously, with some fans speculating that it could be Peyton Reed who directed The Mandalorian season two finale, or the Russo Brothers, who directed both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. And we now seem to have an answer.
During the latest episode of Smartless, a podcast hosted by actors and comedians Jason Bateman (Ozark), Will Arnett (Arrested Development), and Sean Hayes (Will and Grace), Joe and Anthony Russo – better known as the Russo Brothers, revealed that they had early talks with Marvel Studios head honcho, Kevin Feige, about possibly directing his Star Wars flick, with Joe Russo saying:
“We love Star Wars. There were early conversations, there were some early conversations with us. Kevin Feige is a huge Star Wars fan, and there were some early conversations about maybe teaming up with Kevin to do ‘Star Wars.”
I’m sure if this was 2019 many Star Wars fans would have been elated by this possibility, with Joe and Anthony coming off the back of two fantastic films in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, two films which went on to become some of the highest grossing movies of all time, as well as other Marvel hits such as Captain America: The Winter Solider and Captain America: Civil War. However, since Endgame and stepping out from the Marvel Studios shadow, the results of the Russo Brothers projects have been fairly disappointing. In 2021, the Russo’s released the Tom Holland led Cherry for Apple TV+, which received a negative response from critics. The Russo’s followed up Cherry last year with the star studded The Gray Man, which starred Ryan Gosling (Drive), Ana De Armas (Knives Out) and Chris Evans (Captain America) for Netflix which also received negative reviews. Most recently the duo released the seven episode series Citadel for Amazon Prime Video, which boasted a budget of over two hundred million dollars, with some reports claiming up to three hundred, which has received a middling response from critics and audiences alike.
The reveal from the Russo Brothers follows comments made by Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, from Star Wars Celebration, where she claimed that the Kevin Feige wasn’t officially announced and that it was a story in the press and “fandom”, despite Alan Horn confirming the project was being developed. Kennedy added that there was “nothing” to the Feige project, and that the duo “never discussed an idea”, even though we know that Kevin Feige had hired Micheal Waldron to pen the project, which he confirmed he was doing last year, and the Russo Brothers confirming they had early discussions about directing the feature.
The Russo Brothers next project is a film entitled The Electric State, which features a star-studded cast including Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Chris Pratt (Jurassic World), Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All At Once), Giancarlo Esposito (The Mandalorian), Brian Cox (Succession), Anthony Mackie (Falcon and the Winter Solider), Jenny Slate (The Afterparty), Jason Alexander (Seinfeld) and Billy Bob Thornton (Bad Santa). Marvel Studios’ next theatrical release is the highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which hits cinemas later this week. And the next Star Wars theatrical release is believed to be the Daisy Ridley led New Jedi Order movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel), which could release on December 19th, 2025, though there’s new reports claiming the long in development Star Wars flick from Taika Waititi (Thor: Love and Thunder) is set to shoot next year.
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