Just a couple of days ago the star of the sequel trilogy, Daisy Ridley, who’s set to reprise her role as Rey Skywalker in the upcoming Star Wars: New Jedi Order (working title), revealed that fans can expect an update on the flick “soon”, that she was excited about the project and that it is “evolving.” Now it’s being reported that the writer of the project, Steven Knight, has exited the project…probably not the update fans were expecting or hoping for.
According to a new report from Matt Belloni at Puck News, is sharing that Steven Knight is now off of the New Jedi Order effort after coming on board the project in the first quarter of 2023 following the exit of the films original writers, Damon Lindelof (Watchmen) and Justin Brit-Gibson (Into the Badlands). Lindelof had been working on the project to close to two years before he was asked to leave the project by the Kathleen Kennedy led Lucasfilm with rumours that Lindelof’s script featured an elderly Rey Skywalker and two younger force users. Once Knight joined the project, the film abandoned the idea of an older Rey.
Steven Knight is best known for his work on the wildly popular series, Peaky Blinders, a show which he created and is due to have a film release next year with a script from Knight. Knight’s other work includes films such as Locke, Eastern Promises and Spencer, as well as the TV series Taboo, See and SAS Rogue Heroes. His next written effort, the film Maria starting Angelina Jolie, is due to release later this year.
The Puck News report didn’t mention any reason for Knight’s exit, but mentioned that Lucasfilm are now in the process of finding a new writer for the project. There was no mention on the status of the films director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel), so you’re to assume Obiad-Chinoy’s position is safe. However, the report does mention that New Jedi Order is unlikely to make its planned release date of December 18th, 2026.
Lucasfilm have never publicly announced a release date for New Jedi Order and the aforementioned December 2026 date only lists an untitled Star Wars movie. However, it was widely believed that the film due to release in that window was New Jedi Order, with initial plans to shoot the film this year which slipped to early next year, with Daisy Ridley herself stating the hope was to shoot New Jedi Order in 2025, to make the December 2026.
It remains to be seen if Lucasfilm will attempt to push up the release of another one of the films they have in development, possibly the James Mangold effort Dawn of the Jedi, or if they’ll abandon the date all together. Lucasfilm have another untitled Star Wars movie dated for December 2027. The Mandalorian and Grogu film is due to release in May 2026 and is currently in production.
In June of this year I reported exclusively that New Jedi Order would not film this year, some outlets and individuals at the time were reporting that the film was due to shoot in September, which was inaccurate. I was told at the time that the reason production had slipped out of 2024 was due to script issues and that Lucasfilm wanted to get the script right before allowing cameras to roll. I added at the time that one source said that Lucasfilm was looking for a new writer, but I did not know if that was to work alongside Knight, touch up a draft, or to take over writing duties from Knight.
The news of Knight’s reported exit is not surprising and is just another disappointing update for fans that were looking forward to the project. Personally I haven’t been a fan of Knight’s work, so I’m not disheartened by the loss of the writer and I hope they find one that I feel is exciting. However, I can’t help but feel as if this is another blow for this movie and another example of fans being let down when it comes to the development and release of films from Lucasfilm post-sequel trilogy.
UPDATE @ 7:40am BST: Variety has confirmed the exclusive Puck News report of Knight’s exit on New Jedi Order. Variety added that Lucasfilm are actively looking for new writers and IF New Jedi Order goes into production next year, it’ll be “well” into the year.
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