Rey Star Wars Film New Jedi Order Gets a New Writer
The road to Rey is a rocky one for Lucasfilm. The new film starring the heroine of the Star Wars sequel trilogy played by Daisy Ridley, which is assumed to be called New Jedi Order, has had trouble getting a script finished. First, Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson were set to write it, but they left the project and were replaced with Steven Knight, the creator of the British crime series Peaky Blinders. Knight sent Lucasfilm four drafts of the script, all of which were rejected and returned to him with notes from Kathleen Kennedy. (Can you imagine being given notes by someone who approved of The Acolyte, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka?) Knight finally left New Jedi Order at the end of October 2024, soon after announcing that he’s opening a new studio in Los Angeles and making a Peaky Blinders movie, although I imagine he’d also just plain had enough of Lucasfilm and their stupid Rey movie. The film, which is to be directed by documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in her narrative movie debut, was speculated to be on the chopping block at the time but now comes news that there’s life in it after all.
The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reveals that George Nolfi will be writing New Jedi Order. Nolfi is known for writing thrillers like The Bourne Ultimatum (which he co-wrote with Scott Z. Burns), The Sentinel, and the TV series Allegiance, as well as The Adjustment Bureau and Ocean’s Twelve. I wonder if this means Lucasfilm wants to make this one an exciting, fast-paced action movie. That wouldn’t be a bad idea; Rey isn’t exactly a volcano of personality, so it might be better just to keep things moving and up the action as much as possible so her lack of charisma doesn’t matter as much. I’m not sure how you do that with a story like New Jedi Order, though. This is supposed to be about Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order after that Luke Skywalker guy turned out to be a useless loser; that sounds more like a personal film full of inspirational speeches and training montages set to 80s music. (I have zero doubts this crew would put 80s music in a Star Wars movie.) Maybe it will be more about Rey tracking down Force-sensitive Jedi recruits (which isn’t supposed to matter anymore because anybody can be a Jedi now; maybe she just puts a bunch of ads in space newspapers or something) while some evil group is trying to kill them before she can get to them. At least that has some potential to be exciting.
As for Nolfi, my experience with his work is a bit of a mixed bag. I love The Bourne Ultimatum, and it is the most relentlessly paced of the Bourne films, none of which are slow. The Sentinel is okay, but it has the cheapo feel of a TV movie, plus a lame bunch of villains. (It has the most obvious hook, though; of course, if Michael Douglas were a Secret Service agent, he’d have an affair with the First Lady.) I liked The Adjustment Bureau, although it kind of cheats towards the end and drops its free will argument, which is disappointing. I barely remember Ocean’s Twelve, but I think I liked it well enough; it was Ocean’s Thirteen where I started to get bored and wonder how many times they were going to make the same movie. I have no idea if Nolfi is suited for New Jedi Order, or if he’ll even be the writer of the final script since this film is taking forever to put together. I do feel somewhat vindicated in seeing that Lucasfilm seems determined to get it made, though; I believe this one will happen come hell or high water because Kathleen Kennedy wants to force Rey on Star Wars fans one more time. What will be most satisfying is if no one goes to see it.
Let us know what you think of New Jedi Order’s new screenwriter in the comments!
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Comments (4)
Basically; we even saw it with The Mandalorian in its third season, and making Thrawn Ahsoka’s nemesis instead of Luke’s. Rey specifically is Kennedy’s baby, though, and I think she wants the satisfaction of saying she made another movie with her despite the reaction. Like they’re not even pivoting to a different woman.
On a side note, Charles Soule is writing a new High Republic novel called Trials Of The Jedi. I have not read any of his Star Wars content.
I only heard of him in conjunction with Daredevil. Apparently, he’s written two High Republics.
Comes off to me as more top down feminization of a brand, Courtesy of BlackRock, BlackStone and China. That was the banksters number one stated goal of taking over comics and manga: Feminize all of the content. Shows that, for money, all of the top brands will turn on their own base customers and fans.