Lucasfilm turns down Paddington director’s audacious Star Wars movie idea — here’s why

There was a peculiar bit of Star Wars history doing the rounds this week, about a movie we never actually got to see—despite it coming from the team behind Paddington. Yes, really. Writer Simon Farnaby just explained, rather candidly, how he and director Paul King once got tantalisingly close to making a galaxy far, far away their own, only to have Lucasfilm quietly say, 'Not quite, chaps.'

A Star Wars Pitch Too Weird to Fly?

Turns out, after the success they had with everyone's favourite marmalade-loving bear, Farnaby and King were tapped by Disney and Lucasfilm to come up with a new Star Wars film. Their take? A story built entirely around a robot, sans any actual 'Star Wars' characters. Bold, but maybe not quite what the bosses had in mind.

Farnaby told Variety, 'They were like, "We really need it to be a Star Wars movie," which is probably why it didn't get turned into a Star Wars movie!'

By the sound of it, neither Farnaby nor King felt they'd found the right version anyway—they're now reworking the robot concept as its own thing, minus the lightsabers and X-wings. Good news is, things worked out for them regardless, with their next film Wonka absolutely smashing it at the box office.

Meanwhile, in Actual Star Wars Land...

Lucasfilm obviously didn't shed a tear over missing out on Robot Solo. The studio's already charted out new territory, with an ever-expanding slate of films in active development:

• Star Wars: Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling, directed by Shawn Levy. The script's by Jonathan Tropper, with a story set five years after The Rise of Skywalker. You can pencil that in for UK cinemas on 28 March 2027.
• There's also James Mangold's film diving into the origins of the Force itself—so, proper ancient Jedi business.
• Dave Filoni is working on a cinematic crossover event tying together a few of the Disney+ series, which sounds like a headache for continuity, but he'll probably manage.
• Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is doing a project centred on Rey—think rebuilding the Jedi Order from scratch, post-Skywalker saga.
• Still in early development: an unnamed Simon Kinberg trilogy, plus whatever Taika Waititi is cooking up. That one, who knows.

Star Wars: Starfighter arrives in cinemas on 28 March 2027.

And for those keeping up with Star Wars boardroom bingo: Kathleen Kennedy stepped aside as Lucasfilm president not long ago. Dave Filoni is now running the show as president and chief creative officer, taking the creative reins properly after years quietly shepherding the animated stuff. With fresh leadership in the pilot seat and this massive slate lined up, the next few years are going to show whether any of these films actually take off—or if they'll join the pile of 'what might have been' stories like the Paddington crew's out-there robot adventure.