Shawn Levy's Star Wars movie will offer a different kind of story

There can’t be many people in Hollywood more busy than Shawn Levy right now. He has just dropped hints about his upcoming Star Wars movie while on the Deadpool & Wolverine promo circuit.

On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Levy talked about his approach to Star Wars. He’s currently writing a movie script in that universe, and is set to direct.

The main takeaway is he doesn’t want to make a film that has to slot itself into the Skywalker saga.

“There’s only so many times that Star Wars movies can revisit the same section of the timeline,” says Levy.

"I don’t want to do a Star Wars story that is redundant to others, nor am I interested in doing one that has to serve another movie. I really wanted to craft something that felt organic to me, both in tone and characters.”

He does suggest there’s an important Star Wars soul that he wants to keep in place, though.

"I think there is the force, and a connection to something bigger than our individual selves, and the way that can make us powerful,” says Levy. "Those things, combined with visual delight and wish fulfilment, that’s Star Wars to me.”

We’ve known or a couple of years that Shawn Levy is in the running to make a Star Wars movie, the news having filtered through in 2022 via Deadline.

Since then Levy’s star has only risen. As well as continuing to direct Stranger Things episodes, for season five, his Deadpool & Wolverine has proved a big box office success.

At the time of writing its earnings sit at $852 million, and are hoped to reach a billion dollars within days. This will make it only the second R-rated movie to hit that milestone, following 2019’s Joker. It made $1.078 billion.

Levy has also hinted he has actors in mind for key roles in his Star Wars movie.

The Happy Sad Confused podcast host Josh Horowitz asked Levy if he was writing with certain figures in his head. He replied, “sort of, yes,” before urging him not to ask a follow-up question.

That’s understandable, given the film is unlikely to hit cinemas for years, if it even makes it to the production stage.

The next Star Wars film is The Mandalorian & Grogu, due in May 2026. It is directed and co-written by Marvel bigwig Jon Favreau.

Other directors linked to Star Wars movie projects include James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi and Dave Filoni.

• The best Star Wars movies: ranked in order of brilliance