ACADEMY AWARD WINNER TAIKA WAITITI TO DIRECT AND CO-WRITE NEW “STAR WARS” FEATURE FILM FOR THEATRICAL RELEASE

Photo Courtesy of LA Times/ Jay L. Clendenin

Academy Award® winner Taika Waititi, who recently won Best Adapted Screenplay for “Jojo Rabbit” and directed the widely-acclaimed first season finale episode of “The Mandalorian” on Disney+, will direct and co-write a new “Star Wars” feature film for theatrical release. Joining Waititi on the screenplay will be Academy Award nominee Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917,” “Last Night in Soho”), who received a BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year on the three-time Oscar®-winning film, “1917.”

In addition, Emmy®-nominated writer Leslye Headland (“Russian Doll,” “Bachelorette”) is currently developing a new untitled “Star Wars” series for Disney+. Headland will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner for the in-development series, which adds to a growing list of “Star Wars” stories for Disney’s streaming platform including “The Mandalorian,” now in post-production on season 2, and two other previously ordered series: one based on Cassian Andor prior to the events of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and another following the adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope.”

The release date for Waititi’s project has not yet been announced, while Headland’s project is in development.