‘Watchmen’ Showrunner Damon Lindelof Bashes Disney: “Picketing Disney Is More Fun Than Writing A Star Wars Movie”
John F. Trent
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Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof slammed The Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm asserting that picketing the company is a lot more fun than working a Star Wars film script.
Damon Lindelof speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, for “Twin Peaks”, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Lindelof was first rumored to be working on a Star Wars film back in March 2022 when Richard Rushfield at The Ankler noted, “Word around Buena Vista St. is that Damon Lindelof, the Emmy-winning creator of Watchmen, Lost and The Leftovers, is working on a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm.”
In October 2022, The Hollywood Reporter’s Aaron Couch detailed that he was actually co-writing a Star Wars film and that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy would be directing the film.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Lucasfilm
Shortly after that report, Borys Kit, also at The Hollywood Reporter, claimed that Lindelof was co-writing with Justin Britt Gibson and had been working on the film script for months.
Kit would detail that the movie was expected to be a stand-alone project, but could lead into sequels if it was successful at the box office. He also shared that the movie would take place following the events of The Rise of Skywalker and could include a number of characters from the Disney sequel trilogy.
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren and Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Rise of Skywalker
However, in March 2023 it appeared everything went up in smoke when Lindelof told SlashFilm he was no longer attached to the Star Wars film.
He said, “I will just say, that for reasons that I can’t get into on this Sunday morning, on this day, the degree of difficulty is extremely, extremely, extremely high. If it can’t be great, it shouldn’t exist.”
“That’s all I’ll say, because I have the same association with it as you do, which is, it’s the first movie I saw sitting in my dad’s lap, four years old, May of ’77. I think it’s possible that sometimes when you hold something in such high reverence and esteem, you start to get in the kitchen and you just go, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t be cooking. Maybe I should just be eating.’ We’ll just leave it at that point,” he added.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
Lindelof would also tell Esquire at the end of April that he was asked to leave the film. He explained, “I was in more than talks to join the Star Wars universe. I joined the Star Wars universe. I was asked to leave the Star Wars universe. So will I get back in line outside the club and ty to get back in again? Of course.”
He added, “This movie was the Alpha and the Omega. It was the first movie I saw in a movie theater. I love all the storytelling in that world. And if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Or again, again, try as Yoda would say.”
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Following Lindelof’s exit from the film, Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm announced at Star Wars Celebration in April that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy would indeed be directing an upcoming film that would star Daisy Ridley reprising her role as Rey and building a new Jedi Order.
A press release stated, “Star Wars will head into the future, with a new film directed by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy set 15 years after the last events of the Skywalker Saga. The film will star Daisy Ridley reprising her beloved role as Rey and tells the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order and the powers that rise to tear it down.”
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: (L-R) Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
Now, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on the picket line, Lindelof bashed Lucasfilm and The Walt Disney Company, “Ninety-nine days of steps under my belt. Don’t know if there’s any end in sight, but feeling good, feeling strong, feeling convinced, unified.”
He later added, “And Justin and I wrote a Star Wars movie together and picketing Disney is more fun than writing a Star Wars movie. I will say that.”
Brett-Gibson then shared, “It’s a delight. Strike the Empire back, baby!”
Outside the Disney lot in Burbank, Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson share their feelings about the #WritersStrike 100 days in pic.twitter.com/oD1oLMlquD
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) August 9, 2023
What do you make of Lindelof’s comments about picketing Disney being more fun than writing a Star Wars film?
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