It seems Disney has learned absolutely nothing from the sheer rejection by audiences of J.J. Abrams’ overall involvement with the franchise, as the company has reportedly tapped his Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof to pen an upcoming cinematic entry in the Star Wars universe.
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This word regarding the next tale of a galaxy far, far away was first broken by Deadline on October 24th, courtesy of information provided to them by “several sources close to the project”.
According to said sources, “Lindelof is co-writing the project, though it is unknown at this time who his writing partner might be,” and as such, “the script is still being written which means production is likely far out.”
Meanwhile, the as-of-yet-unofficially announced Star Wars project will be helmed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in her second Disney outing following her time as as one of the four directors of Ms. Marvel’s first season.
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Interestingly, Deadline were reportedly also informed that “it was important to Lucasfilm and Lindelof that a director be brought on so that person’s own vision for where they see this story headed gets included in the script.”
However, what this soup of post-modern sentiment actually means in regard to the film’s production – Does this imply they wanted someone to ensure the story was ‘headed’ in a more ‘diverse and equitable’ direction? Or maybe that they cannot trust Lindelof to write a cohesive story? – presently remains unclear.
As of writing, outside of Lindelof and Obaid-Chinoy’s attachment, no other details surrounding the project have even been hinted at.
Further, Deadline was unable to reach either Lucasfilm or reps for Obaid-Chinoy for comment on the news.
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In addition to having worked with Abrams on Lost, Lindelof was also his partner in crime on the first two films in the former’s Star Trek cinematic reboot series.
From there, he not only served as a writer for such films as Disney’s Tomorrowland and Blumhouse Productions’ The Hunt, but also – perhaps most notably and most disastrously – as the creator, showrunner, writer, and executive producer of HBO’s one-season-and-done live-action Watchmen series.
Unfortunately (though unsurprisingly), Lindelof is also an adherent of Abrams’ ‘mystery box‘ writing style – a style which has become so prevalent in recent years as to spell the death of storytelling all together.
“I bought this decades ago, but if you look at this, you’ll see it’s never been opened. Ever,” Abrams described during a 2007 TED Talk of a childhood toy he chose to never remove from its packaging.
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“Why have I not opened this, and why have I kept it? It represents infinite possibility,” he continued. “It represents hope. It represents potential. What I love about this box — and what I realized I sort of do, in whatever it is that I do — is I find myself drawn to infinite possibility and that sense of potential.
“And I realize that mystery is the catalyst for imagination,” he eventually affirmed. “What are stories besides mystery boxes?”
To this end, while reflecting on his time working on Lost during a 2019 interview with The Independent, Lindelof confirmed, “I don’t know what I learned from Lost. I guess that the takeaway from Lost is [that] I am unapologetic about the fact that I’m fascinated by ambiguity and questions that will never be answered because that’s what life is.”
“I’m just really interested in those stories and I understand that there is an experience of frustration and dissatisfaction but I also think that there is nobility in the exploration and the journey of these ideas,” he added.
“So when I read Tom Perrotta’s The Leftovers [whose 2014-2017 HBO adaptation was developed in partnership between the author and Lindelof] which was unapologetic in saying the single most interesting thing about the premise of this book – about 140 million people left the planet – is that we’re never ever going to answer where they went,” explained the writer.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, you don’t have to answer that question?'” Lindelof exasperatedly exclaimed. “I found that liberating and freeing.”
