Every Star Wars movie and TV project canceled by Disney, ranked

What was it? An apparently easy win for Disney+’s then-young corner of the Star Wars universe, Rangers Of The New Republic would’ve presumably followed Gina Carano’s Cara Dune—introduced in The Mandalorian—as she took out Imperial remnants alongside other veterans of the Galactic Civil War. We’re picturing something closer to Rogue One than the average Star Wars thing.

What happened to it? Gina Carano happened to it. Disney fired her from The Mandalorian in 2021 for a string of offensive social media posts, and while she was never officially announced as the star of Rangers, it seems particularly telling that the project was shelved not long after she got fired.

What was its midi-chlorian count? Zero seems fair, assuming we’re living in the alternate universe where Carano wasn’t fired from The Mandalorian and got to star in this show anyway. Besides, do we really need a Star Wars show about space cops?

What was it? Game Of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were attached to a new Star Wars trilogy before their HBO series had ended, and though we didn’t find out much more about it until after it was canceled, it reportedly would’ve been an “origin story” for the Jedi. That also happens to be what James Mangold’s upcoming Star Wars thing is reportedly about, so the idea didn’t completely die when Benioff and Weiss left.

What happened to it? The official story is that the Thrones guys chose to leave so they could focus on a lucrative development deal at Netflix, but the unofficial story is that whatever plans Benioff and Weiss had didn’t gel with what Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy wanted out of Star Wars, and the two sides were never able to see eye-to-eye. Also, maybe someone at Lucasfilm saw the Game Of Thrones finale.

What was its midi-chlorian count? Let’s say 1,000. Not ridiculously low, but much lower than the average dude walking around the cantina.

What was it? Developed by Stuart Beattie, the movies would’ve been a dive into Obi-Wan’s life as a hermit after the events of Revenge Of The Sith, eventually leading into some kind of exploration of what motivated him to sacrifice his life to help Luke escape in the original Star Wars. Ewan McGregor was on board to reprise his role from the prequels, and—don’t ask us how we could possibly know this, but—a young Princess Leia may have been involved.

What happened to it? The box office bomb of Solo: A Star Wars Story killed a bunch of projects that were in development, including this one. But, of course, the concept was revived for Disney+’s Obi-Wan show, which used Beattie’s screenplays as a jumping-off point (he’s credited on the show, but they didn’t actually use anything he wrote).

What was its midi-chlorian count? 3,000. Here we have the benefit of actually seeing a version of this idea come to life, but the version we saw wasn’t particularly great. It probably would’ve been better as a movie, though, with Beattie noting recently that Disney had taken his scripts and “turned it from two hours into six,” which … explains a lot about the Obi-Wan show.

What was it? The idea of a movie just about cool-ass bounty hunter Boba Fett went through a few different iterations in the early days of Disney’s stewardship of the Star Wars brand (this is supposedly what Josh Trank’s project would’ve been), but it seemingly came the closest to actually happening when James Mangold was attached to make the movie. We never heard much about it beyond that, including whether or not it would take place before or after Fett fell into the Sarlacc pit in Return Of The Jedi, but details like that are just the finishing touches when you have an idea is solid as “Boba Fett movie.”

What happened to it? Solo’s flop didn’t help, but the real killer was supposedly The Mandalorian, which did the Boba Fett thing so well that it seemed unnecessary to actually make a real Boba Fett thing with Boba Fett. The Mandalorian eventually paid respect to the helmet-wearing bounty hunter who inspired it with some appearances from Fett himself, setting up the lousy Book Of Boba Fett spin-off (which, as far as we know, doesn’t have any real connection to what the movie would’ve been).

What was its midi-chlorian count? 3,500. On paper, the idea of a movie about Boba Fett was great. Everyone likes the guy, we don’t know much about him beyond the fact that he looks cool, and Disney could use him to fill in some gaps in the timeline when the Jedi and the Skywalkers aren’t doing much. We know that the TV show didn’t work out well, but in a “what might’ve been” scenario, the movie still had some potential.

What was it? An animated Star Wars comedy show from the creators of Robot Chicken, featuring celebrity voice actors and a bunch of wacky Star Wars jokes. Detours was developed before Disney bought Lucasfilm, and George Lucas was so confident in it that he completed a bunch of episodes and had commissioned scripts for several more.

What happened to it? Disney didn’t like the idea of releasing a Star Wars satire before releasing The Force Awakens, so it was put on a shelf, never to be touched again. That means Disney killed it, even if Disney didn’t create it.

What was its midi-chlorian count? 5,000. The final Star Wars thing made by George Lucas! Even if it was crappy, it’s still historically significant. That being said, the trailers—all scrubbed from the internet—looked a bit crappy.

What was it? The original pitch for Disney’s Episode IX, which would’ve been directed by Colin Trevorrow, apparently called Duel Of The Fates. The movie would’ve been completely different from J.J. Abrams’ The Rise Of Skywalker, with actual plot points and characterizations carried over from Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, and without any of the stuff everyone hated about Rise Of Skywalker.

What happened to it? Once again, the official story is that the filmmaker and the studio had different ideas for what the movie should look like. Or maybe Lucasfilm was scared of the divisive reaction to The Last Jedi and wanted something a little more straightforward and fan service-y. Or maybe the powerfully negative reaction to Trevorrow’s Book Of Henry had some kind of impact.

What was its midi-chlorian count? 8,000. The leaked script is apparently pretty good, and pretty much anything would’ve been better than The Rise Of Skywalker, but “this script has cool ideas” doesn’t necessarily translate to a good movie. And there was apparently some kind of romantic subplot between Rey and Poe? That’s stupid. Also, even if it wasn’t a factor in Disney’s decision to go in a different direction, we still know how The Book Of Henry and Trevorrow’s Jurassic World franchise turned out.

What were they? That’s the thing: We don’t know. We know Lindelof was writing a Star Wars thing that would’ve been directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from Ms. Marvel, and we know Sleight director J.D. Dillard was working on something that may have been related to the old TIE Fighter computer games, but the enthusiasm that everyone had for their projects at least made them seem interesting.

What happened to them? Lindelof says he was “asked to leave the Star Wars universe,” and Dillard says his project is “unfortunately no longer a thing” but “not for lack of trying.” So … let’s go with “the filmmakers and the studio had different ideas for what the movies should look like.”

What were their midi-chlorian counts? 8,500. A handful of optimistic bonus points for being mysterious. We’re assuming these creators had good ideas, which gives them a slight edge.

What was it? Kevin Feige is the mastermind behind Marvel Studios and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, having discovered superhero comics while working as an assistant at The Donners’ Company, leading to him getting a producer job on the first X-Men movie and then increasingly high-level positions at the company that would become Marvel Studios. But his first love was Star Wars, and it made perfect sense for Disney to give him a chance at making billions of dollars with another one of its brands.

What happened to it? We don’t really know. The project was shelved when Disney pumped the brakes on its Star Wars projects in early 2023, and we never heard any additional details about it. Perhaps Feige had other things to worry about? His MCU has been a bit shaky, after all.

What was its midi-chlorian count? 15,000. Come on, whether it was good or not, this guy almost single-handedly changed the movie industry, and he’s been working in one genre for over a decade. Who wouldn’t want to see what kind of Star Wars nerd ideas he’s been sitting on, especially when he’s supposedly been thinking about them for his entire life?

What was it? A surprisingly personal entry in the long canon of Star Wars movies, Rogue Squadron would’ve been a movie about the pilots of the Rebel Alliance, inspired by the death of Patty Jenkins’ father—who was a fighter pilot in real life. It was teased with a video of Jenkins putting on a flight suit and hopping in an X-Wing, and she just seemed very freakin excited about it.

What happened to it? What didn’t happen to it? The movie was announced a little prematurely, with Jenkins busy developing a third Wonder Woman for Warner Bros. at the time, and Rogue Squadron was reportedly put on hiatus a few years after being teased. But then the Warner Bros./Discovery merger happened and Wonder Woman 3 was canceled amid conflicting reports about whose fault it was, with Jenkins ultimately deciding to go back to Rogue Squadron. Unfortunately, it was pulled from the schedule again in early 2023, with no real reason given.

What was its midi-chlorian count? 19,000. This could’ve been rad as hell, even without the emotional angle of Jenkins making the movie as a tribute to her dad. The dogfight scenes in Star Wars movies are generally very cool, so a whole movie about pilots having space pilot adventures, playing space volleyball, and flying into the space danger zone would’ve been awesome.

What was it? An entire trilogy of Star Wars movies from the guy who made the best Star Wars movie. We never learned much about the trilogy that Lucasfilm wanted to give Rian Johnson after he made The Last Jedi—before it came out and was unjustly criticized by heathen nonbelievers online—but it supposedly would’ve dealt with some time period or geographic region within the Star Wars universe that had never been explored before.

What happened to it? Uhhh, “nothing” happened to it. It’s still being made! At least that’s what Disney wants us to believe. Oh sure, a lot of trolls (and some legitimate people with legitimate opinions) didn’t like The Last Jedi, and it’s been a very long time since the new trilogy was first announced, and Johnson has seemingly moved on to Knives Out sequels and Peacock’s Poker Face, and Disney doesn’t even really make Star Wars movies anymore (it makes TV shows), but it’ll happen someday! Yep! Let’s just ignore the fact that even Kathleen Kennedy seems to have lost faith …

What was its midi-chlorian count? 25,000. The most powerful Jedi in the history of the universe! Arguably more than anyone in the Disney era of Star Wars, Johnson has shown both a passion for the source material and a clever ability to unpack and reshape it in a way that makes it more emotionally and thematically powerful than before. The Last Jedi is critical of the legacy of Star Wars, but it ultimately decides that Star Wars is Good and Important, and a full spin-off trilogy carrying those themes—or introducing new, similarly thoughtful ones—could’ve been incredible.