Taika Waititi, the New Zealand filmmaker of “Jojo
Rabbit” and “Thor: Ragnarok,” will direct a new
“Star Wars” film.
Waititi had for months been expected to take
the reins of the galaxy far, far away, having
already directed the season finale of the “Star
Wars” streaming spinoff “The Mandalorian.” But
the Walt Disney Co. waited until the franchise’s
unofficial holiday, May the Fourth, to make
Waititi’s hire official.
Waititi will co-write the film with Krysty Wilson-
Cains, who wrote the World War I thriller “1917”
with Sam Mendes. Both Waititi and Wilson-Cains
were screenplay nominees at the Academy
Awards earlier this year; Wilson-Cains for the
original script to “1917” and Waititi for his
adapted Nazi satire “Jojo Rabbit.” Waititi won.