RUMOR: Rey Star Wars Movie Being Delayed “Indefinitely”

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Rey SkyPalpaNobody may be waiting a long time to make her return to the big screen – if she ever gets there. Jordan Ruimy of Word of Reel has been told by “a well-informed source” that the Rey Star Wars movie has been delayed “indefinitely” due to script issues. The specific problem is that screenwriter Steven Knight (Eastern Promises, Redemption, Peaky Blinders) is at loggerheads with Lucasfilm, who, after Knight turned in his script, “gave him so many notes that he had to start from scratch.” Apparently, Knight is so frustrated that he may leave the film, which has already gone through several writers, including Damon Lindelof. This, Ruimy says, is why The Mandalorian and Grogu was fast-tracked and announced as taking the Rey film’s place as “the next Star Wars movie.”

If you look around the internet, you’ll see people surmising that this means the Rey movie will not happen. I don’t believe that; if for no other reason, it will be made out of sheer spite. But I find the script problems easy to believe. This film has gone through screenwriters like Norm Peterson goes through beers, and Lucasfilm’s current incarnation – the Kennedy Era – chews up and spits out talent at what should be an alarming rate for Disney. And Steven Knight is a good writer; I’m not a big Peaky Blinders fan, but it’s not a bad show by any means. And Redemption is one of the best Jason Statham movies, a film that not only examines him as a personality via subtext (which Lucasfilm, Disney, and most of modern Hollywood are allergic to) but gives him some nice drama and a great arc to play. I can see Lucasfilm not being thrilled with someone who wrote an actual journey for Rey and telling him to make it more of a broad, obvious, cloying, throw-your-hands-up-at-her screed. But this will be a bump in the road, not an iceberg in the North Atlantic; eventually, Rey will make her big comeback. Whether anyone shows up to see it is the bigger mystery.