10 Failed Star Wars Movies (And Why They Didn't Happen)
Zack Snyder's Star Wars? That would've been VERY interesting to see.
The road to every completed Star Wars movie is paved with the corpses of abandoned story ideas, unused characters, or even entire projects that failed at some point during the creative process.
Making movies is incredibly difficult, and with a machine as big as Star Wars, the whole thing instantly becomes 100 times more complicated. It's little surprise then that certain projects simply fall apart or are abandoned by their creators, left out in the desert like that ship graveyard on Jakku.
Over the years, we've heard about many projects that suffered this fate, from several alternate takes on the sequel trilogy, to unmade spinoffs, to exciting directors like James Mangold and Zack Snyder leaving their Star Wars visions unrealised.
For whatever reason - be it creative differences, a weak idea, or even fan backlash affecting the relationship between the director and the studio - these movies ran straight into a brick wall, and while not all of them sound like they would've been great (or even good), we've undoubtedly missed out on some tasty cinematic treats where the Star Wars galaxy is concerned...
10. Star Wars Episode IX: Duel Of The Fates
The Movie
The ninth instalment of the Skywalker Saga was originally going to be helmed by Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow.
In 2016, he co-wrote a script titled Duel of the Fates with regular collaborator Derek Connolly, which ended up leaking online in January 2020, revealing that Trevorrow's vision was radically different from the Episode IX that we ultimately got.
Duel of the Fates would've included a lot more of Rose Tico, a lot less of Emperor Palpatine (none of him, to be exact), and would've revealed that Rey's last name is Solana, ending the movie with her vowing to train children in the ways of the Force.
We would've also seen the Force ghosts of Yoda, Luke, and Obi-Wan in the same frame, which would've been an incredible moment to experience in a packed theatre.
Why It Didn't Happen
Trevorrow left the project in 2017, for reasons unknown. The official statement was that he and Lucasfilm had creative differences, but it was suspected that the real reason was the critical and commercial failure of his movie, The Book of Henry, which released mere months before he exited Episode IX.
Coincidence? Maybe. But maybe not.
Episode VII director J.J. Abrams was soon hired as Trevorrow's replacement, and Duel of the Fates was discarded in favour of a new script.