10 Directors Who Said NO To Star Wars

The late, great Irvin Kershner obviously did find himself guiding a Star Wars movie into the world, famously directing Episode V - The Empire Strikes back, a movie many consider to be the greatest in the franchise's history.

But did you know that he actually rejected the chance to do it again?

Back when he was in the middle of shooting that aforementioned middle original trilogy movie, Kershner was asked if he was interested in returning for the movie that would become Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

At that moment in time, though, the eventual Never Say Never Again and RoboCop 2 director felt that doing so meant he was risking being "classified." Kershner wanted to direct other things and making a Star Wars movie wasn't exactly the easiest job in the world, so he turned it down. But he would reveal in Star Wars Insider #49 that he ultimately regretted saying no.

Kershner thought he could have done "something wonderful" with the final film of the trilogy if he'd said yes. But at the time he was asked he just didn't feel it was the right move, so his name joined the rest of the stacked list of filmmakers who decided against directing that sixth Episode.