Summary
Andorhas proven thatStar Warsfans will show up for adult stories in a galaxy far, far away. One Hollywood star agrees and wants Disney to get an R-ratedStar Warsfilm on the books.
WhenDisneybought Lucasfilm in 2012, fans justifiably worried that theStar Warsfranchise would become little more than a marketing machine to sell toys and merchandise to children. Though projects likeSkeleton CrewandYoung Jedi Adventuresare clearly geared towards younger viewers, the critical and commercial success ofAndorproves that Disney isn’t afraid of more adult-orientedStar Warsfare. Given the outrageously positive fan reaction toAndor, it would make sense for the Mouse House to continue giving die-hards what they want, and one Hollywood A-lister is interested in bringing an R-ratedStar Warsfilm to movie theaters around the world.
Earlier this week, Ryan Reynolds appeared onThe Box Officepodcast with Scott Mendelson. The A-lister understandably has the ear of higher-ups at Disney after themonumental worldwide success ofDeadpool & Wolverine. Since he does get to pitch directly to the people who make the big decisions, Reynolds revealed he went straight to the top with an idea for an R-ratedStar Warsfilm:“I pitched to Disney, I said, ‘Why don’t we do an R-ratedStar Warsproperty? It doesn’t have to be overt, A+ characters. There’s a wide range of characters you could use. And I don’t mean R-rated to be vulgar. R-rated as a Trojan horse for emotion. I always wonder why studios don’t want to just gamble on something like that.“Also, Reynolds wasn’t planning on starring in the film himself.“I’m not saying I want to be in it,“he continued.“That would be a bad fit.”
“I’d want to produce and write or be a part of behind the scenes. Those kinds of IP subsist really well on scarcity and surprise. We don’t get scarcity really withStar Warsbecause of Disney+, but you may certainly still surprise people.”
Ryan Reynolds’s Idea For An R-RatedStar WarsFilm Is A Solid One, In Theory
The beautiful thing about theStar Warsfranchise is that you can do anything with it.Andoralone had multiple different kinds of stories, including a heist arc, a jailbreak arc, and a fascist massacre arc. This is the same universe that can house a goofy cartoon about the Ewoks and a series about a clan of rogue clone troopers after Order 66. There is no end to the possibilities this franchise can realistically portray. Reynolds is absolutely correct in his analysis thatStar Warscould excite and surprise fans with an R-rated film.
It is a little bit surprising thatDisneyseems to have dismissed the idea outright. If Marvel can handle serving up R-rated content and still sell Spider-Man toys to kids on a daily basis, why not Lucasfilm? Releasing aStar Warsfilm for adults wouldn’t stop kids from wanting all the Grogu merch they can get their little hands on. If Disney really wants to getStar Warsfans talking again, an R-rated film would do just the trick.
