Star Wars passed on a droid movie. Disney wants it anyway.
Paddington 2 director Paul King and writer Simon Farnaby pitched Lucasfilm a film about a droid with none of the franchise’s characters in it. Lucasfilm said no, and Disney asked them to make it as an original instead.
Lucasfilm came to Paul King and Simon Farnaby after Paddington 2 and asked if they wanted to make a Star Wars movie.
They pitched a film built entirely around a droid, with none of the franchise’s established characters in it. Lucasfilm passed.
“We really need it to be a Star Wars movie,“ Farnaby recalled being told, in a Variety interview this week, which is roughly why it never became one. He added, laughing, that they never quite nailed it either.
What the Paul King Star Wars pitch actually was
Farnaby described the project as a distraction that ate a chunk of time after Paddington 2, the film that made the pair one of the most sought-after comedy teams in the business.
The idea was a droid story. No Skywalkers, no Jedi, no legacy characters. That was the pitch and that appears to be why it didn’t survive contact with the brand.
King and Farnaby went off and made Wonka instead, which took $635 million worldwide.
Disney didn’t kill the idea, it moved it
Here’s the part most of the coverage skipped past.
Farnaby says the droid concept wasn’t rejected outright. He was told it isn’t right for Star Wars, and asked whether he’d rework it as a science-fiction film.
They’re working on that now. No studio structure, cast, or release window has been announced, and Farnaby didn’t say whether King is directing.
So Disney turned down an original idea for Star Wars and then asked for the same original idea without Star Wars on it. That’s a real signal about what the label is currently for.
The list of Star Wars movies that never happened
The droid film joins a long shelf.
Rian Johnson‘s announced trilogy never materialized. The film from the Game of Thrones showrunners fell apart. Guillermo del Toro‘s Jabba the Hutt project never got made. Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron was dated, then wasn’t.
Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.05 billion, saying at the time it planned a Star Wars film every one to three years.
Fourteen years later the count is six theatrical releases, and the gap between The Rise of Skywalker in December 2019 and The Mandalorian and Grogu this May ran about six and a half years with nothing in theaters at all.
The franchise has now cancelled more films than it has shipped.
Where this leaves Star Wars on film
The Mandalorian and Grogu took roughly $345 million worldwide against a reported $165 million production budget, and Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro acknowledged on the company’s latest earnings call that it missed expectations.
His argument was that the film still fed retail, drove guests to the updated Millennium Falcon attraction at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and moved the needle in gaming. That’s a defensible case and it’s also not a box office case.
Meanwhile the two guys who made a talking bear into a cultural event have a droid movie that Disney wants, on the condition that it isn’t Star Wars.
Somebody there has done the math on what the logo is worth right now.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Variety (August 2026), Simon Farnaby’s interview including the Lucasfilm pitch, the quote, and the confirmation that the concept is being reworked as an original sci-fi film
The Walt Disney Company newsroom commentary from Josh D’Amaro (August 5, 2026), the acknowledgment that The Mandalorian and Grogu missed box office expectations
Gizmodo (August 7, 2026), context on the unmade Star Wars projects
The Next Web (August 2026), the Lucasfilm acquisition figures and the franchise’s release cadence against its original plan