Damon Lindelof was supposed to make a Star Wars movie. Then Lucasfilm read the script.
In a new interview with Variety, the Lost and Watchmen creator finally opened up about why his Star Wars project never happened. The answer? He wanted to do something genuinely new, and Lucasfilm wanted more of the same.
Lindelof described his pitch as "the Protestant Reformation inside Star Wars." Not a small creative swing. The Reformation, for those who skipped European history, was when Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church's authority and sparked centuries of religious upheaval. Lindelof wanted to do the same thing to the Jedi.
That's the kind of ambitious, franchise-redefining idea that should excite a studio. Instead, Lucasfilm fired him.
It's easy to see why. Star Wars under Kathleen Kennedy has become creatively risk-averse to the point of paralysis. The Last Jedi tried something different, and the backlash was so severe that The Rise of Skywalker spent its entire runtime apologizing for it. Since then, Lucasfilm has played it safe—familiar settings, familiar characters, familiar stories.
Look at the announced slate: Dave Filoni's movie will connect his animated shows. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Rey film will continue the Skywalker saga. James Mangold's project explores the origins of the Jedi Order—literally going back to the beginning rather than pushing forward.
None of these are bad ideas, necessarily. But they're all safe. They all stay within the established boundaries of what Star Wars is allowed to be.
wanted to blow up those boundaries. He wanted to ask: what if the Jedi aren't the heroes? What if the Force doesn't work the way we think it does? What if the entire moral framework of the galaxy is built on a lie?
