Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is set to become the first woman and person of colour to direct a Star Wars movie with a new film in franchise, which will also see actor Daisy Ridley return as the character Rey.
“The news is OUT!” Obaid-Chinoy wrote on Instagram following an official announcement at Star Wars Celebration Europe, a four-day event in London.
“I am so very excited to be directing the next Star Wars movie and bringing ... [Ridley] back to the galaxy,” wrote the filmmaker, who is a Pakistani national and Canadian citizen.
Obaid-Chinoy previously won two Academy Awards for the documentaries Saving Face (2012) and A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness (2015). She most recently helmed two episodes of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
She is set to direct a screenplay by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. While little else is known about the the film, a Walt Disney Company news release states that the movie is “set 15 years after the last events of the Skywalker Saga” and “will tell the story of rebuilding the New Jedi Order” with Rey.
The character was last seen in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, which infamously faced backlash for its aesthetic and narrative departures from 2017′s The Last Jedi. At the time, this was thought to be Ridley’s final appearance in the franchise.
“When we wrapped ... I wept all day,” she told People in 2021. “I felt like I was going to pop a vein because I was crying so much.”
“It’s just exciting,” Jon Favreau, a major force behind multiple Star Wars projects, told Variety this week about Ridley’s return.
“I always find it really satisfying, encouraging when you have people who come through Star Wars, come back to Star Wars. It shows you how strong that community is and how big of a bond you develop.”
Obaid-Chinoy and Ridley’s involvement wasn’t the only announcement Friday, as it was revealed that Logan director James Mangold and Mandalorian executive producer Dave Filoni are set to direct new Star Wars movies as well.
The franchise has recently faced difficulty with its planned offerings, however. In 2020, Disney had announced that the first female Star Wars director would be Patty Jenkins of Wonder Woman fame — only for the company to shelve the project, which was set for a 2023 release.
Meanwhile, Knight was only brought on as a screenwriter for the franchise after previous writers exited in February.