This Star Wars film on religion imagined by Damon Lindelof and rejected by Disney

“They said, ‘Great, you’re hired.’ Then two years later, I was fired…”

To believe or not to believe in the Force…

Fired from Star Wars after two years of development, Damon Lindelof has just revealed what he was trying to do with his mysterious abandoned project: the creator of Lost And Watchmen wanted to take the saga in a frankly unexpected direction, a religious and political reflection at the very heart of the Force!

Podcast guest House of R from The Ringer, Damon Lindelof decided to speak openly:

“I was fired from a Star Wars movie… One day, IThey asked me, ‘What do you think a Star Wars movie should look like?’ I said, ‘This is what it should be.’ They said, ‘Great, you’re hired.’ Then two years later I got fired.”

The screenwriter then explains that with his collaborators – Justin Britt-Gibson and Rayna McClendon – they were trying to build a story around two opposing visions: nostalgia versus reinvention.

“There is a Force of Nostalgia and a Force of Revision, and they are in conflict with each other. We actually wanted to do the Protestant Reformation inside Star Wars.”

Lindelof describes a project that sought to directly integrate into the narrative the religious debates that have run through the fandom for years: should we preserve Star Wars like a frozen monument or accept that the franchise evolves and transforms?

“The conversation that the fandom already has with each other, we wanted to put it in the film without looking at the camera or winking at the audience. And in the end, it didn’t work.”

By this comparison with the Protestant ReformationDamon Lindelof seems to explain that he wanted to tell a Star Wars centered on a clash between tradition and reinvention. His idea was possibly to question the Jedi as a religious institution, to show characters refusing the old dogmas of the Force or even to question the almost mythological cult of Skywalker, while reflecting the very real debates which have divided the fandom for several years. Clearly, Lindelof imagined a film that was much more meta, spiritual and political than Lucasfilm’s recent blockbusters.

Officially announced in 2022 as screenwriter of a new film Star WarsDamon Lindelof left the project in 2023. At the time, no clear reason was given. Today, he also recognizes that the writing had become extremely complicated, in particular because of the weight of the canon and the gigantic expectations surrounding the franchise.

“The writing was very difficult. Very slow. Finding the right tone, understanding where the film was in the canon, its connection with Episode IX… Did this launch a new trilogy? All these questions are huge.”

Lindelof even compares the process to that of an unmaneuverable oil tanker: “We turn the rudder and it takes five minutes before the ship moves slightly.”

The screenwriter also questions the current identity of the saga:

“When Episode VII came out, we all knew who the main characters were: Rey, Finn, Poe, then we gradually found Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca and all the others. But we had the feeling that once this new trilogy was finished, we were going to move on to new characters, and that that was the heart of Star Wars. The question is: Are Mando and Grogu the heart of Star Wars today?“

A reflection far from trivial as the new film in the franchise, The Mandalorian & Groguhas just been released.

And in view of this story of Galactic Protestant Reformationwe perhaps understand a little better why Disney preferred to avoid schism.