BACKROOMS Director Kane Parsons Explains Why Directing a STAR WARS Movie Isn’t on His Radar
Hollywood has a habit of looking for the next big filmmaker to hand the keys to a major franchise. So after the surprising success of Backrooms, it didn’t take long for speculation to start swirling around what director Kane Parsons might tackle next. Could he jump into the world of Star Wars? Maybe even Star Trek?
According to Parsons himself, fans shouldn’t expect that to happen. During a recent appearance on The Town with Matt Belloni, the 20-year-old filmmaker made it clear that blockbuster franchise filmmaking simply isn’t what excites him. While many rising directors dream of taking on a galaxy far, far away, Parsons has his sights set somewhere else entirely.
When asked if he was “curious to do a Star Wars movie,” Parsons offered a direct answer: “No, I’m not too interested in IP work. I pretty much entirely want to focus on original projects.
“Just because I do this, because it’s my way of processing life, as is art, and I typically find needing to step into someone else’s view of life tends to just kind of damage the initial point for me.”
For Parsons, filmmaking appears to be a personal creative outlet, and working within someone else’s universe doesn’t fit with the way he approaches storytelling.
That doesn’t mean he’s completely ruling out existing properties forever, though. Parsons admitted there are a few exceptions tied to formative experiences from his childhood.
He explained: “I think barring like one or two things from my personal childhood, stuff from the early 2000s, like one or two things really, without naming them out loud. The only ones I would look at are ones that have shaped my own experience of life so much that I feel like I have something to do with that conversation in the first place.”
So while a Star Wars or Star Trek movie seems firmly off the table, there may be a couple of beloved early-2000s properties that could eventually catch his attention if they hold personal significance to him.
The comments come as Backrooms continues to exceed expectations at the box office. Since opening nationwide on May 29, the film has become one of the year’s biggest surprise success stories, earning more than $140 million worldwide.
That kind of breakout hit would typically spark immediate sequel discussions, but Parsons isn’t rushing into that either.
Rumors recently surfaced claiming he had already started looking for a screenwriter to develop a follow-up. Parsons quickly shot those reports down, saying: “I’m not sure where that got out…That seems more like a hallucinated [thing].”
For now, it sounds like Parsons is focused on charting his own path rather than stepping into someone else’s sandbox. In an industry increasingly powered by recognizable brands and cinematic universes, it’s refreshing to see a young filmmaker doubling down on original storytelling.
Considering what he accomplished with Backrooms, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of original film project he dreams up next.