David Fincher’s STAR WARS Movie Could Have Changed the Sequel Trilogy
The Star Wars galaxy is filled with stories that never got the chance to be told, and one of them might have come from visionary filmmaker David Fincher. Recent reports have surfaced revealing that Fincher once reached out to Kathleen Kennedy at Lucasfilm with a pitch for a Star Wars movie that would’ve bridged the gap between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
This news comes hot on the heels of Steven Soderbergh and Adam Driver’s own unrealized project, The Hunt for Ben Solo, which was reportedly in development before Disney decided to scrap it.
According to Soderbergh, the project was “nearing the finish line when Disney pulled the plug, citing issues with the project’s premise.”
Fincher’s potential film, as reported by The Playlist, never made it past the concept phase. The director allegedly spoke directly with Kennedy about his idea, but both sides eventually walked away before anything materialized.
Still, the thought of Fincher, known for his precise visual style and darker storytelling, taking on Star Wars is enough to make fans wonder how the sequel trilogy might have turned out differently.
It’s no secret that the sequels suffered from a lack of unified direction. Each film carried a different tone, and the result was a trilogy that struggled to maintain narrative consistency. The Rise of Skywalker tried to undo much of what The Last Jedi established, creating a disjointed finale that left fans divided.
A Fincher-directed film set between those two movies could have provided the connective tissue the trilogy desperately needed.
Imagine a story centered on Kylo Ren, grappling with his identity as the new Supreme Leader of the First Order, or a deeper look into Snoke’s mysterious past. The sequels famously failed to give Snoke a proper arc before killing him off, only to hastily resurrect Palpatine.
A film exploring Snoke’s origins and Kylo’s internal struggle could have reshaped Episode IX entirely, eliminating the need for another Emperor comeback and setting up a more natural power struggle within the galaxy.
Of course, knowing Fincher’s reputation for subverting expectations, his version of a Star Wars story might have gone in an entirely different direction. Maybe it would have focused on underutilized characters like Captain Phasma or Poe Dameron, expanding corners of the universe the sequels left underexplored.
Ultimately, Fincher’s Star Wars pitch is yet another “what if” in a long history of unrealized Lucasfilm projects. It’s interesting to think about how his vision could have deepened the emotional and thematic resonance of the sequel trilogy.