Hayao Miyazaki Is Showing Up to Work at Studio Ghibli Every Day, but Nobody Knows What He’s Making

At 85 years old, Hayao Miyazaki apparently still has somewhere very important to be every morning. The legendary filmmaker continues to report to Studio Ghibli on a daily basis, and while that might sound like confirmation that another Miyazaki movie is taking shape, there’s a wonderfully strange wrinkle to the story because, apparently, nobody really knows what he’s doing.

According to Studio Ghibli’s new CEO Kenichi Yoda, Miyazaki “comes to the studio every day.” As for what he’s creating once he gets there, Yoda offered an answer that feels perfectly suited to the famously private filmmaker:

“Only he knows exactly what he’s working on.”

So yes, Miyazaki is working. On what? Your guess might be as good as Studio Ghibli’s. A recent Bloomberg deep dive into the future of Studio Ghibli paints a fascinating picture of an animation studio facing some major questions.

Miyazaki’s son Goro Miyazaki is being considered as a possible creative successor, and Yoda has stepped into the CEO role. Yet the studio has no intention of transforming itself into an IP machine built around sequels and a constant stream of familiar properties.

That makes the question of Ghibli’s next feature even more interesting. There’s currently no announced movie on the horizon, and the studio doesn’t appear interested in simply adopting the industrialized production model used by other corners of the anime business.

Goro, meanwhile, has directed a new 15-minute short titled A Night in the Valley of the Witches. But even as Ghibli considers what its future might look like, Hayao Miyazaki remains deeply connected to its creative identity.

In fact, Goro doesn’t see much chance of an outside filmmaker coming in and taking the reins anytime soon. He described that possibility as “absolutely impossible” “as long as … Hayao is around.”

And Hayao is very much still around. After The Boy and the Heron won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, there was plenty of speculation that the film could serve as Miyazaki’s farewell. It certainly felt like the kind of deeply personal movie that could close out an extraordinary career.

Miyazaki had other plans. Following the film’s release, it became clear that he wasn’t retiring and was already working on another movie. Studio Ghibli VP Junichi Nishioka also pushed back against the idea that The Boy and the Heron would be Miyazaki’s final film.

Miyazaki and retirement have had a complicated relationship for decades anyway. He has announced his retirement multiple times, only for another idea to eventually pull him back into filmmaking. At this point, retirement seems to be more of an occasional suggestion than a permanent career decision.

There’s also one tantalizing clue about his mystery project. Goro previously described what his father was developing as “looking like an action-adventure-type movie, nostalgic and reminiscent of the old days.”

For longtime Miyazaki fans, that description opens up all kinds of possibilities. His earlier films are packed with adventure, strange worlds, monsters, ancient civilizations and characters charging headfirst into the unknown. If his next film really does tap into that side of his work, it could be something special.

Of course, we still don’t know if the project Goro was referring to is exactly what Miyazaki is working on today. Studio Ghibli hasn’t formally announced his next feature, and the secrecy surrounding his daily work makes the whole situation even more intriguing.

Bloomberg’s reporters even attempted to catch sight of Miyazaki at his nearby home without success, figuring he would likely be back at work at the studio on Monday morning. The report describes Ghibli’s future as “inseparable from Hayao,” which makes perfect sense considering how much of the studio’s identity continues to revolve around him.

It’s also kind of hilarious that one of the most celebrated filmmakers alive can apparently walk into Studio Ghibli every day, work on whatever he feels like working on, and leave everyone else wondering exactly what he’s cooking up.

What matters is that Hayao Miyazaki is still creating. For an artist whose career has given us Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky and so many other incredible films, the knowledge that he’s still walking into Studio Ghibli every day and making something is exciting enough.

Eventually, Miyazaki will decide he’s ready to show everyone what he’s been working on. Until then, even the people at Studio Ghibli are apparently waiting with the rest of us.