Summary
- Star Wars may soon embrace horror genre per Tony Gilroy, offering new and thrilling experiences for fans.
- Flanagan seeks to add Star Wars horror film to Midnight Mass/Haunting of success, expanding franchise's offerings.
- Star Wars could venture into R-rated territory, mirroring adult-focused projects seen in the MCU.
For years, Star Wars fans have asked for the franchise to expand into other genres, and horror has often been at the top of that list.
According to Andor showrunner Tony Gilroy, those fans might get their wishes granted soon. The director had previously mused about the possibility of more genre-bending Star Wars projects, including suggesting a horror installment in the long-running franchise.
He recently mentioned the possibility of a Star Wars horror film again. Speaking to Business Insider at the London red carpet premiere for Andor’s second season, Gilroy said, “They're doing that. I think they're doing that. I think that's in the works, yeah."
Gilroy also joked about his previous “riffing” on a potential three-camera sitcom idea for the series, suggesting that “sometimes riffing doesn't work with the Star Wars community."
Speaking about the success of Andor and its departure from the Star Wars mold, Gilroy concluded that with “the right creator, and the right moment, and the right vibe… you can do anything.”
Could Disney Actually End Up Releasing An R-Rated Star Wars Movie?
Whilst horror projects have likely been pitched to the team at Lucasfilm before now, many speculate that Disney wouldn’t allow one of the core pillars of their family-friendly franchises to alienate a large share of its audience.
With the success of Deadpool & Wolverine proving that even massive franchises like the MCU can deliver R-rated entertainment for all audiences, however, Disney is likely far less hesitant to target new audiences than before. Even in their television offerings, Daredevil: Born Again is leaning far more into the Netflix-era brutality than many expected.
Star Wars has historically been a more kid-friendly property than Marvel, which has a long history of adult-focused offshoots ranging from The Punisher to their Halloween special Werewolf by Night. Most recently, Lucasfilm released Skeleton Crew, a more family-friendly Star Wars TV show focusing on a group of children lost in space.
Andor leans into a more mature vision of the Star Wars universe, addressing issues from prison labor to torture and violent revolution, but a horror project would need to be mature not only in its tone and subject matter but also in its violence and imagery.
Star Wars hasn’t got quite as deep of a well of horror to pull from as franchises like Marvel, but it still has its share of inspirations, both in the current continuity and the pre-Disney expanded universe canon.
What Would A Star Wars Horror Project Even Look Like?
Probably the most well-known exploration Star Wars has been Death Troopers, a series of novels from the pre-Disney Legends canon written by Joe Schreiber. Along with its prequel novel Red Harvest, it is one of the most beloved Legends novels, and fans have long been demanding they be brought back to official canon.
Not to be confused with Death Troopers—the black-clad Imperial special forces introduced in Rogue One— the novel Death Troopers follows the crew of a Star Destroyer who encounter an abandoned prison barge containing a deadly virus, which proceeds to turn the ship’s stormtroopers into zombies.
Zombie stormtroopers were somewhat canonized by the recent Ahsoka series, where Nightsisters revived legions of Thrawn’s dead Night Troopers. Within the current continuity, zombies have also been seen on Dathomir in The Clone Wars, as well as in Respawn’s game Jedi: Fallen Order, using the same Nightsister magic.
Other sources of horror within Star Wars include the huge variety of monsters that occupy the wider galaxy. The films have no shortage of horrific creatures, from the infamous Sarlaac Pit to Rancors or Krayt Dragons. One creature in particular from the expanded universe has attracted Star Wars fans’ attention, recently being re-introduced from Legends.
Reintroduced in the Doctor Aphra comic in 2023, Starweirds are mysterious force-sensitive creatures who wander the vacuum of space and wreak havoc on unsuspecting travelers. In the comic, Aphra is accompanied by Luke Skywalker when they encounter a Starweird who’d been locked away during the Clone Wars, with even one of the galaxy’s most powerful Jedi struggling to defeat a single one of the creatures.
Everything About A Star Wars Horror Project Is Speculation At This Point, Anyway
It's not yet confirmed whether this rumored horror project is a new film or series or an evolution on one of the films already in development. Whilst we have some plot details about James Mangold’s upcoming film about the first Jedi, as well as a follow-up to the sequel trilogy starring Daisy Ridley, several other upcoming projects are still shrouded in mystery.
Both Taika Waititi and Shawn Levy are still signed on to helm Star Wars movies in the coming years with no plot details confirmed, though casting appears to have begun for the latter project.
Star Wars fans are likely already anticipating Andor’s Season 2 premiere on April 22, but until then, fans can revisit the first season on Disney+ or get their fix of the wider universe in the latest DLC for Star Wars: Outlaws.
The Star Wars franchise is available for streaming on Disney+.
