It’s writerly musical chairs at Lucasfilm—again. The Star Wars film set to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy—which is to say the one that returns to the story of Rey (Daisy Ridley) in some shape or form—has brought a new writer on board. George Nolfi is the latest scribe to land the super-high-profile job.
Nolfi replaces Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, who himself replaced the initial writing team of Damon Lindelof (Watchmen) and Justin Britt-Gibson (The Strain). Lindelof and Britt-Gibson had reportedly turned in a draft of their screenplay before leaving the project; Variety says that Knight worked on his version for a year before parting ways with Lucasfilm. Variety also notes, “Knight’s departure coincided with the removal of a ‘Star Wars’ film scheduled for December 2026 from Disney’s film slate, indicating that the film is nowhere near ready to go before cameras.”
Said film reportedly has the working title Star Wars: New Jedi Order, and picks up Rey’s story as she begins to train a new generation of Jedi. Nolfi is an odd choice for writer. His best-known work—including The Bourne Ultimatum and Ocean’s Twelve, both of which had him as part of a writing team—was all over a decade ago. He also wrote and directed the messy Phillip K. Dick adaptation The Adjustment Bureau.
Digging into Nolfi’s screenwriter credits also reveals an intriguing Star Wars connection. One of his co-writers on The Bourne Ultimatum was Tony Gilroy, the creator of Andor. Perhaps he knows something that is not apparent from just browsing Nolfi’s resume.
At any rate, the Rey movie won’t be the next Star War we see on the big screen. Shawn Levy’s Star War is already in the casting stage, and Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu is just over a year away; it’s due in theaters on on May 22, 2026.
