Avengers: Endgame directors down to make a Star Wars movie

Avengers: Endgame is the most successful movie of all time. If you combine it with Avengers: Infinity War, the contest isn’t even close. The directors behind these smash hits are Joe and Anthony Russo, who deserve a lot of credit for making the Marvel Cinematic Universe as big as it is.

Since Endgame, they’ve worked on smaller projects, like the horror film Relic, the thriller Extraction or, most recently, their weekly web series Pizza Film School, where they just chat about movies with special guests. But with their pedigree, it’s only a matter of time before they return to big budget filmmaking, and inquiring minds wanna know what form that might take.

Speaking to the Russos recently, ComicBookMovie asked if they’d ever consider making a Star Wars movie, and Joe seemed up for it. “It’s an amazing world,” he said. “Certainly, at some point, it would be exciting to play in that sandbox, but I think there’s a lot of stories being told in right now, and there’s a lot of great filmmakers working in it at the moment.”

At the moment, there are approximately 1 million Star Wars TV shows coming our way, but the movies have been put on pause for a minute while Disney figures out how to follow up the sequel trilogy. We know Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is directing one. We know that MCU boss Kevin Feige is involved in one — possibly the same one, it’s hard to know right now. Obviously, Disney is okay with talent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe coming over to work on Star Wars. If the Russo Brothers aren’t at least asked to pitch in somewhere down the line, I’ll be shocked.

But that’s in the future. A little closer in time is a new “female-centric” Star Wars show from Leslye Headland, the creator of Netflix’s hit Russian Doll. Headland will be the first gay woman to take the reins of a Star Wars show, a step that isn’t lost on her. “Although I know it’s true because there are so few of us that are allowed to sit at the table, so to speak, and many, many more that are still not allowed,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s an honor in the sense that I feel incredibly grateful and lucky.”

The Star Wars franchise has been criticized for its lack of LGBT+ representation and for a dearth of women in creative roles behind the camera. Now, Headland is positioned to to change things from the inside. “I think that when you’re working at a disadvantage, meaning you are part of an oppressed or marginalized community, it is very difficult, as they say, to become what you cannot see,” she said.

"The number one way to get into the room is when people send the elevator back down for you. The real joy is when I read a young woman’s script, or a young woman of color’s script, or a young LGBTQ writer and say, ‘Oh my God, this is great. This is great. I’m going to send this off to this person. You know who I know would love this? It is so and so. I’m going to send that to that person.’ I don’t say that in an altruistic way or yay me, or I’m a good person. I’m saying that actually makes me happy."

Knowing how especially tough it is to break through on major IPs like Star Wars, Headland is hoping to send the elevator down for more people like that. It’s gonna be interesting to watch how the franchise evolves in the coming years.

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