r/StarWars • u/ChiefLeef22 • 1d ago

TV Jon Watts Was Working On A Secret "Western-Style" 'Star Wars' TV Series Before Being Tapped To Direct Episode X (EXCLUSIVE)

https://knightedgemedia.com/2026/10/jon-watts-secret-untitled-star-wars-tv-series-exclusive/?fsp_sid=17399

The series had a full writers’ room hired in January and ran through August of this year. The series was going to be 8 episodes long. Skeleton Crew co-creator Christopher Ford (Spider-Man: Homecoming) and Watts were developing it as a “western” series, much like how Skeleton Crew was a swashbuckling pirate adventure set in the Star Wars universe. It’s unclear whether the series was put on the back burner while he works on Episode X and will be picked up later, or if it’s been quietly canceled.

462 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

75 comments sorted by

430

u/theguitardudeofdudes 1d ago

Umm isn’t that The Mandalorian?

179

u/Zealousideal-Work719 1d ago

And The Book of Boba Fett

97

u/slate_206 1d ago

And Solo.

46

u/Zealousideal-Work719 1d ago

And Tales of the Underworld

24

u/DyingSunSeverian 23h ago

And… Star Wars, famously described along with its cousin Star Trek as a “Western in space.”

I mean just look at Han Solo ffs and tell me that isn’t the rapscallion Man with No Name.

1

u/Awsomethingy 18h ago

Star Wars was famously a western. But you can’t look at old quotes and try to pin them to ongoing modern productions. Star Wars was a western. Upon conception. It was eventually sold for billions to be whatever Disney wanted. Is Mandalorian western influenced? Yes, is Mandalorian an example of what Disney has tried with the Star Wars brand? Only recently. Because they originally tried the Prequel route.

Which you might be surprised to find out, even though they are main films, that they aren’t westerns. And before you send your video essay on how Million Dollar Baby and Attack of the Clones were cut from the same cloth; just no, lmao

Also, Han Solo wasn’t played like a man with no name character. He just… wasn’t

10

u/CountofZen 1d ago

And the first half of A New Hope. Lucas wanted the costumes to look western, even Princess Leia was supposed to look like a “Mexican Revolutionary”.

It’s nothing new

2

u/Awsomethingy 19h ago

You saw Solo and walked out of the theater going “I just watched a Western!?” Or “I just watched a film obviously made with cowboy film influences”

Both of those would be insane to me. I’m such a fan of the western genre and have worked in it for the last 3 years. I can’t imagine how Solo is a western. And I’ve even done a re-edit of Solo so trust me when I say I’ve seen everything in the film, deleted scenes, and the original script

3

u/wilberfarce 17h ago

Solo is commonly referred to as a space western, with the director mentioning “There are certainly elements that feel 'Western' and carry that flavor”.

There’s much evidence. It has a frontier vibe (noted by Howard) and it uses common western tropes, like a train robbery/stagecoach-style chase, a saloon/riverboat setting (First Light), duels, and a card game. The cinematographer also explicitly took inspiration from the 1971 western McCabe and Mrs Miller.

1

u/Awsomethingy 17h ago

I agree with all of your western influences, I do! But again, my comment was about how just because it had western influences, doesn’t make it a western.

And I understand that you brought even more western influences to the table, but it still doesn’t make something inspired by westerns into a western.

The actual genre and writing of the film do not lend itself to western at all.

It’s a zany heist movie, meant to lean into its silliness.

4

u/slate_206 18h ago

Wow, I didn’t realize that I said something so insane.

Lord and Miller have said that Mcabe and Mrs Miller was their biggest influence for the film and you can clearly Ron Howard kept that in the film. So I’m not alone in that take.

You clearly have a different take.

-2

u/Awsomethingy 17h ago edited 17h ago

If you do want to defend your take rather than qualify it, I would be interested in hearing it.

18

u/paintpast 1d ago

This will be totally different. It’ll be about Jango Fett.

17

u/James-W-Tate 1d ago

And I'd still watch it.

7

u/Zealousideal-Work719 1d ago

Jango Fett: Open Seasons is actually a sick comic

0

u/s1105615 K-2SO 1d ago

I was thinking Cad Bane…

32

u/dekuweku 1d ago

Mando was western inspired, but by Season 2, it moved so far off from the feel the first few episodes of Season 1 inspired. it became the adventures of Mando and Grogu writ large.

I enjoyed it but did not really satisfy the western themed SW i always wanted.

4

u/SpaceForceAwakens 19h ago

I always thought Mando was more of a samurai series but yeah.

3

u/dekuweku 19h ago

very similar as many Kurosawa Samurai flicks were translated to westerns.

i think there was one episode in season 1 of Mando that was basically the 7 SamuraBut it was kind of a heavy handed homage

IMHO, after Grogu hit it big, it lost that sense of a wandering samurai theme because the show had to be about Grogu.

10

u/vulcans_pants 1d ago

Feel like that’s only the case for the beginning of season one.

1

u/Rs90 23h ago

Yep. Tbh I don't think it ever got better than the shootout with the Bounty Droid in Season 1. Some good episodes and good scenes. But that was exactly what I was lookin for before it just retreated back to Skywalker stuff. 

4

u/lopec87 1d ago

It's what the mandalorian USED to be 😂😂

3

u/OrangeFilmer 1d ago

Only the first 2 seasons!

3

u/Intelligent-Tip-1305 1d ago

All of Star Wars has Western DNA in it.

1

u/joseph_jojo_shabadoo 1d ago

Yeah, how dare they repeat themselves. Star Wars would never do that! /s

0

u/Patient_Invite_1286 1d ago

And Jedi Survivor

102

u/Kcorp 1d ago

So... The Mandalorian?

8

u/Rs90 23h ago

*Season 1

44

u/Yadahoom 1d ago

I'm sorry, Episode 10?

Did I miss some news at some point?

33

u/KostisPat257 1d ago

Yeah. Simon Kinberg is writing and Jon Watts is directing the next trilogy (Eps 10, 11, 12). Are these films ever gonna see the light of day? Who knows?

13

u/alrighthamilton 22h ago

SIMON KINBERG? Somehow it seems like the obvious worst possible choice that actual gets made

15

u/HellaWavy 21h ago

What? You don’t appreciate the writer who had two shots at adapting the Dark Phoenix storyline for the big screen (2x writing, 1x also directing) and messed up both times? I don’t understand.

/s

1

u/BoredandMiffed 21h ago

I think the fact that story bombed twice shows dark phoenix only really works in comics

7

u/alrighthamilton 19h ago

Nah they were both terrible attempts even for that era of cape movies

1

u/pokemonke 18h ago

I think he wrote a decent amount for Rebels which gives me hope but at this point I just hope to be delighted and if I’m not I move on

3

u/VegemiteMate 17h ago

Why does Simon Kinberg keep getting work?

2

u/RedCaio 16h ago

He did a lot of work for Star Wars rebels

2

u/VegemiteMate 16h ago

Good, keep him in tv animation.

66

u/space-thunder-mater 1d ago

Next month: episode X cancelled

16

u/SeegullJockey 23h ago

Assume every Star Wars movie is cancelled in this era unless they actually start filming tbh.

34

u/AwkwardPotatoP Galactic Republic 1d ago

Burn the land, boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me...

18

u/CjPatars 1d ago

I don't care, I'm still free since I found Serenity

5

u/UndeadT Baby Yoda 1d ago

I don't care, I'm still free, baby let me see your feet. -Joss Whedon

1

u/CommunalJellyRoll 1d ago

Yum Yum tasty!!

4

u/SarakosAganos 1d ago

Too soon 😭

19

u/Moosashi5858 1d ago

Maybe a cad bane or cobb vanth spinoff?

15

u/savingewoks 21h ago

I think all Star Wars projects should be a secret until we get a trailer.

17

u/BadGunn 1d ago edited 1d ago

Honestly, this kind of has me more intrigued by Episode X.

I feel like the original trilogy encapsulated a lot of different genres, whilst the Prequels were pure Space Opera and the Sequels leant more Fantasy, so the fact Watts is already looking at Star Wars through the lens of a Swashbuckling Pirate story and a proper Western suggests he might capture a bit of that "Something for everyone" tone of the originals with his film.

11

u/863rays 1d ago

Original movie is the greatest B-Western ever…

10

u/skccsk 1d ago

I like the Disney+ shows a lot but someone had to do the math on those budgets versus subscription revenue eventually.

1

u/GoreSeeker 23m ago

I think the cancelling and removal of Willow from Disney+ was the first sign something wasn't adding up behind the scenes...like you literally can't watch it legally, probably because they can't even fund the royalties to it.

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u/Com_Raven Han Solo 1d ago

That sounds like it could have been pretty fun to be honest?

12

u/Kill3rT0fu Rebel 1d ago

Are you asking us?

16

u/Guy-Inkognito Imperial 1d ago

He was asking just you actually.

8

u/Kill3rT0fu Rebel 1d ago

To be honest

Yes sounds fun

4

u/thatdudewillyd 1d ago

KILLER TOFUUUUUUU!

5

u/Kill3rT0fu Rebel 1d ago

\ air guitar* *

6

u/Stock_Researcher_651 17h ago

More samurai, less cowboy pls Lucasfilm

4

u/oopsallowed 11h ago

More antifacsism

6

u/SixGunChimp 10h ago

It works when you have a mixture of both.

1

u/homerr 2h ago

They're the same thing.

Magnificent Seven - Seven Samurai

Fistfull of Dollars - Yojimbo

3

u/Daver7692 1d ago

Are we going to make Olymphant a cowboy for like the third time?

1

u/Efficient_Tone_8579 7h ago

Third* time

*In the Star Wars universe anyway

2

u/Eagle1FoxTWO 1d ago

Is that not Mando?

8

u/boolean_union 1d ago

Mandolorian is actually a space baby merchandise themed series.

2

u/ShinyTotodile24 1d ago

I love space westerns, but do we really need yet another star wars space western right now?

3

u/Greedy-General-5005 18h ago

I swear Lucasfilm or Disney don't really know what Star Wars actually is at this point. They've recycled their own Star Wars ideas for the last 10 years.

1

u/Boil-san Jedi 1d ago

With Space Raylan, right...? Right...? ;^p

1

u/Seryan_Klythe 23h ago

It should have been the Obi Wan story based off John Jackson Miller's tale. Because it was like the Magnificent 7 but with a side of internal grief and pining after Qui Gon's force ghost and lack of reaching out.

1

u/Birdman330 22h ago

No Biddy Blas no watch

1

u/sonic10158 22h ago

When did episode 10 get announced?

1

u/HankBuffalo 20h ago

Star Wars is a western.

1

u/Ok_Insect_2037 11h ago

Loved everything with Cobb Vanth and Cad Bane, really hoped we’d get to see more of them.

1

u/Atomic_Polar_Bear 24m ago

The "Western" aspect of SW has often been overly emphasized. Especially more recently.

0

u/reallandonmiller 1d ago

It ain't gonna be episode X