Mike Flanagan Wants to Make a ‘Star Wars’ Horror Film
You know what they say: Earthquakes are the mother of invention.
Or at least they are for horror maven Mike Flanagan. He tweeted yesterday “Got woken up by the earthquake this morning, sat there for a few minutes just thinking “I’d really love to make a horror movie in the STAR WARS universe.”
Flanagan’s distinguished himself in recent years as one of the most reliable horror directors in film and television. And he’s not just interested in his own material, either; he’s made a Ouija prequel and several films adapted from Stephen King novels, including the excellent Gerald’s Game for Netflix and the underrated Shining sequel Doctor Sleep. Lately, he’s become one of Netflix’s go-to guys for horror TV shows, starting with The Haunting in 2018 and continuing with a second season of the show in 2020 and then Midnight Mass earlier this fall. He’s already got another series for Netflix in production, The Midnight Club, that’s expected to premiere some time in 2022.
As for Star Wars, apart from material in the Extended Universe, it’s really never come close to making something that would qualify as “horror.” When Disney began producing what they dubbed “anthology” films set within the Star Wars universe, they claimed they would be different — and perhaps in different genres — than the traditional sci-fi of the main movies. In practice, that hasn’t really borne out. Yes, Rogue One was sort of a war film, but Solo was essentially just a sci-fi adventure with a young Han Solo, and Lucasfilm hasn’t produced any additional anthology titles since then.
The Mandalorian is definitely inspired by Westerns, and it’s a had a couple of episodes that verged on horror. But a full-fledged Star Wars horror story sounds unique and intriguing. Let him do it, Lucasfilm!