Is Steven Soderbergh preparing to enter the Star Wars universe?

The 2024 watch list from the director of Ocean's 11 and Traffic reveals a certain obsession with the universe with distant planets. Simple coincidence or ongoing project?

Like every year, Steven Soderbergh publishes the list of films, series and books that he was able to consume on his personal blog, the Soderblog. When we take stock, many films in the universe Star Wars appear, some several times. His interest seems to have been sparked in early February, after watching the series Andor, produced by his friend and collaborator Tony Gilroy (Soderbergh had helped him financially for Michael Clayton). Released in 2022 on Disney +, Andor belongs to productions accompanied by the “A Star Wars Story” banner. The story takes place five years before Rogue Onewhose scenario we owe in particular to Tony Gilroy.

Between February 16 and 19, Soderbergh continues The Phantom Menace, Return of the Jedi And Attack of the Clones. After a long break, he resumes The Empire Strikes Back, A new hope, Revenge of the Sithbefore re-watching the first two opuses. In December, the director concludes his year notably with Rogue One And A new hopeagain.

It's been several years since the Star Wars films were on the annual watch list by the American director. Two hypotheses are possible: the first would be that he plunged back into this universe after watching his friend's series, simply out of a desire to rewatch these cinema classics. But the ones that fans would prefer by far would be that Steven Soderbergh had a more professional reason… Whether directly for the franchise or to work on a future science fiction project. Screenwriter Simon Kinberg is working on writing a new Star Wars trilogy, but no director is attached to the project for the moment.

Note that two Soderbergh films are about to be released in France in quick succession: Presencewith Lucy Liu, on February 5, and The Insider (Black Bag)with Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender, March 12.

Otherwise, in the notable releases of 2024, Steven Soderbergh saw the Palme d'Or Anora, Furiosa: A Mad Max saga, Juror n°2 or the last part of Gladiator.