Join WhatsApp Channel
Join Telegram Channel“It was well advanced, however: there was a Bible, concept art, scenarios (…) I experience it as a bereavement.”
Chosen last year to relaunch The Haunted Mansiona family film inspired by the Disney studios attraction, Justin Simien (Dear White People) was a flop. Is that why his series dedicated to Lando Calrissian was cancelled? It should have been carried by Donald Gloveras in Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), but the director reveals to Collider that it will not happen.
“She was well advanced, however, he explains. There was a Bible, concept art, scripts. But well, I think it wasn't meant to be. I felt it like a mourning. I literally experienced it like that: I'm in full mourning, I'm not well. And I have to let these feelings speak. There are so many things that I experienced on this project, that I will keep inside me forever and that I will be able to bring to the next one. Of course, I won't be able to take back elements of the plot, or characters or stuff belonging to the saga, but I learned things, as a director, and that's mine. Sorry, but that's how it is, you can't take that away from me.”
The Haunted Mansion: A Tasteless Sketch That Turns Ridiculous [critique]
Simien then admits to having been disappointed not to be called by his producers when Lando has been abandoned. “It became clear, actually. They probably won't be happy about me saying this, but I knew it was officially dead when I read it in some internal documentation. At least that was for sure.”
A new hope
The abandonment of this project Star Wars does not prevent him from tackling another major franchise: Star Trek. Like JJ Abrams before him, he plans to move from one saga to another, preparing for Alex Kurtzman and Tawny Newsome a live action series that is more comical than the previous ones. This was just announced by Paramount at Comic-Con 2024, alongside projects in partnership with Doctor Who.
“With Star Trek, I know that there are also a lot of things that are part of this universe over which I will not really have control, Simien recognizes. I try to remind myself that the whole journey is what matters. If we make it to the end, then wow! It will be a childhood dream come true. I literally grew up watching Star Trek and imagining myself traveling through space. So yes, I am fulfilling one of my childhood dreams right now…”
Star Wars: Donald Glover fights to impose his vision of Lando