The team that created Paddington 2 had the opportunity to make a movie about a droid from Star Wars.

      Paul King and Simon Farnaby proposed a droid-focused Star Wars film to Lucasfilm following the success of Paddington 2, featuring none of the franchise's iconic characters. Lucasfilm ultimately declined the pitch. In a Variety interview, Farnaby detailed the project as a time-consuming distraction after Paddington 2, which never materialized. He mentioned, “They were like, ‘We really need it to be a Star Wars movie,’ which is likely why it didn’t get developed into one. But we never quite figured it out.” However, the concept isn’t entirely abandoned; Farnaby noted that it’s being revamped and might evolve into something outside the Star Wars realm. Instead, King and Farnaby made Wonka, which was successful, and are currently working on a Labubu film.

      This droid pitch adds to a long list of Star Wars films that were either announced, developed, or rumored but ultimately never produced. Projects such as Rian Johnson’s trilogy, a Jabba the Hutt film by Guillermo del Toro, and another by the showrunners of Game of Thrones never came to fruition. In 2012, Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion with intentions of releasing a Star Wars film every one to three years, but fourteen years later, fewer films have been released than anticipated, with several projects canceled.

      The Mandalorian and Grogu performed below expectations at the box office this year, earning $342 million against a budget of $165 million. Lucasfilm's next anticipated release is Star Wars: Starfighter, slated for May 2027 and directed by Shawn Levy with Ryan Gosling starring. Beyond this, projects from Simon Kinberg, James Mangold, and Taika Waititi remain uncertain. A Star Wars film from Paul King, director of what many critics view as the best-reviewed sequel of the past decade, would have added significant interest to that collection, but Lucasfilm declined.