Making a Star Wars film would be like a dream come true. So many filmmakers have said that Star Wars inspired them, so you can imagine how they would jump at the chance to tell their own Star Wars story. Still, there have been cases over the years where some directors have turned down the opportunity to make a Star Wars film. These are those directors and the reasons why they said no.

(Note: This list does not include people who were considered for a directing position before Lucasfilm ultimately decided on another director. These are the people who were offered the job but turned it down.)

Before George Lucas decided to direct the prequel trilogy again, the directing job (at least for Episode I) was offered to several directors. Lucas offered Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard and Robert Zemeckis the chance to direct a Star Wars film, but all of them ultimately turned down the idea. They all had the same reason.

Star Wars belonged to George Lucas. It was his baby, and he was going to be the one directing the films. It seems that Lucas had originally intended to take a producer role on the prequel films, as he had done on the second and third films of the original trilogy. However, he was eventually persuaded to step back into the director’s chair for the first time since 1977 to direct the three new films himself. Although Ron Howard turned down an offer to direct the prequels, he did end up directing a Star Wars film when he was hired to finish directing. Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018.

Lucas was always adamant about directing the first film himself, and it seems that Irvin Kershner was the only one ever asked to direct. The Empire Strikes Backthe path to becoming a director for Return of the Jedi was a different story.

The first to turn down the job was Kershner, who after working on Rich. However, he said he was ready to move on after investing so much time into Star Wars with the last film. Spielberg was reportedly interested in directing this film as well and considered it a possibility, but was unable to do so due to directors’ union rules. At the time, Lucas had left the union due to fines from the The Empire Strikes Back for violating attribution rules, which meant that the DGA did not allow any member of the guild, including Spielberg, to direct Return of the JediAfter Spielberg was ruled out, both David Lynch and David Cronenberg were offered the job, but both felt they were not the right choice for a Star Wars film.

After Disney announced Episodes VII-IX was to be made, Brad Bird was one of the first to be approached to direct the new Star Wars film. Bird had previously directed successful films for Disney, such as The Incredibles, and also had success in big-budget blockbuster films, having just finished the fourth Mission-Impossible The film became a critical and box office success, so it’s easy to see why the studio was interested in him. Brad Bird turned down the project to focus on his film. OrientBird has stated that he briefly considered making both films, but quickly realized that was not possible. Orient was released in May 2015, with Disney insisting that Episode VII Although the film is scheduled to be released in 2015, Bird is right that it would probably have been impossible for him to direct both films.

After Bird turned down the project, several other directors were asked about their interest in the project, including Guillermo del Toro and Neill Blomkamp, ​​who stated in later interviews that they would have turned down the project before JJ Abrams was eventually hired.

Many other directors have spoken of meeting with Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy sometime in 2012 after the sale to Disney. However, it’s not always clear whether those meetings ended with the potential director turning down the project or Lucasfilm deciding to go in a different direction. For example, both Matthew Vaughn and David Fincher have spoken of having a Star Wars project.–related meeting in the era before The Force Awakens was released. It is also not always clear at these meetings whether the directors were meeting to film an official episode of the Skywalker saga or one of the many potential spin-off films that were being worked on at the time.

The only other person we know of who turned down the opportunity to direct a Star Wars film at the time was JJ Abrams. Although he agreed to direct the first film in the new trilogy, he was reportedly offered the opportunity to direct all three films in the new trilogy at some point, but he turned it down, saying it was far too big a commitment given how many tasks he had to do. Of course, he eventually returned to direct the third and final film in the sequel trilogy, but technically he’s still on the list of those who initially turned down the chance to direct. Episodes VIII And IX.