Acclaimed director Guillermo del Toro confirmed that he once worked on developing a Jabba the Hutt solo movie for Lucasfilm and Disney.
Star Wars is full of a massive variety of colorful aliens. From the Geonosians to the Gungans to the Lasats, alien races in a Galaxy Far, Far Away come in all shapes and sizes.
But one of the franchise’s more unique offerings is the Hutts, made known to fans by their most famous member, the Tatooine crime lord Jabba who oversaw Mos Espa and surrounding territories with an iron grip.
Jabba: A Star Wars Story?
Speaking to Collider, Guillermo del Toro discussed his once-in-development Star Wars movie that would’ve centered around none other than Jabba the Hutt.
Now, the original news of a Jabba film broke in 2017 (via Variety) and came at a time when the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm was still relatively recent. At that point, the studio was more or less in “throw things at the wall and see what sticks” mode.
Del Toro, when asked how close he came to actually helm a Jabba the Hutt motion picture, cracked a joke in response:
”Well, I believe a movie’s gonna happen when the Blu-Ray comes out. That’s when I know it’s gonna happen.”
The director expanded on these remarks, making sure to note that the film getting left by the wayside was not his decision. As del Toro put it “It’s not my property:”
“Y’know, so in the last moments, things go away. I’ve had it happen many, many, many times. We have the rise and fall of Jabba the Hutt, so I was super happy. We were doing a lot of stuff. And then, y’know, it’s not my property, it’s not my money. It’s one of those 30 screenplays that goes away. And I- sometimes I’m bitter, sometimes I’m not. I always turn to my team and say ‘Good practice, guys. Good practice.’”
He also took the opportunity to impart a little of his own personal philosophy on not just filmmaking, but life, “Trust the universe:”
“We designed a great world and great stuff. We learned. So, you can never be ungrateful with life. Whatever life sends you, there’s something to learn from it. So, y’know, I trust the universe, I do. when something doesn’t happen, I go ‘Why?’ I try to have a dialogue with myself, ‘Why did that happen?’ And the more you swim upstream with the universe, the less you’re gonna realize where you’re going.”
A Guillermo del Toro Star Wars Movie Would Have Been Something Else
It surely would’ve been quite cool to see Guillermo del Toro put his stamp on the Star Wars universe. The director, who previously made films like The Shape of Water and Pan’s Labyrinth is well known for his unique sense of visual style.
Suffice it to say, he likely would’ve found a way to inject some of that style into Star Wars, while still staying firmly within the confines of the established franchise.
Del Toro has indeed done large-scale franchise films before with his Hellboy duology and Pacific Rim, so he clearly has a good handle on the type of storytelling that a Star Wars movie would require.
But alas, his Jabba the Hutt film was just not to be. Fans have seen so little of the character on-screen in the grand scheme of things, with appearances in the Original Trilogy and The Clone Wars (Plus a quick cameo in The Phantom Menace) Getting to see the character’s rise and fall could’ve been pretty compelling.
