‘Project Hail Mary’ Author Andy Weir Has a Fresh Pitch for ‘Star Wars’: Tell the Galactic Civil War Through Other People’s Eyes
When a famous sci-fi author starts talking about another franchise, fans tend to listen. That is especially true when the author is Andy Weir, whose novels have given Hollywood two of its most beloved space survival stories.
Weir has spent years as a vocal sci-fi fan, and he is not shy about sharing how he would handle his favorite universes. His latest idea concerns the galaxy far, far away.
The author of ‘The Martian’ and ‘Project Hail Mary’ has a suggestion for the next ‘Star Wars’ movie: set it during the Galactic Civil War, but follow other people living through it. He shared the idea in an interview with /Film while discussing an upcoming Audible original sci-fi series, ‘Exoplanet,’ which he is executive producing.
Weir’s pitch starts with a diagnosis. He argues that ‘Star Wars’ is built on massive upheaval, and that a big war story works best when the good guys win and the victory stays won. Speaking to /Film, he said it feels “very unsatisfying if you roll into a new monumental war.”
That concern is specific. A hard-won victory loses something when the next story replaces it with another galaxy-spanning conflict. It is a thoughtful note from a writer whose own stories are about problem-solving and resolution.
His solution borrows from real history. Weir compares the Galactic Civil War to World War II, a conflict whose major events are well known but which has inspired countless fictional stories about people living through it.
Applied to ‘Star Wars,’ the established events would stay intact as canon. Instead of resetting the galaxy’s central struggle, a film would follow people whose lives have not already supplied the saga’s central narrative. Weir is also quick to joke that he is not George Lucas and that the idea could be terrible.
According to one summary of the interview, he would keep Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa and Han Solo as the major figures in the war. Other characters would carry stories that run alongside theirs. The change would be in whose experience organizes the film.
Weir is no casual commenter. ‘The Martian’ became a 2015 blockbuster starring Matt Damon, ending its run with about $630 million globally. ‘Project Hail Mary’ then brought his 2021 novel to the screen with Ryan Gosling and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
The film opened to $80.5 million in the US and $140.9 million globally. It was Amazon MGM’s biggest launch and the second-biggest debut for a non-franchise movie after ‘Oppenheimer.’ Weir also co-produced it, and Drew Goddard wrote the screenplay.
The ‘Star Wars’ connection has an extra layer. Gosling is attached to the upcoming ‘Star Wars’ movie ‘Starfighter,’ and the success of ‘Project Hail Mary’ was seen as a good sign for it. Lord and Miller also once worked on ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ before being replaced mid-production.
Weir has shared galactic ideas before. In an interview with Inverse, he described a fan-fiction crossover he calls “Star Star,” combining ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Star Wars.’
The concept links the Genesis Device in ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ with the destruction of the Death Star in ‘A New Hope.’ Both explosions would tear a hole in reality and open a wormhole between the universes. In his version, Spock becomes a Force ghost, and Sulu develops Jedi abilities after the Enterprise crosses over.
He has also said he pitched a ‘Star Trek’ show and wants to bring it back to the new leadership at Skydance. Weir treats these ideas as fun fan thought experiments rather than serious proposals.
The idea lands at an interesting moment. The franchise has long wrestled with how to expand its universe without erasing what came before. A story that treats the original conflict as settled history, then explores the people around it, offers a path that respects both.
Whether Lucasfilm ever takes the idea seriously is another matter. Still, a pitch from one of modern sci-fi’s most successful storytellers is hard to ignore, especially when it gives old victories room to stay won.
Would you like to see a Star Wars movie told through the eyes of ordinary people living during the Galactic Civil War?
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