James Mangold discusses his “biblical” vision for new Star Wars movie

James Mangold is officially directing a “biblical epic” within the galaxy far, far away. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

James Mangold’s Force-origins Star Wars movie has been described as a “biblical epic” by the director.

Announced at this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration convention in London, alongside Dave Filoni and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s respective features, Mangold’s story will rewind the clock back 25,000 years to a time untouched by this iconic franchise.

After stepping off the Studio Showcase stage, he told the media: “When I first started talking to Kathy [Kennedy] about doing one of these pictures, what occurred to me was thinking about what kind of genre of movie within Star Wars I wanted to do.

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“And I thought about a biblical epic, like a Ten Commandments, about the dawning of the Force. Where did the Force come from, when did we discover it, when did we learn how to use it?”

Jedi master Yoda is an iconic wielder of the Force in the Star Wars universe. (Lucasfilm)

The filmmaker, who called the shots on this year’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, also revealed to Empire Magazine that his galactic blockbuster won’t be a slave to interconnectivity, like Disney+ series The Mandalorian or Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

“It’s a movie that both connects to the worlds we know, but is also far enough away from it that I think there’s a lot of opportunities to tell a story freely, also, and not be so incredibly tied in by the knots and different story strands that are already in place,” said Mangold.

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This comes after The Force Awakens actor Simon Pegg described the Star Wars fanbase as the most “toxic” one out there.

He played the creature Unkar Plutt for one scene.

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