Bryce Dallas Howard Opens Up About Directing a Star Wars Movie

The Disney+ era of Star Wars has not only gifted fans with beloved characters like Din Djarin, Fennec Shand, and Grogu, it’s also introduced a whole new lineup of talented filmmakers to the franchise. Among the directors who have made their Star Wars debuts in The Mandalorian are Rick Famuyiwa, Deborah Chow, Peyton Reed, Robert Rodriguez, Taika Waititi, and Carl Weathers. In fact, the flagship Star Wars series has become an excellent jumping on point for many of these directors to then go on to helm their own adventures set in the galaxy far, far away. Rodriguez executive produced and directed several episodes of The Book of Boba Fett, Chow has directed all six episodes of the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series, and Waititi will next tackle his own Star Wars movie once work on Thor: Love and Thunder is complete.

And then there’s Bryce Dallas Howard, who has quickly turned heads with her directorial work on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. It’s no exaggeration to say that since her debut in 2019, Howard has directed three of the most well-received, memorable, and exciting Star Wars stories of the Disney era. From an episode of The Mandalorian that celebrates the films of Akira Kurosawa (a major influence on Star Wars) to her more recent dive into Mandalorian and Jedi lore on The Book of Boba Fett, Howard has shown she has a deep understanding of this galaxy’s signature blend of action, fantasy, mythology, and pastiche, with a few fun easter eggs thrown in to boot.

This is why there are many fans now petitioning for Disney to give Howard a shot at a Star Wars film. It certainly would be the logical next step for a fan-favorite director (and movie star) who’s proved herself behind the camera and is a life-long fan of this universe. So when Den of Geek sat down with Howard to chat about the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion, we had to take a quick detour to ask how she felt about the possibility of directing a Star Wars movie one day.

“Oh, my goodness. Well, you know, I absolutely love directing. And I hope to be able to direct many, many features in my future. That would be absolutely wonderful,” Howard tells Den of Geek. “And I have to say, just getting to work in the Star Wars universe, especially being led by [executive producers] Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, has been one of the greatest joys of my life.”

When asked earlier this week by io9 what it would take to get her in the director’s chair for a Star Wars movie, Howard was even more direct, “I think it would take someone asking me.”

Whether or not that eventually happens will be up to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, of course. The studio has been remarkably tight-lipped about its upcoming slate of Star Wars films since Kennedy first announced Patty Jenkin’s Rogue Squadron movie and Waititi’s own installment during a Disney investors day event in 2020. Currently, Lucasfilm has three Star Wars movies scheduled for release between 2023 and 2027, but we’ve heard precious little about them. As of this writing, no director has been announced for that third film, which is presumably the one Marvel boss Kevin Feige and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron are developing. Is it time to call Howard?

For now, the actor and director just wants Star Wars fans to know how happy she is that they’ve enjoyed her work on The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, telling Den of Geek, “I really do appreciate the question. And the support has been one of the most meaningful things to me in my life and nothing that you ever expect. So to start, I am very grateful to the Star Wars fans.”

You can next see Howard in Jurassic World: Dominion, which hits theaters on June 10.