Multiple Star Wars films have been scrapped since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, and director Guillermo del Toro has shared new details about one of those scrapped projects he was set to direct.

While speaking with Collider about his current and upcoming films, the conversation eventually steered to the standalone Star Wars film he was brought on to direct about one of the universe's most notorious crime lords: Jabba the Hutt. He said the film would have been about “the rise and fall of Jabba the Hutt” within the Star Wars criminal underworld and what ultimately led to his death in Return of the Jedi. Del Toro said he was very excited to play around in that universe, but as things progressed it became clearer that the film likely wasn't moving forward.

“We were doing a lot of stuff, and then it’s not my property, it’s not my money, and then it’s one of those 30 screenplays that goes away,” del Toro told Collider.

Del Toro admitted there were frustrations, but that he harbors no ill will toward Lucasfilm and is grateful for the experiences he had trying to develop the film. He said he was able to take some of those experiences with him into future projects, including the Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water, which he jumped right into after his Star Wars film was ultimately scrapped.

Other Guillermo del Toro films that didn't happen

Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth

It is hardly the first time del Toro has been attached to high-profile projects he either had to step away from for personal or creative reasons or just never got to outright make.

Before Peter Jackson took over directing duties, del Toro was set to direct The Hobbit films when it was originally planned to be two movies instead of the eventual three. Del Toro's influence on the project could still be seen in some of the final creature designs used, but no other details about why del Toro ultimately walked away have been shared.

Then there was Hellboy 3, which never got to see the light of day despite the critical and reasonable financial success of del Toro's first two Hellboy films. The director was unable to get the financial backing he wanted for what was rumored to be the final part of his Hellboy trilogy, and the franchise would sit on the shelves for years. A Hellboy reboot was released in 2019 starring David Harbour as the titular anti-hero, but would ultimately be a critical and financial failure.

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