It’s a fact that when Ryan Reynolds has an idea, there’s typically someone in Hollywood willing to listen. Throughout his storied career, he’s bent the MPA’s R-rating to his will, even convincing Disney, of all studios, to host an ultra-violent MCU movie with Deadpool & Wolverine. Reynolds is seemingly unstoppable in many regards, so when he says he has an idea for an R-rated Star Wars property, the House of Mouse might want to be all ears.
In Friday’s The Box Office podcast episode with host Scott Mendelson, Reynolds said he pitched Disney an R-rated Star Wars project that could break the time-honored franchise wide open while not mucking with canon or primary characters.
“I pitched to Disney, I said, ‘Why don’t we do an R-rated “Star Wars” property? It doesn’t have to be overt, A+ characters. There’s a wide range of characters you could use,’” Reynolds said. “And I don’t mean R-rated to be vulgar. R-rated as a Trojan horse for emotion. I always wonder why studios don’t want to just gamble on something like that.”
While the Star Wars Universe remains a PG-13 affair, Tony Gilroy’s Andor is a mature entry in the franchise that comes close to pushing the need for an R-rating. Gilroy doesn’t fill Andor with coarse language or absurd violence. He uses Andor to tell a mature story about struggle, subterfuge, and the toppling of an evil empire. An R-rating isn’t necessary. Still, some fans wonder what the show could have been like if Disney had let Gilroy take his themes a step further.
“I’m not saying I want to be in it. That would be a bad fit,” he said. “I’d want to produce and write or be a part of behind the scenes. Those kinds of IP subsist really well on scarcity and surprise. We don’t get scarcity really with ‘Star Wars’ because of Disney+, but you can certainly still surprise people.”
Is Reynolds onto something by wanting to make an R-rated Star Wars property? What would an R-rated Star Wars film or television series look like? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
