Earlier this year, I wrote about the news that Thor: Ragnarok‘s Taika Waititi was in talks with Lucasfilm to develop and direct a Star Wars movie.

Today, Disney announced it’s official: Taika Waititi will be directing his own Star Wars movie in the galaxy far, far away. The news was first released on – where else? – the official Star Wars site with Disney timing the press release for just after.

As noted in the tweet, Waititi won’t be handling scriptwriting duties solo. He’ll be teaming up with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night in Soho) on the script. That’s a pretty damned impressive writing team: Waititi won an Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay for Jojo Rabbit. Wilson-Carins meanwhile was nominated along with Sam Mendes for Best Original Screenplay for 1917.

This isn’t the first Star Wars project Waititi has had his hands on. He directed the season finale of The Mandalorian‘s first season for Disney+ last year, an episode that currently stands at a 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And, of course, with Thor: Ragnarok being a massive hit for Marvel and Jojo Rabbit being a prestige film for Fox Searchlight, Waititi has shown himself to be a valuable commodity for Disney and Disney likes to keep working with people it knows and trusts. It’s rare that directors hit “It Boy” status in Hollywood, a term normally reserved for actors and actresses, but Waititi is it. Still, it’s a sign of good things to come for the future of the Star Wars universe, as I wrote back in January when we first got news of his potential movie:

However, what is surprising – and a good sign about the future of the Star Wars universe – is that Lucasfilm is apparently open to a filmmaker with Waititi’s zany sensibilities handling their franchise. To date, Lucasfilm has been precious with its property, with the same tonality and feel running through all eleven movies. It was difficult to envision a movie like Thor: Ragnarok, which blew up the self-serious Thor franchise by taking itself the opposite of seriously, living in the serious space opera world of Star Wars.

It is really exciting to see what Waititi will bring to the table. I’m not going to lie, I’d really love to see a woman directing a Star Wars movie for once. Thus far, Victoria Mahoney, who was a second unit director on The Rise of Skywalker, is the closest we’ve ever gotten. But, hey, if Taika is a consolation prize, I’ll take it. With The Mandalorian, he’s shown he can deftly direct a piece of serious work in the Star Wars universe and Jojo showed he can blend heartfelt drama with his trademark satire. It’s unclear which direction his Star Wars movie will go in, but if I were Lucasfilm, I’d let Waititi do what he does best, which is unleash his sly-to-bonkers humor on screen. Personally, if this project goes well, I’m rooting for Taika to do a workplace mockumentary series about stormtroopers working on the Death Star.