The One Problem With Star Wars, According To Project Hail Mary Author Andy Weir [Exclusive]

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You know what they say about opinions: Everyone has one, and that goes double when it comes to "Star Wars." It's not exactly a state secret that the galaxy far, far away has gone through something of a rough patch in recent years. The divisive sequel trilogy and the overall Skywalker Saga ended on the sourest note imaginable with "The Rise of Skywalker" in 2019, which then led to a prolonged hiatus on the big screen only broken by the tepidly-received "The Mandalorian and Grogu" earlier this year. Now, Simon Kinberg's reported trilogy of movies appears to be the next major gambit following the Ryan Gosling-starring "Starfighter" next year ... but, clearly, that's not stopping any of us from debating the best way for "Star Wars" to move forward.

You can count "The Martian" and "Project Hail Mary" author Andy Weir among those with some thoughts on the matter. The novelist has already enjoyed a big 2026 to this point, beginning with Phil Lord and Chris Miller's blockbuster adaptation of "Project Hail Mary." As he's gearing up to release another passion project of his, the upcoming Audible original sci-fi series "Exoplanet" that he's executive producing, I had the opportunity to speak with Weir over Zoom. During our extended conversation, the topic of "Star Wars" came up and, unsurprisingly, Weir had plenty to say.

When asked what he'd personally do if in charge of the franchise, the author pinpointed one specific concern that certain fans will likely agree with:

"'Star Wars' is more about massive upheaval. One problem that happens is, if you're going to have a story about a monumental war, then when it's over and the good guys win, you want it to stay that way. So it's very unsatisfying if you roll into a new monumental war."

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Sound familiar? That's probably because that line of criticism was a concern many had with J.J. Abrams' "The Force Awakens" in 2015. Although it remains the highest grossing and one of the most well-received movies in the entire series, there was certainly some trepidation over taking the original heroes' hard-fought victory and rendering it moot — this time, by replacing the Empire and the Rebellion with the vaguely different (but not really) factions of the First Order vs. the Resistance.

Andy Weir went on to diagnose the best direction to take "Star Wars" in the future, as he sees it. This time, his suggestion is to go back to a strategy that Lucasfilm actually established nearly a decade ago with "Rogue One." As he explained, "I feel like the best way, in my opinion, to do another 'Star Wars' movie — and I'm not George Lucas and this might be a terrible idea — but would be to have the story of other people during the Galactic Civil War."

Of course, Weir acknowledges that Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo were the "movers and shakers" during the events of "A New Hope" and beyond. But he thinks there's room to tell smaller, "tangential" stories alongside their own ... and points to one particularly relevant historical example:

"Think of it like this: We know what happened in World War II, but there are some really good fictional stories that take place during World War II. So if you treat the Galactic Civil War as, 'Okay, that's established canon, those are the things that happened,' but there's still a lot of stories to tell about other people living through those wars. So that's what I would do."

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This should also feel reminiscent of arguably one of the best and most critically-acclaimed additions of all — "Andor." The Disney+ prequel series doesn't quite fit the contours of Andy Weir's ideas for where to take the franchise in film, but that doesn't mean he fails to appreciate everything it brought to the "Star Wars" universe on streaming TV. Quite the opposite, in fact. When I bring it up, Weir is quick to share his enthusiasm for the Tony Gilroy production and its unique advantages as a show. But he wouldn't necessarily use this as an example of what future films could do:

"'Andor' was amazing and really good, and it was a series and [that was the correct choice]. You're going to do a movie, you've got to tell your whole story in like two hours. So it needs to have a lot more — 'Andor' was very intellectual, extremely clever, extraordinarily well-written, very well- — I mean, I loved everything about it. But it's not something that you could make into a movie."

That's extremely high praise, especially from such a successful sci-fi author, but Weir is right to note that "Andor" couldn't have had the same impact were it reimagined as a movie. So where can this franchise possibly go next on the big screen? For "Star Wars" to thrive in its next iteration following the sequel trilogy, Lucasfilm is betting that looking ahead in the timeline is the way to go. What Weir presupposes, however, is that looking back at "Rogue One" may hold the answers. Failing that, well, maybe they can make Weir's wacky "Star Wars"/"Star Trek" crossover happen instead.