Ryan Reynolds, who scored big with the Deadpool movies, especially Deadpool & Wolverine, wants to take his R-rated ambitions to a galaxy far, far away.
Reynolds reveals he actually pitched Disney R-rated Star Wars.
What did Ryan Reynolds say about R-rated Star Wars?
The Deadpool actor appeared recently on an episode of The Box Office podcast and revealed that he “pitched” the idea of an R-rated Star Wars “property” to Disney.
“I pitched to Disney, I said, ‘Why don’t we do an R-rated Star Wars property?’” he said of his pitch. “‘It doesn’t have to be overt, A+ characters. There’s a wide range of characters you could use.’”
Reynolds continues with a mention that he’s not pitching an R-rating Star Wars story just for violence, profanity, or shock value. Instead, he sees the R-rating as a way to create space for deeper, more mature emotional storytelling, the kind that PG-13 restrictions might limit.
“And I don’t mean R-rated to be vulgar,” he explained. “R-rated as a Trojan horse for emotion. I always wonder why studios don’t want to just gamble on something like that.”
So does that mean Ryan Reynolds starring in an R-rated Star Wars project? Nope.
“That would be a bad fit,” said Reynolds, who instead, said he would like to work behind the scenes as a producer or writer.
“I’m not saying I want to be in it,” Reynolds continued. “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.”
Would R-rated Star Wars work?
When George Lucas first created Star Wars, he created it for 10-year-old boys, but worth a mention is that those boys have aged just a bit. Probably the most serious Star Wars project as of late has been Andor, which just released its second season and managed to make the Nielsen charts following Skeleton Crew not charting due to the poor reception to The Acolyte.
Andor creator Tony Gilroy actually revealed a Star Wars horror project is in development, which could very well be R-rated.
What do you think? Should Star Wars go full R-rated or keep it more for kids?
What’s next from Star Wars?
In addition to the release of Andor Season 2, Ahsoka Season 2 is currently in development. Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian & Grogu also gets released on May 22, 2026. Recently saw the announcement that Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy is directing Ryan Gosling in Star Wars: Starfighter with a May 28, 2027 release date.
What’s next for Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool?
Ryan Reynolds also previously revealed he is in the early stages of developing another Deadpool movie featuring X-Men characters. Deadpool could also pop up in Avengers: Doomsday and/or Secret Wars. Hugh Jackman recently responded to rumors joking Wolverine would destroy and obliterate everyone.
