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Ryan Reynolds has found a lot of success in R-rated IP - take Marvel's Deadpool franchise for example. Now, having convinced Marvel Studios to venture into R-rated territory, Reynolds wants to do the same thing in a galaxy far, far away, revealing that he's already pitched an R-rated Star Wars project to Disney. What we want to know is... why?

On The Box Office Podcast, Ryan Reynolds shed light on the project that he approached Disney with. “I pitched to Disney, I said, ‘Why don’t we do an R-rated Star Wars property?’" he began. “It doesn’t have to be like, an overt, A+ characters... there’s a wide range of characters you could use. I don’t mean R-rated to be vulgar. R-rated is a Trojan Horse for emotion, and I always wonder why studios don’t want to just gamble on something like that.”

It's interesting for Reynolds to say that "R-rated is a Trojan Horse for emotion," considering that Disney just released the PG-13 new MCU movie Thunderbolts*, which dealt with themes related to trauma, mental illness, and addiction. More to the point, the emotionally-fueled season 2 of Andor just wrapped up on the Star Wars end of things, and that was rated TV-14 despite everything that happened in that show. So what is he actually talking about here?

I don't know much about Reynolds, but maybe he's a huge fan of the Knights of the Old Republic video game. When you factor in the devastating effect that the Mandalorian Wars had on Mandalorian culture, at least within Legends continuity, I can see where that might warrant an R-rating. Then again, the Ghorman Massacre and its aftermath was a significant part of the second season of Andor, and again that was just TV-14.

Elsewhere in the current version of official Star Wars canon, there are some truly horrifying deaths that happen during the High Republic publishing program, where Jedi crumble to dust at the hands of Force-eating beasts called the Nameless. At the climax of one of the adult novels, our most trusted Jedi mistakenly cuts a woman in half with their lightsaber. As sunny as the High Republic may be, the official novels and comics don't skimp on violence. Could Reynolds be a huge fan of the High Republic books? It would be cool if he was, but we have no way of knowing until he says so. 

It's not clear if anything will come of Reynolds's proposed R-rated Star Wars story. The actor said on the podcast that he doesn't have any interest in actually starring in a Star Wars project, and he's already busy with a new pitch he plans to present to Marvel. Instead, he'd rather write or work in some other role "behind the scenes" (producing maybe?). Let's see if the next phase of Star Wars projects is ruled by a Reynolds shrouded in a dark cloak. 

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.