James Mangold is still working on his Star Wars movie, but doesn’t want it to be “handcuffed by so much lore.”

One of the many Star Wars projects in development is a story which will take place 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga and explore the first Jedi and the discovery of the Force. That’s further in the past than the Star Wars franchise has ever gone, and that’s exactly why James Mangold was interested in it.

“The Star Wars movie would be taking place 25,000 years before any known Star Wars movies take place,” Mangold explained to MovieWeb. “It’s an area and a playground that I’ve always [wanted to explore] and that I was inspired by as a teenager. I’m not that interested in being handcuffed by so much lore at this point that it’s almost immovable, and you can’t please anybody.“

The era encompassing the Skywalker Saga is steadily growing with new movies and TV shows, but Mangold wanted more freedom to craft his story. “To me, the really important aspects are the freedom to make something new,” he said. “Beau Willimon and I, in relation to Star Wars, have been working on a script, and we’ll see what happens. Do we find a way on the page to say something original?” Given how many Star Wars projects have been announced over the last decade, only to languish in development hell, I’m not about to place any bets on whether Mangold’s movie will see the light of day, but it would be something different.

Mangold’s A Complete Unknown is now playing in theaters, and our own Chris Bumbray loved the Bob Dylan biopic. “It’s one of the year’s most entertaining movies,” Bumbray wrote in his review, “with Mangold’s film so good that I hope he’s got a few Dylan sequels in him, as it truly left me wanting more.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.

Here’s the official synopsis for A Complete Unknown: “Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.” In addition to Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro. The film also co-stars Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, and Scoot McNairy.