Ryan Reynolds Pitched an R-Rated ‘Star Wars’ Movie to Disney, but Not for Him to Star: ‘That Would Be a Bad Fit’

Ryan Reynolds successfully delivered Disney its first R-rated MCU movie last year with “Deadpool and Wolverine,” but could he do the same thing for the “Star Wars” universe?

The “Deadpool” star revealed on Friday’s episode of “The Box Office” podcast with host Scott Mendelson that he has pitched an R-rated movie set in a galaxy far, far away.

“I pitched to Disney, I said, ‘Why don’t we do an R-rated “Star Wars” property? It doesn’t have to be overt, A+ characters. There’s a wide range of characters you could use,'” he said. “And I don’t mean R-rated to be vulgar. R-rated as a Trojan horse for emotion. I always wonder why studios don’t want to just gamble on something like that.”

There has never been an R-rated “Star Wars” movie or TV show before. The closest thing the franchise has would be its more mature “Andor” TV series, which just finished its two-season run earlier this month and dealt with some heavy themes.

As for his R-rated pitch, Reynolds says it would not be for him to star in.

“I’m not saying I want to be in it. That would be a bad fit,” he said. “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.”

Next up for the “Star Wars” universe is “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which takes Pedro Pascal’s masked bounty hunter and the lovable Baby Yoda to the big screen. After that, Shawn Levy, who directed Reynolds in “Deadpool and Wolverine,” “The Adam Project” and “Free Guy,” is making “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling.