Damon Lindelof ‘Star Wars’ Movie Will Be Set After ‘The Rise of Skywalker’; New Secret Writers Room Might Include Dave Filoni
Shortly after Deadline broke the news that Damon Lindelof’s Star Wars movie found its director in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, new details on the project have emerged from The Hollywood Reporter.
According to reputable reporter Borys Kit of THR, Lindelof has selected Justin Britt-Gibson (whose credits include The Strain, Into the Badlands, and Counterpart) as a co-writer for his Star Wars screenplay. Britt-Gibson was brought on board after a secret writers room was assembled to flesh out a story for the project, with Patrick Somerville (Lindelof’s partner on The Leftovers, who would go on to make Station Eleven), Rayna McClendon (Briarpatch, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and the upcoming Willow Disney Plus series), and Andy Greenwald (who also worked on Briarpatch) all participating, alongside other writers. Longtime Star Wars television creator Dave Filoni was also believed to have been part of the meetings.
Lindelof and Britt-Gibson are said to be hard at work on the screenplay. As with any Star Wars project at an early stage in development, story details remain vague and away from the public. However, one detail of note is that the film will be set at some point after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, but it would not be a story serving as a direct continuation to the Skywalker Saga. With that said, THR says characters from the sequel trilogy could appear in this new narrative.
Lindelof’s Star Wars project is being conceived as a single film telling a complete story, while leaving room for follow-ups based on its success. THR notes a change in Lucasfilm’s approach, steering away from traditional trilogies, a departure from the classic Star Wars film set-up as well as the previously announced Rian Johnson trilogy and the series of films by Game of Thrones veterans David Benioff and D. B. Weiss. Both of those projects are on the shelf due to Johnson’s commitment to Knives Out sequels and Benioff and Weiss’ commitment to Netflix’s adaptation of The Three-Body Problem. Johnson claims he still wants to make more Star Wars films, though the status of that trilogy has been quite ominous since its announcement five years ago, and Benioff and Weiss seemingly backed out of their deal with Lucasfilm entirely.
The next two theatrically-released Star Wars films are scheduled to arrive on December 19, 2025, and December 17, 2027, though none of these reported projects have been assigned to either date. Disney nor Lucasfilm have confirmed nor denied the reports of a Damon Lindelof-led film.
Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.
