Lucasfilm Unveils New ‘Star Wars’ Movies at ‘Star Wars’ Celebration
After months of rumors and fan speculation, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has just revealed what the immediate theatrical future of Star Wars looks like at Star Wars Celebration London.
Via StarWars.com:
Today during Lucasfilm’s Studio Showcase at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that three new live-action Star Wars films are on the way. Helming the movies are James Mangold (Logan, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian, Ahsoka), and Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel, Saving Face).
James Mangold’s movie will go back to the dawn of the Jedi, while Dave Filoni’s will focus on the New Republic, and close out the interconnected stories told in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and other Disney+ series. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s film will be set after the events of Rise of Skywalker, and feature Daisy Ridley back as Rey as she builds a new Jedi Order.
There’s a lot of dissect here, starting with the timeline for the entire Star Wars franchise as presented by Kathleen Kennedy before the trio of filmmakers took the stage. Check it out below:
Kennedy announced future Star Wars projects will be set all over the timeline, and this will apply to Disney Plus series as well as theatrical releases. Before we even get into the new periods that have been teased, we must highlight that the Old Republic era is being acknowledged, meaning that there are plans in place — beyond the Knights of the Old Republic video game remake — to mine that age of the Star Wars mythos at some point.
The “New Jedi Order” period will take us past The Rise of Skywalker, starting with a film helmed by Ms. Marvel director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, exactly as reported for the past few months. Nothing was said about the writing talent, but we’re guessing those reports were true as well, meaning that Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson worked on a draft that’s now being rewritten by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders). And yes, Daisy Ridley is back as Rey Skywalker in a story set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, which definitely opens the door for other key characters from the sequels making a return.
The news about a Dave Filoni-directed Star Wars film that will wrap up the entire “MandoVerse” story arc, which is currently being told across several shows, isn’t surprising either. Last night, renowned scooper Jeff Sneider — who first broke the Lindelof/Obaid-Chinoy project — claimed it was 100% happening, and he was right on the money once again. While Kennedy didn’t elaborate on which film is coming first, we’ll go with the idea that the Obaid-Chinoy-directed film is arriving in 2025 as reported before. This would give Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni plenty of time to put out more seasons of their MandoVerse shows before arriving at the big crossover film in 2027, just in time for the 50th anniversary of Star Wars. But there’s also the possibility of Star Wars doing yearly theatrical releases again, so we’ll have to wait and see how the release schedule looks once everything has been figured out.
The biggest theatrical surprise came with the announcement of a previously unknown project which will tell the story of the first Jedi even before the Old Republic era. James Mangold (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) will direct what’s being described as a “biblical epic” that should look and feel totally different from anything we’ve seen before in the franchise. Years ago, we heard rumors that the canned trilogy from D.B. Weiss and David Benioff (Game of Thrones) would’ve explored exactly that idea, so maybe their preliminary work wasn’t lost after all.
As for the in-development films coming from Taika Waititi and Shawn Levy, it appears they still haven’t been fully greenlit by Lucasfilm and Disney, or at least they haven’t taken the solid shape needed to secure a public announcement. Regardless, it appears that Star Wars is ready to make a huge return to cinemas in the coming years and expand its canvas in big and unexpected ways.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
