Star Wars fans were treated to some major news on Friday with the announcement of no fewer than three new live-action movies in the works.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy unveiled tantalizing details about the forthcoming projects at the Star Wars Celebration event in London, with the new stories set to span the entire timeline of the series’ universe.
Among the first live-action Star Wars movies to arrive on the big screen since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker will be one film following Daisy Ridley’s character, Rey, as she sets out to establish a new Jedi Order. The film, which will follow the events of The Rise of Skywalker, is set to be directed by Ms. Marvel director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. The Oscar-winning filmmaker will be the first woman and person of color to direct a Star Wars movie.
The other two movies are set to be directed by James Mangold (Logan) and Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian). Mangold’s film will “go back to the dawn of the Jedi,” while Filoni’s film will “focus on the New Republic, and close out the interconnected stories told in the The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and other Disney+ series,” according to a news release.
“We came up with an incredible story about the dawning of the Force 25,000 years before,” Mangold said of his film, The Wrap reports. Release dates for the three movies have yet to be announced.
As well as the live-action films, a teaser trailer for Ahsoka, a Mandalorian spin-off series set to premiere on Disney+ in August. The show will follow Rosario Dawson’s padawan character Ahsoka Tano, a former apprentice of Anakin Skywalker.
The upcoming installments in the Star Wars movie canon come after several Death Star-size setbacks. Obaid-Chinoy’s movie will be based on a script written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight after the original screenwriters, David Lindelof (Lost, Watchmen) and Justin Britt-Gibson (Counterpart), walked away from the project in February.
Another film called Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was also dropped from Disney’s slate in September despite having an initial release date for December 2023. The movie, which would have been the first live-action big screen Star Wars movie after The Rise of Skywalker, was going to be directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman).
Last month, Variety reported that Jenkins’ film is “no longer in active development.” But an unrelated Star Wars film directed by and starring Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is reportedly still in the works, with Shawn Levy still attached to yet another Star Wars film after the release of Deadpool 3 and the Netflix adaptation of All the Light We Cannot See.
