It’s been three years since the release of the most recentStar Warstheatrical film,The Rise of Skywalker. Now, reports state Damon Lindelof’s untitledStar Warsproject will take place after that movie, but will not be following the Skywalker saga that’s central to the episodic entries of the franchise.
In the time sinceThe Rise of Skywalker,Star Warshas survived mostly through television offerings.The Mandalorian,starring Pedro Pascal, has kept the fandom going strong, andAndoris currently airing its first seasonon Disney Plus. The tepid (at best) response toThe Rise of Skywalkerappears to have convinced Disney to cool off on theatrical releases for a while, and a newStar Warsmovie has yet to be officially scheduled on Disney’s release slate.
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The Hollywood Reporterhas learned thatLindelof’sStar Warsproject, which will be helmed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, is finally becoming more concrete. The script is reportedly being written in conjunction with Damon Lindelof by Justin Britt-Gibson, a writer who worked on Guillermo del Toro’sThe StrainandThe Counterpart, which starred J.K. Simmons. THR states that the writing team came together afterStar Wars Celebrationwith a secret writers' room consisting of Lindelof, Britt-Gibson, Patrick Somerville, Rayna McClendon, and Andy Greenwald. The film will reportedly be a standalone project, with the possibility of sequels if it does well. And though the film will not focus on the Skywalker saga, it is possible that the film will catch up with some characters from theStar Warssequel trilogy, like Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), post-The Rise of Skywalker.
The film appears to be a shift in Disney’sStar Warsstrategy. Previously, the company had tried toconceptualize theirStar Warsprojectsin trilogies. With the contentious nature of the sequel trilogy, however, that appears to have been scrapped. The failure ofSoloat the box office also seems to have made Disney wary of standalone projects set on recasting, pre-existing characters, which explains their extensive use of de-aging technology to bring previously established characters to life as of late.
The project is shrouded in mystery, as is characteristic of a Lindelof juncture. But the secrecy may also serve another purpose: the studio has announced severalStar Warsprojects in the past, but several of these stories have not materialized. Reportedly, Disney has toldLucasfilm to stop announcingStar Warsprojects so early. Disney may want to avoid the scrutiny of their cancelled projects by keeping futureStar Warsprojects under wraps until the projects get closer to a finished product.
