Though Andor popped last year and The Mandalorian remains popular on Disney+, cinematic Star Wars has been a bit of a shamble since the 2019 release of The Rise of Skywalker. Or, really, since the 2017 release of The Last Jedi. In 2015, everyone was on board with The Force Awakens resetting the galactic table for a new generation, even as people pointed out the similarities to OG Star Wars, everyone bought into the new characters and stakes.
But despite The Last Jedi being the only piece of New New Stars Wars attempting to add new ideas and possibilities to the story (at least until Andor), ever since The Force Awakens, the cinematic cache of Star Wars has been in steady decline. I dare say, the sequel trilogy wrecked Star Wars’ reputation as a generationally important cinematic event.
So, the last few years have been focused on television, where Lucasfilm and the creative oversight duo of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni—under the aegis of Kathleen Kennedy, you have to acknowledge her wins if you harp on her losses—have had more success playing in the Star Wars sandbox. (Though Tony Gilroy, who is absolutely not precious about Star Wars at all, has had the most success there, Andor is fantastic even outside its Star Wars context.) Now, though, it sounds like Lucasfilm is getting ready to send Star Wars back to theaters with an untitled film due in December 2025.
According to Variety, there are multiple projects in the works, though Rian Johnson’s spin-off project(s), Kevin Feige’s project, and Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron film are not in the running. The stress is on “not in active development” regarding the status of these potential films, which is not the same thing as “dead” except for how it basically means a project is dead. Sure, someone could pull it off the shelf eventually, but pushing a project out of development pretty much means it’s game over.
Instead, the focus is on a Damen Lindelof-scripted feature to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, as well as another feature being written by Taika Waititi, which could also potentially star Waititi, too. I feel like people would be more on board with a Taika Star War pre-Thor: Love and Thunder, which brought about the inevitable Taika-backlash after he enjoyed several years of uninterrupted pop culture popularity. Star Wars Celebration is set to take place in London next month, so I’m sure we’ll know more then about Star Wars’ return to the big screen. Is it too much to ask for new people, in new places, doing new stuff, preferably without a Skywalker in sight?
