Back in 1971, after a plucky, young filmmaker by the name of George Lucas completed his first film THX 1138, he was struck for an idea for a science fiction movie in a similar vein to the ‘30s Flash Gordon serials. What he would eventually release on May 25, 1977 was not only a movie which would change the very world of filmmaking, but the birth of a franchise which would firmly imbed itself in the hearts of diehard fans worldwide.
Star Wars (as the first film was originally known before it was retrospectively retitled as Star Wars: A New Hope in 1981), was far more than just another sci-fi movie, it was the start of a cultural phenomenon which would span generations and five more sequels, three prequels, two spin-off films, a collection of animated (and now live-action) series, more video games than you can count and a veritable library of books (and that doesn’t even include the two Ewok films or the Christmas special).
In December last year, fans were able to witness the end to the Skywalker saga with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Whilst more content from the Star Wars universe will undoubtedly continue for many years to come, for the first time since the words A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… flashed up on cinema screens in 1977, the franchise will no longer have the Skywalker bloodline front and centre as it moves forward.
So what will the future of Star Wars look like without the Skywalkers? Well as Yoda says, “always in motion is the future”, but let us quieten our minds to look at what Star Wars has next in store for us all.
The Mandalorian
When Disney+ launched in November last year, Star Wars was front and centre in the form of the hit series The Mandalorian. Star Wars fans went nuts for the first live-action Star Wars TV series, and even those portions of the fandom who were dismissive of the new sequel trilogy films seemingly embraced the new show with open arms. Whilst opinions on the merits of the sequel and prequel trilogies abound, the love shown for The Mandalorian seems almost universal, and there’s hardly a person on the planet who wouldn’t know about The Child by now.
Thankfully we won’t have too much longer to wait for season two, as filming for the second season finished before the coronavirus outbreak which has put so much else on hold, and the previously announced October 2020 release date is still in place for now.
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One of the more exciting revelations around the upcoming second season is the announcement of Rosario Dawson joining the cast as none other than Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice from the animated Clone Wars series. As the Clone Wars frontman, and Ahsoka’s creator, Dave Filoni, also has a heavy stake in both writing and directing The Mandalorian we can rest assured the series will no doubt give her much loved character the proper treatment. Moreover, it is even rumoured that her appearance in The Mandalorian may eventually make way for Ahsoka’s own spin-off series.
Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi series
Before he stood down as the CEO of Disney, Bob Iger announced to shareholders that the immediate future of Star Wars was in television. Certainly, when Disney unveiled their plans for Disney+ at last year’s D23 Expo, the most exciting reveals were not only for The Mandalorian, but also a few other TV series they had planned for the coming years.
First off D23 saw the official announcement of the return of Rogue One’s Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk, who were both set reprise their roles as Cassian Andor and K-2SO respectively in the second Disney+ live-action series. Helmed by Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter of the Bourne films who was brought on board to handle the Rogue One reshoots, the as-yet-untitled series is being touted as a spy thriller set during the height of the Empire’s reign. Pre-production on the series began earlier this year and filming was originally slated to begin in June, though it is likely this will now be delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Secondly, perhaps the biggest news to come out of last year’s D23 was the official confirmation of Ewan McGregor’s return to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Thought to be a reworking of what was originally going to be another spin-off film, the Obi-Wan series is being helmed by director Deborah Chow, who has already worked on The Mandalorian. Production on the show hit a speed bump earlier this year when screenwriter Hossein Amini left the project, though Ewan McGregor was quick to point out this would mean little apart from a slight delay to filming. At the moment there is no word as to when filming is currently due to commence.
And, most recently, it is now being reported that Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland has now been tapped to helm her own Disney+ Star Wars series, rumoured to be female-led and set in a previously unseen era in the Star Wars universe.
The High Republic
Aiming to push the franchise into a whole new territory following the release of Rise of Skywalker, Lucasfilm Publishing secretly convened a group of the best and most prolific Star Wars authors under a top-secret project they had originally dubbed Project Luminous. Aimed at working from a completely blank slate, the authors were tasked with developing a single cohesive story which would explore previously untouched aspects of the Star Wars universe and span across multiple platforms including both books and comics.
In February the official name of the project, The High Republic, had been announced and it was revealed the new material would be set 200 years prior to the events of the original films, at a time when the Republic and the Jedi were at their height in the galaxy. The first book in the series, Light of the Jedi, is currently set to be released this August.
Future Film Projects
Whilst the immediate future of Star Wars seems to be on TV, there will, of course, be more Star Wars on the big screen in years to come. At the moment Disney still have three release dates, December 2022, 2024 and 2026, pencilled in for future Star Wars films. Originally it was thought these dates would go to a new trilogy of films, rumoured to be set in the Old Republic era, that was being developed by the Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, however, the duo exited the project in October last year. Whilst the release dates are still pencilled in, there is now no clear idea which projects will take the slots.
Another film project with question marks hanging over it is the previously announced trilogy that was to be written and directed by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. Originally announced back in 2017, Rian’s trilogy has since been increasingly viewed as unlikely to push ahead as more emphasis was being put on the Benioff and Weiss films prior to their exit. As recently as January, however, Johnson confirmed that he was still speaking to Lucasfilm, though “they hadn’t announced anything on their slate yet.”
Another potential option to take the release dates is the Star Wars film being helmed by Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige. In September last year, Disney Studios boss Alan Horn announced that Feige, who was a massive Star Wars fan himself, would be taking charge of his own film in the franchise. Details are scant at this stage, though it is suggested that Feige has a “major” Marvel star in mind to play a very specific character (we’re keeping our fingers crossed for a return of Samuel L Jackson to the role of Jedi Master Mace Windu).
Finally, other reports are that director J.D. Dillard and Luke Cage screenwriter Matt Owens have been tapped to develop their own Star Wars project separate to both Rian Johnson and Kevin Feige’s own projects. The details are murkier than a swamp on Dagobah at this point, and it is not even known whether this new project will either be a feature film or a Disney+ TV series.
‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ is now streaming via Disney+
