More Star Wars! No, Not Those!
Mike Fleming Jr
I'll link to the scoop, but the details are very much in question here:
Lucasfilm has closed a deal with Simon Kinberg to develop a trilogy of Star Wars films. Kinberg will write the trio and produce them with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy.
I heard this will comprise Episodes 10-12 of The Skywalker Saga that began with George Lucas’s 1977 first film, which, along with Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, reshaped the global blockbuster game. Insiders disputed my intel that Kinberg will continue that storyline, saying this instead will begin a new saga, and sit alongside percolating Star Wars projects with James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi and Donald Glover. As usual, Lucasfilm and Disney are not commenting.
They're not commenting... except to The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, at least, both of whom had stories up within a half hour of Deadline's, pretty strongly refuting the idea that this is a new trilogy continuing the Skywalker Saga. Here's Rebecca Rubin for Variety (highlighting is mine):
Lucasfilm is developing a new “Star Wars” trilogy with Kinberg set to write and produce the three films with studio chief Kathleen Kennedy. This will begin a new series with new characters after “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” starring Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac, concluded the original nine-chapter “Skywalker Saga” in 2019. Though plot details haven’t been revealed, Lucasfilm has disputed the notion, first suggested by Deadline in their initial report of the forthcoming trilogy, that Kinberg’s movies will continue the story that George Lucas began with 1977’s “A New Hope,” introducing Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia.
And Borys Kit, more directly, for The Hollywood Reporter:
The new story is not meant to be a continuation of the Skywalker Saga, the name of the overall arc of the popular and pop culture-dominating Star Wars movies known as Episodes 1 through 9. The intent here is to have brand new characters and a new story, and not have it be a continuation, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. (Although that does not mean that some characters could not or would not pop up.)
Probably safe to assume that "sources" are from Lucasfilm and/or Disney given the Variety citation.
Anyway, this matters because Kinberg (or anyone) working on a series of new Star Wars films is a big deal. But Kinberg (or anyone) working on a new trilogy to continue the Skywalker story is a massive deal. Yes, the holy trilogy has been diminished in modern times first by George Lucas himself with the (awful) prequels and then by J.J Abrams and Rian Johnson with their whiplash-inducing, retcon battle fought within the sequels. That mismanagement alone should have gotten Kathleen Kennedy fired. And yet.
Each of these articles almost comically goes out of their way to note that Kennedy will be producing this new Kinberg-led trilogy – was the inclusion of that note the cost of getting some information on background or something? Did the information about the project come from Kennedy? How has her involvement in the franchise gone since those most recent sequels? Just great:
Lucasfilm has several other “Star Wars” projects in the works — from filmmakers such as James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi and Donald Glover — but it’s ambiguous which of these will be the first to hit the big screen. New installments in the space opera series, from director Patty Jenkins, Marvel producer Kevin Feige, “The Last Jedi” director Rian Johnson and “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, were announced over the years but never came to fruition.
We've had more Star Wars films announced that were subsequently cancelled than Star Wars films that were actually made. To be clear, all of those should not have been made. Nor should this. But after a dry spell, we also have quite a few coming down the pike:
Disney currently has Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” a continuation of the Disney+ series about the helmet-wearing bounty hunter (played by Pedro Pascal), on the calendar for May 22, 2026, along with two untitled “Star Wars” movies set for Dec. 18, 2026, and Dec. 17, 2027.
Kinberg seems like a good fit for the franchise given his background – though it's a little weird that he's also signed up to produce a new Star Trek film at the same time – um, this is the exact same problem that Abrams ran into...
Can we please, please just hand the franchise stewardship reigns over to Feige? Getting Robert Downey Jr. back to the MCU was a worthy last mission over there. Help us, Kevin Feige, you're our only hope.
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler
M.G. Siegler