The Culmination Of The 'Mandoverse' And The Return Of Rey Highlight The New Slate Of 'Star Wars' Films
Get the complete rundown as revealed at Star Wars Celebration
This was huge. The fifth and final piece of the Star Wars portion of the Lucasfilm Studio Showcase panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe on Friday was all about the films. Star Wars films? Perish the thought! After all, it’s a place where the franchise, which of course launched with a film, hadn’t been since The Rise of Skywalker ended its theatrical run in early 2020. In the three+ years since there have been several television series produced for linear and streaming and more are coming. In the last month, the journey back to the silver screen took some hits. Both Rogue Squadron and Kevin Feige’s film have been shelved. Then there’s Benoit Blanc and Poker Face keeping Rian Johnson away from whatever films he has planned. Taika Waititi still has a movie planned that may star himself. So what did the presentation entail? What does it leave the franchise with?
Kathleen Kennedy, in revealing the future of Star Wars films will be set in any of these seven eras: The Old Republic, The High Republic, Fall of the Jedi (the prequels), the Reign of the Empire, the Age of Rebellion (the original trilogy), The New Republic, the Rise of the First Order, and even beyond. But the first film announced is one directed by Dave Filoni which will be the culmination of the sphere of the franchise begun by The Mandalorian (presumed Rebels tendrils aside), so things are winding down over there, but bringing some major Disney+ cross-pollination to the big screen.
The second film will be quite the throwback. James Mangold, director of Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is directing a “biblical epic” about the first Jedi and the birth of the force inspired by Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments. He also revealed he is writing the upcoming Swamp Thing movie for the new DC Universe, and could possibly be directing it too.
Obaid-Chinoy’s film will be set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker and feature the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey as she builds a new Jedi Order. The film recently replaced Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson as its screenwriters with Steven Knight, whose credits include Spencer, the Apple TV+ series See, The Girl in the Spider’s Web and Peaky Blinders. Obaid-Chinoy, who is Pakistani and an Academy Award winner for documentary short for Saving Face and A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, is the first woman and the first person of color to direct a Star Wars movie. She also directed two episodes of Ms. Marvel. That’s right, Rey is back, and there is all sorts of possibility for her character.
Not being a new trilogy and splitting the work probably alleviates a lot of pressure and looks fun for all but these are major steps to bring Star Wars back to where it should be, balancing a film presence with its growing TV presence. As for the Studio Showcase panel, it wasn’t over. There was still one last thing from a little Indy film I mentioned earlier…
