The Skywalker saga came to a close with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019, but the franchise is set to continue with several new films.
The first of these will be “New Jedi Order,” a film set fifteen years later than the sequel trilogy as it follows Rey (Daisy Ridley) rebuilding the Jedi Order.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will direct that film from a script by Steven Knight, with the movie looking likely to begin filming in Spring 2024 ahead of a May 2026 release.
Speaking with Total Film (via GamesRadar) during the launch of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” this week, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy says the movie will be all about starting the “next chapter” of the franchise:
“I think what’s always great about Star Wars is it’s a big galaxy, and we’re coming off what was a major war with the First Order. And now, Rey has made a promise to Luke and that’s really the core of where we’re going and what this story will be.
I think it offers just tremendous opportunity to introduce new characters and start with something fresh, because we culminated with what George [Lucas] was creating, and now we take all of that and move it to the next chapter.”
Kennedy also teases that the film will have connections to one of the other “Star Wars” films in development right down the other end of the timeline – James Mangold’s “Dawn of the Jedi” movie, which is set 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga:
“It was something that Jim [Mangold] immediately sparked to, and I think it’s a really nice compliment to what we’re doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from. Because it will be at the heart of creating the new Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool.”
Another “Star Wars” film has been scheduled for December 18th 2026, but it’s not yet clear if that will be the Mangold movie or Dave Filoni’s Mandoverse team-up movie.
The next “Star Wars” project on the horizon is the live-action “Ahsoka” TV series, which premieres in August. A new look at the series is reportedly set to debut at the 2023 ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans, which will be live-streamed on Hulu from Friday-Sunday. Thus we may get the show’s next trailer online as early as this weekend.
