In a brand new interview on Empire Online, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy expanded on the presentation at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 on when the next Star Wars movies are expected to arrive. She also talked about Lucasfilm’s approach to new Star Wars movies and how they need to be more of an event, rather than pushing movie after movie out every year.
Now, it’s a question of when those three upcoming movies are expected to arrive – and, as Kennedy tells Empire, that’s simply a case of when they’re ready. “I’ve often brought up Bond,” Kennedy tells us at Star Wars Celebration. “That’s every three or four years and there wasn’t this pressure to feel like you had to have a movie every year. I feel that was very important to Star Wars. We have to eventise this.” The simple answer is, nothing is likely to hit the multiplexes until at least 2025. “It’s much better to tell the truth,” she says, “that we’re going to make these movies when they’re ready to be made, and release them when they’re ready to be released.”
As for what those films are about, they’re set across a wide span of the Star Wars timeline. James Mangold is directing a film about the first Jedi and the discovery of the Force, set 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga. Dave Filoni will continue the Mando-verse era in a big-screen event. And Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will bring back Daisy Ridley as Rey, in a film set 15 years beyond the end of Episode IX. It’s all about looking into the wider lore and legacy of the Jedi belief system. “What we’re exploring is the evolution of the Jedi,” Kennedy confirms. “We’re going very far back, we’re looking at the present, and now we’re moving 15 years after The Rise Of Skywalker. The First Order has fallen, the Jedi are in chaos – there’s even a question of how many exist anymore – and Rey’s building the New Jedi Order, based on the text that she was given and that Luke imparted on her.” The Force will be felt for many years to come.
I think Lucasfilm is finally learning, or maybe they knew all the time and it was Disney they had to convince, that Star Wars movies are special, and the every three year experience might be the right way to go. As always, leave your thoughts in the comment section below. Should these movies be spaced out and be more of an event? Or should they pump them out every year or multiple times a year to appease the Disney beast?
