Out with the old and in with the new?
That was seemingly the bold mission statement from Lucasfilm and Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi), who recently agreed to terms to launch a fourth Star Wars trilogy beyond 2019. Exactly what that new adventure will entail is up for debate at this early, early stage, though we have learned that Johnson is unlikely to helm all three instalments – he’s still in charge of script duties, mind you, and it seems the filmmaker has ostensibly been given free rein by Kathleen Kennedy.
In theory, that original story, one described as a big, three-part saga, ought to be teeming with new characters, but when Yahoo Movies quizzed Rian Johnson about the possibility of welcoming some old faces back to the fray, the director responded as so:
I’m just starting to think about it, and get into, so who knows? I want to keep it just totally wide open in terms of possibilities. That’s what’s so exciting about it right now, just the notion of one story, three movies, the sky’s the limit. We can really do anything. The possibilities are thrilling.
Yahoo then pressed Johnson about one character, in particular: Jar Jar Binks, the Naboo outcast first introduced in The Phantom Menace all those years ago. The following comments from the director were clearly made in jest, but imagine a Wrestler-styled where the sole focus is Jar Jar. Imagine.
I would be down with bringing old Jar Jar back — we’ll see. What if it was just in the style of The Wrestler except it was Jar Jar? We’d shoot it in black and white.
No firm release dates have been given to Rian Johnson’s embryonic Star Wars trilogy, though one would assume those films will start falling into place soon after 2019. Indeed, if Lucasfilm’s current release schedule is anything to go by, that trilogy may well debut in 2020, with a sequel releasing every other year (i.e. 2022, 2024). Closer to home, The Last Jedi opens December 15th.
