While fans are gearing up for next month’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, there’s also a lot of mystery surrounding the future of the franchise following the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga. At one stage, it looked like Lucasfilm were spoilt for choice when it came to upcoming projects, but recently, their plans seem to have taken a hit. However, things are looking up as an official announcement about the next Star Wars movie is said to be on the horizon.
The Hollywood Reporter has just shared an in-depth profile on Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. As part of their article, the trade touches on what’s next for the franchise and drops the bombshell that there’s a film locked in for 2022 and we’ll find out what it is and who’ll direct it in a couple of months’ time in January.
Here’s the relevant passage:
“Sources say Kennedy has a film on deck for 2022, but not the one being developed by The Last Jedi filmmaker Rian Johnson. (No announcement is planned until January.) Kennedy’s contract is up in 2021, so whether she will be on the job when this film is completed is not clear.”
Last month, Game of Thrones creators Benioff and Weiss backed out of their planned trilogy to focus on their Netflix commitments. Following that, there was an expectation that Rian Johnson’s own trilogy would be bumped up to take their place. However, We Got This Covered has previously reported that Johnson’s movies may also end up on the scrapheap, which THR’s intel seems to support.
The Star Wars projects we know are still going ahead include Kevin Feige’s standalone film, which he’ll produce in addition to his ever-growing Marvel Studios duties, and the Knights of the Old Republic movies. Screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis has already been hired to pen the script for the first one. Whichever film’s coming out in 2022 though, at least two more are set to follow in 2024 and 2026.
