Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Trilogy Isn’t Dead, But Could Be A Long Ways Away

There’s been a lot of discussion about Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy over the past few years, ever since the news that he was developing his own trio of movies came out alongside the release of his debut directorial effort in the saga, the famously divisive The Last Jedi. Various rumors have said that it’s not happening, but Johnson himself has always stressed that it is. The latest word on the matter agrees with him, though fans should be prepared to wait for it.

LRM Online is reporting that the Knives Out filmmaker is indeed still working on his trilogy, though it’s only in the early development stages, which makes sense as we know that Johnson is focusing on making a sequel to his aforementioned crime thriller first. Lucasfilm has got a vague release plan for the first installment in his series, though, as LRM writes that the studio intends to drop it in theaters after Taika Waititi’s standalone pic.

Now, it’s known that Waititi’s movie is being eyed for a 2024 release. So, this tells us that Johnson’s trilogy won’t kick off until 2025 at the earliest. That’s a whole five years away, and eight since The Last Jedi came out. That’s a pretty big wait, then. Still, it lines up with comments from Disney and Lucasfilm execs that they think it’s best for the Star Wars franchise to be rested on the big screen for the next few years. There are no films coming in 2021 or 2022 either, remember.

Apparently, Johnson’s trilogy will focus on the next generation after the Sequel Trilogy characters, including the Force-sensitive broom boy from TLJ. And maybe even Rey’s evil daughter. Fans always assumed the director was playing the long game with some of those plot threads in Episode VIII, after all, and it would indeed be a very long game if we have to wait until 2025 or later for his return to the Star Wars saga.