Disney Announces Release Dates For Three New Star Wars Movies

This December’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is set to wrap up the Skywalker Saga, bringing to a close the story based around Luke and Anakin and their legacy that began in 1977. But that doesn’t mean the franchise is ending as a whole, as Disney is moving forward with many subsequent movies that’ll take the saga in brand new directions. And now we know when to expect the next trilogy.

The studio has pencilled in three release dates for a trio of new Star Wars films, with the first coming in 2022, the second in 2024 and the third in 2026. The Mouse House has also confirmed when James Cameron’s long-gestating Avatar sequels will drop – Disney now owns that franchise as well, of course, following their merger with Fox.

Here’s the press release that revealed the news:

“The updated calendar also sets release dates for major franchises Avatar and Star Wars. With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker bringing the original Skywalker Saga to its conclusion, three new as-yet-untitled Star Wars films will release on the pre-Christmas weekend every other year beginning in 2022. Four forthcoming Avatar films, expanding the vibrant world of Pandora, will release on the pre-Christmas weekend every other year beginning in 2021.”

This interchanging relay race of Star Wars and Avatar movies every December should mean that the studio owns the box office every Christmas for at least the next seven years. Well played, Disney, well played. This also means the Star Wars break that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy warned us about will only last three years.

As for what these Star Wars movies will be, well, it seems a safe bet to assume they’re Rian Johnson’s upcoming trilogy. The director’s been locked into helm one since The Last Jedi came out in 2017, a fact that’s been reiterated many times over the past little while. We’ve been told to expect his movies to be more geared towards a younger audience, while Game of Thrones‘ creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are likewise working on their own trilogy, rumored to be set in the Old Republic.

Tell us, though, are you excited for a brand new Star Wars trilogy to arrive in the next few years? Join the conversation in the comments section down below.