Remember a few months ago when Disney CEO Bob Iger said they were going to slow down the assembly line that is Star Wars? Following the divisiveness over The Last Jedi and the dismal box office performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Iger felt it was time to pump the breaks on feature film releases and get back to making them feel special again. I wonder how he feels after the reaction to The Rise of Skywalker?
A lot can change in three months though, as Lucasfilm reportedly has 14 Star Wars movies in development at the moment. Indicating that while the Skywalker saga may be over, there’s plenty of mythology left to mine.
Up first, there’s the long rumored Knights of the Old Republic trilogy with Alita: Battle Angel’s Laeta Kalogridis responsible for penning the first chapter. A High Republic trilogy is also in development, bringing the total up to 6 films that we know of. Details are scarce on the series, but it’s been said that the plot is set 400 years before the Skywalker story and focuses on a young Yoda (not Baby Yoda) going up against Darth Bane, who may or may not be played by Tom Hardy (just kidding).
Then there’s Kevin Feige’s Star Wars movie that could in fact turn into multiple films and will likely center around Ashoka Tano. For now, though, it’s only being counted as one project as the studio is reportedly unsure of how many movies Feige will end up doing for them, which brings our total up to 7.
Elsewhere, we learned this week that Disney is talking with Taiki Waititi about directing a film after his impressive work on the season finale of The Mandalorian. And speaking of which, there’s also Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau to consider. As one of the masterminds behind the inception of the MCU as well as juggernauts like The Jungle Book and The Lion King, Favreau can do no wrong at Disney and we’ve been told by our sources – the same ones who said Rey is Palpatine’s [SPOILERS] and young Luke will appear in the Obi-Wan show, both of which are now confirmed – that he’s being lined up to direct a currently unknown project for them, pushing that total to 9 now.
Then we’ve got those rumored projects for Kylo Ren and Rey, with the former reportedly getting a prequel and the latter receiving a solo outing following the events of Rise. Which would bring that number of in-development movies up to 11.
And let’s not forget about Rian Johnson’s long-in-development Star Wars trilogy. Many fans derided The Last Jedi, which may have cooled down any future projects for the director at Lucasfilm. But with the poor reception of The Rise of Skywalker in addition to the success of Knives Out, Johnson’s stock might be on the rise again, which would bring the grand total up to 14 different Star Wars films in the works.
Listen, I’m all for forging new paths within the franchise. Nine movies to tell one saga seems a bit too long and it’s certainly time to move on and rekindle fans’ exuberance for Star Wars by branching out. There are so many different directions to go in, too, and by the looks of all of these projects, Disney is in full support of creating original tales in a galaxy far, far away.
Still, all that being said, 14 movies does seem like an awful lot and obviously runs the risk of audience fatigue. Even if they’re spaced out appropriately. Of course, there’s every chance that some of these won’t end up getting off the ground, but tell us, which of the aforementioned projects are you most excited to see? As always, let us know by dropping a comment down below.
