It’s unsurprising that Solo: A Star Wars Story has led Lucasfilm and Disney to reconsider their future plans for Star Wars. After all, while the ill-fated spinoff might not have killed the golden goose, it’s certainly bruised its beak a bit. Now, The Hollywood Reporter is saying that Lucasfilm are “licking their wounds,” but still forging ahead with plans for future Anthology movies. This will be good news for fans of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi, both of which have been strongly rumored to have projects in development at the studio.
But while these pics may still be in the pipeline, their development, production and release strategy could be modified in the wake of Solo. Or, as a THR insider put it, “It just means they’re trying to figure out how to make, and market, them differently.” So, while the Boba Fett spinoff still has the green light (with James Mangold set to direct), it could be a scaled down, small-scale Star Wars movie. After all, as THR says, if Han Solo can’t sustain his own film, what chance does the more obscure Fett have?
Unfortunately, the prospects for an Obi-Wan spinoff are a little dimmer. Ewan McGregor has said he’d be up for reprising the role (and I would kill to see him play the character in a decent movie), but he’s shooting Stephen King adaptation Doctor Sleep next and there haven’t been too many tangible updates on the project in recent months.
It seems that the post-mortem analysis of Solo has, according to an anonymous Disney executive, boiled down to the studio “developing anything and everything. It was a case of them stuffing so much sausage and not try to break the casing.”
So, what’s confirmed to be up next for Star Wars, then? Well, we obviously have Episode IX to look forward to next December, but aside from Rian Johnson’s standalone trilogy that’s still moving through development, along with one penned by Game of Thrones writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, we don’t know what else the future holds. Although, on the small screen, there’s the live-action TV show produced by Jon Favreau for Disney’s streaming service, which is still a go.
If you ask me, it sounds like the Star Wars sausage is already pretty stuffed. We’ve essentially got seven films in the works and a TV show. With that in mind, is it really a good idea to do this half-baked Boba Fett idea (he’s just not that interesting!), especially after we’re still reeling from Solo: A Star Wars Story? Let us know what you think in the comments section down below.