Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 is in full swing, and fans old and new of George Lucas’ historic sci-fi mythos are eating about as well as they could hope — with sneak peeks of the second season of Andor, a brand new trailer for the live-action Ahsoka series, and a rather ominous teaser for the tail-end of season three of The Mandalorian, there’s been lots to chew on so far.
Perhaps the big marquee announcement, however, was the reveal of three brand new live-action Star Wars films in development, each of them bolstered by a powerhouse director. But what exactly might these films entail, and who’s going to be behind the camera for each of them? Here’s everything you need to know about the three live-action Star Wars films announced at SWCE 2023.
James Mangold will helm the story of the first Jedi
James Mangold, whose directorial credits include such works as Logan, Ford v Ferrari, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is set to spearhead a film that takes place during the dawn of the Jedi, predating the Old Republic era, which itself takes place thousands of years before the events of A New Hope.
Perhaps fittingly, the film has been described as a “biblical epic,” and we can’t wait to see what Mangold ends up crafting here.
Dave Filoni is bringing Disney Plus to the big screen
The second announced director for Star Wars‘ next feature-length endeavor is Dave Filoni, an already-prolific figure in the Star Wars sphere thanks to his involvement in such works as The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch, The Clone Wars, and Rebels.
His presence in the Star Wars Disney Plus library will translate to his film quite significantly; Filoni’s movie will be set during the New Republic and is said to wrap up the interconnected stories of a multitude of Disney Plus shows, including the aforementioned Mandalorian, as well as The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka.
Rey’s return will be spearheaded by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
The third live-action film announced at SWCE will be set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, and will see Daisy Ridley reprise her role of Rey Skywalker. Following the Resistance’s victory against the First Order, the film will follow Rey as she seeks to rebuild the Jedi Order under the watchful gaze of Luke and Leia’s Force ghosts.
Helming this film will be the Academy Award-winning Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, whose film Saving Face, a short documentary about acid attacks on women in Pakistan, won her the aforementioned honor in the Best Documentary Short Film category.
Elsewhere, Obaid-Chinoy directed two episodes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Disney Plus series Ms. Marvel, specifically “Seeing Red” and “Time and Again,” which each hold a 100 and 95 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively.
