With The Mandalorian and Grogu current in post-production, we're finally getting a new Star Wars movie in theaters in 2026 (seven years after The Rise of Skywalker was released to mostly negative reviews).
The three projects announced long before that one - Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Rey movie, James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi, and Dave Filoni's crossover event - don't appear to be shaping up very fast. However, we do have another positive update on Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy's mysterious Star Wars movie.
In a new post from insider Daniel Richtman (via SFFGazette.com), it's said the plan is for Levy's movie to begin shooting in the UK later this year. Apparently, Lucasfilm and the filmmaker are "moving faster than expected," meaning this feature will likely target a 2027 debut.
It was recently reported that the untitled movie was originally going to feature Daisy Ridley as an older Rey Skywalker; we don't know whether things have changed since then, but with Obaid-Chinoy's movie - previously described as an Episode X equivalent - still in the process of being written, she may be off-limits to Levy.
Still, that certainly lends some weight to claims Rey will have a recurring presence in the next wave of Star Wars movies as Lucasfilm looks to expand the franchise into new time periods.
In other Star Wars news, we're sure you caught yesterday's reports that Natalie Portman is in talks to return as Padmé Amidala in Ahsoka season 2.
Understandably, fans of the franchise were thrilled to think that a Clone Wars flashback might reunite her with Hayden Christensen (and perhaps even Ewan McGregor) but we've been told that she's not currently in negotiations. Several other websites have also shared the same intel over the past 12 hours so, as of now, her long-awaited Star Wars return is off the table.
In 2023, Portman said, "I have no information on [a return]. No one’s ever asked me to return, but I’m open to it. It was such a big part of my life to be part of Star Wars for so many years. I made the first one when I was 16 years old and then this one I did when I was 22. It was really wild to do green screen. It felt like a very pure form of acting, actually."
"It’s like almost like when you’re a kid and you’re pretending that you know your refrigerator box is your rocket ship, you know, that you have to really not just create the world inside of you, but the world around you as well."
"It was the first time I worked digitally," she continued. "I don’t think anyone was shooting that way then. It was my first time working with a green screen. It was a whole new set of skills to pick up and a whole new world to enter."
As always, keep checking back here for updates on Star Wars as we have them.