Earlier this week, the (potentially) exciting news broke that Lucasfilm is developing a new Star Wars trilogy, with Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Dark Phoenix) tapped to write and produce all three films.
Deadline's report claimed that this new trilogy will continue the Skywalker Saga with Episodes 10, 11 and 12, but the trade noted that this intel has been disputed, and some insiders believe that Kinberg will "instead begin a new saga and sits alongside Star Wars percolating projects with James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi, and Donald Glover."
Sure enough, EW has now weighed-in, and they claim that "these movies will be the start of a new saga rather than the continuation of the numbered Star Wars films."
THR's report followed suit.
"The new story is not meant to be a continuation of the Skywalker Saga, the name of the overall arc of the popular and pop culture-dominating Star Wars movies known as Episodes 1 through 9. The intent here is to have brand new characters and a new story, and not have it be a continuation, according to sources. (Although that does not mean that some characters could not or would not pop up.)"
Jeff Sneider has heard differently, however.
In his latest newsletter, Sneider says that he's more inclined to side with Deadline's report, and believes that "these three films will be positioned as Episodes X, XI, and XII." He has also heard that Daisy Ridley will return as Rey, and the character will be "positioned as the Obi-Wan of the new trilogy.”
Where this would leave Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Rey-focused movie - which is expected to be set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker - is hard to say, but Sneider has heard that Lucasfilm recently hired a new writer to replace Steven Knight, which would obviously suggest that the project is still moving forward.
Ridley addressed her return as the powerful Force-wielder for the first time since Celebration during a 2023 interview with Collider.
"I was shitting myself before I went on stage, because no one knew I was going to that," she said of her surprise appearance at the Celebration panel. "No one knew I was going to Celebration, bar like Kathy [Kennedy] and there were a couple of people. I was so nervous. Oh my God. It was such a wonderful reception. I'm very excited. The story is really cool. I'm waiting to read a script because, obviously, I don't have any other updates. It's not what I expected, but I'm very excited."
Kinberg made his directorial debut with Dark Phoenix before going on to helm The 355. While these projects probably won't inspire much confidence, it's important to keep in mind that he will not be directing these new Star Wars movies (as far as we know, anyway).
The filmmaker has written and produced a number of very successful projects, including the recent Deadpool and Wolverine. As far as the Galaxy Far, Far Away goes, he has previously worked as a co-creator on the Emmy-nominated animated series Star Wars Rebels alongside Dave Filoni and Carrie Beck, and was also a consultant on Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.