This year's WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have led to major delays for countless upcoming projects. After all, our favourite movies and TV shows can't be made without people to write them and the talented stars who bring those words to life!
We're hoping the studios will do the right thing for SAG members after reaching a new deal with the WGA, and the end does seem to be in sight.
When it comes to the three Star Wars movies announced in London this past April, though, all signs point to the Daisy Ridley-led sequel to the sequels being up first for Lucasfilm. According to StarWarsNews.net (via SFFGazette.com), the hope now is Steven Knight will have finished his latest draft of the screenplay by the end of this month/Thanksgiving. So, by Christmas, the script should be in the hands of Lucasfilm executives.
The site casts doubt on cameras rolling in London as soon as next April and suggests an August/September start date now seems more likely.
Now, about that title. Recently, there have been rumblings online it could be called Star Wars: A New Beginning. We know many of you scoffed at such a generic-sounding subtitle, but the site explains that, "Lucasfilm hasn’t decided on a title for the film yet and is more focused on getting the actual story right for now."
However, they don't think A New Beginning is totally out of the question so it may well have been written on a whiteboard somewhere in Lucasfilm's headquarters!
As for the rest of the studio's Star Wars plans, James Mangold has been hired by the studio to tell the story of the first Jedi thousands of years in the past. Another movie, this time from Dave Filoni, takes place in the same timeline as The Mandalorian for a crossover event which is expected to put Grand Admiral Thrawn front and centre.
Then, there's this Rey project, a movie taking us back to the sequel trilogy for a story set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
Ms. Marvel director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will be at the helm and, as noted, Ridley will reprise her role as Rey, now a Jedi Master looking to create a new Jedi Order while attempting to combat the dark forces that rise up to stop her. What those are remains to be seen.
Can it fix the sequel trilogy and will fans and regular moviegoers alike even want to return to this period after what happened back in 2019? Only time will tell, though we'd be lying to say we're not intrigued!
We currently expect this Star Wars movie to be released in theaters on May 22, 2026, though that may well change.