Major news for Star Wars fans here, as Lucasfilm is reportedly developing a new trilogy with Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Dark Phoenix) enlisted to write and produce all three films alongside Kathleen Kennedy.
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).
Kinberg 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.
Interestingly, Deadline believes that this new trilogy will continue the Skywalker Saga with Episodes 10, 11 and 12, but the trade does note that this intel has been disputed, and some insiders claim 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."
According to THR's follow-up report:
"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.)"
We probably won't know for sure until Disney makes the trilogy official.
We do know that Obaid-Chinoy's Rey-focused movie will be set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, so if this does turn out to be a new sequel trilogy, will Rey also be involved? The untitled project was supposed to begin production before the end of the year, but appears to have been delayed.
Star Daisy 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."
Ridley remained tight-lipped about specific plot details, but she did reveal that she did appear to confirm that the movie will be the next big-screen Star Wars project to enter production.
"I know the storyline for one film. That's not to say that that's all it is, but that's what I was told about. And I imagine it will be the next film, I think. I mean, again, I don't know, post strikes and everything, how quickly everything will start up again. But yes, so far, I know the story of one film and I think people will be very excited."
What do you make of this news? Would you be interested in a new trilogy continuing the Skywalker Saga?