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Somehow, Rey Returns — And Two New Directors Are Set for New Star Wars Movies

Somehow, Rey Returns — And Two New Directors Are Set for New Star Wars Movies

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Somehow, Rey Returns — And Two New Directors Are Set for New Star Wars Movies

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Published on April 7, 2023

Screenshot: Lucasfilm
Rey (Daisy Ridley) in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Screenshot: Lucasfilm

The future of Star Wars on screen is a bit more clear today, with the news coming out of Star Wars Celebration in England. The first new Star Wars film after 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker (above) will stay in the sequel trilogy timeline, following Rey (Daisy Ridley).

This is also the film set to be directed by Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy—the one that was written by Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson, but is now in the hands of Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.

What’s more, Dave Filoni (The Clone Wars) and James Mangold (Logan) are also directing Star Wars films.

According to Variety, “Mangold’s movie will go back to the dawn of the Jedi, while Filoni’s project will focus on the New Republic, and ‘close out’ the interconnected stories that are told in series including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and other Disney+ shows.”

“Close out” is an interesting way to put it, given that it seemed like the sequel trilogy era had been closed out with The Rise of Skywalker, but here we are, returning to that well! What’s more, the Rey film is said to be about her attempt to build a new Jedi Order. One hopes there are some historians around to tell her about the various things the Jedi could’ve done better over the years. (One also wonders what Finn will be up to. And Poe!)

Mangold went into a little bit of detail about what his film entails; as The Hollywood Reporter explained, “Mangold described his project as a ‘Biblical epic’ that would look at the origins of the Force and be set 25,000 years before any of the timelines and stories told by the movies and shows so far.”

As previously reported, several Star Wars films are no longer in development, including Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron and a film being developed by Kevin Feige. Still happening eventually are a film from Taika Waititi; one from Shawn Levy (Stranger Things); and, maybe, eventually, Rian Johnson’s trilogy.

No release dates have been announced for any of the three currently-in-the-works films.


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Molly Templeton

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Molly Templeton has been a bookseller, an alt-weekly editor, and assistant managing editor of Tor.com, among other things. She now lives and writes in Oregon, and spends as much time as possible in the woods.
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