TAGGED AS: Disney, Disney Plus, Disney+ Disney Plus, movies, Star Wars, streaming
(Photo by ©Walt Disney Co./courtesy Everett Collection)
Updated: Star Wars Celebration 2023 news added
The continued success of The Mandalorian is proof that while Disney is looking to slow down its Star Wars output, the galaxy far, far away is still in good shape. Now numbering the ongoing live-action series Star Wars: Ahoska, The Mandalorian and Andor, animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, the limited Obi-Wan Kenobi and the presumably limited The Book of Boba Fett — to say nothing of the extant feature films and animated series — these programs still represent the first footfalls into a larger world of Star Wars content on Disney+. Lucasfilm stunned fans and investors in December 2020 with an ambitious plan to produce as many as 10 television series for Disney+ in the next decade. In addition to its Disney+ roster, the company also stated an intention to make at least three features by 2027. And though the schedule elongated and slowed as economic realities curbed Disney’s ambitions in 2022, there is still a fleet of new Star Wars movies and series flying our way.
Of course, fans of Star Wars media already knew the fictional galaxy could fuel hundreds of films and shows. They also hope the expansion of Star Wars content means there will be room for Jedi Knight protagonist Kyle Katarn (or occasional antagonist Mara Jade) to re-enter the canon.
And canonicity is a big deal for Star Wars. When Disney first bought Lucasfilm, they declared all previous Star Wars comics, novels, games, and cartoons (except for the long-running Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as non-canon “legends” of the Star Wars galaxy. The move was made to offer maximum freedom to the filmmakers involved in the Sequel Trilogy (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rise of Skywalker), but it didn’t take long for “Legends” characters and ideas to seep back into programs like Star Wars Rebels and The Mandalorian. And, as you will see in this guide to Star Wars’ streaming and theatrical future below, that sense of canon and continuity is as important to the galaxy as the Force itself.
Here we’ve gathered everything we know about every Star Wars movie and series coming to streaming and theaters in the next few years, and broken down how they fit into the emerging Star Wars galaxy. Tell us which new Star Wars projects you’re most excited about in the comments.
Release Date: 2023
What We Know: First revealed in the May 2022 Vanity Fair article with the codename “Grammar Rodeo,” Skeleton Crew is a series from Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts and co-writer Chris Ford with Jude Law set to star. The codename is a reference to a Simpsons episode in which Bart, Milhouse, Martin, and Nelson go on a road trip to Knoxville, but the series is described as an Amblin-style coming-of-age adventure set in the post–Return of the Jedi era. At the 2022 Star Wars Celebration, Watts offered a little more clarity about the program, saying it is a “story about a group of kids — [each] about 10 years old — from a tiny planet who get lost in the Star Wars galaxy … They’re trying to get home.”
Despite the series completing production in early 2023 — and the addition of young cast members Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, and Robert Timothy Smith — it is still unclear who Law plays, although a trailer screened at that year’s Star Wars Celebration revealed he can use the Force. Also, the Amblin style always has a sympathetic adult, a role he could fill admirably. Filoni and The Mandalorian’s Jon Favreau serve as executive producers with a roster of directors that includes David Lowery, Jake Schreier, The Daniels (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Bryce Dallas Howard, and Lee Isaac Chung. The program is intended to stream this year, but an exact date has not been revealed.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: Beyond the understanding that it will take place at the same time as Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) adventures, it is always possible the kids being assembled for the show will turn out to have Jedi potential and, possibly, find their way to Luke’s new school or, maybe, even appear as grown ups in Rey’s (Daisy Ridley) New Jedi Order (more below).
(Photo by © Lucasfilm)
Premiere Date: 2024
What We Know: The long-in-the-works project from Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland and Lucasfilm story executive Rayne Roberts will focus on a character during the final days of the High Republic — a period roughly a century before the Skywalker Saga — who comes to know “shadowy secrets and emerging Dark Side powers.” The mystery/thriller series will also reportedly feature a martial arts element, so fans of the Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi video game may finally get a chance to be recognized for their loyalty. Additionally, in May 2022, Headland said the program will answer how a Sith could infiltrate the Republic Senate without the Jedi knowing. That July, Lucasfilm finally confirmed Bodies Bodies Bodies’ Amandla Stenberg will star. In November of the same year, a fuller cast — including Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Charlie Barnett, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Carrie-Anne Moss — was announced. At one point, it seemed the series might debut in 2023, but will instead stream in 2024 as confirmed by a trailer shown exclusively to attendees of Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: The High Republic is the current focus of Lucasfilm’s publishing initiatives, so the series will presumably import some of its recently introduced novel and comic book characters to the streaming screen. Also, as the era is a fresh period in Star Wars history, it has the room to create new locales and situations free of the Skywalker Saga or even the galaxy as mapped by The Mandalorian’s Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. Also, Headland’s comments suggest a fan-favorite theory about Sheev Palpantine’s (Ian McDiarmid) predecessor, Darth Plagueis, could be in play.
(Photo by Lucasfilm Ltd.)
Premiere Date: 2024
What We Know: The animated series will return for one more season in 2023, presumably resolving its season 2 cliffhanger and ending the tale of Clone Force 99 (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker). According to an early preview shown at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, the remaining Batch members — Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo — will continue their search for Mount Tantiss and Omega (Michelle Ang), face big monsters in craters, and encounter a batch of young clones while the final season will also see a return appearance by Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). For her part, Omega will do some investigating of her own and, potentially, plot a prison break for the other clones, including prodigal Batch member Crosshair (also Baker), whether he likes it or not.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: Mount Tantiss and the Imperial research into cloning suggests the series will partially answer how the Emperor somehow survived to once again threaten the galaxy in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Beyond that, its focus on the clones following the Clone War offers a clearer perspective on why they were replaced with Stormtroopers and where they all went by the time of Luke’s adventures.
(Photo by © Lucasfilm)
Premiere Date: TBD
What We Know: As of 2020, Dear White People’s Justin Simien was developing a limited series devoted to charismatic card player and scoundrel Lando Calrissian. While it was unclear who will play the title role, a teaser video featuring Lando’s unblemished Millennium Falcon shown during the 2020 Investor Day presentation suggests it will go back to the days before he met Han Solo. During the 2022 Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed Solo: A Star Wars Story’s Donald Glover is involved and that the company was waiting for him to complete other projects before moving forward. Shortly before the 2023 Celebration, Glover confirmed he was “talking” to Lucasfilm about the project.
That July, word broke indicating Glover and his brother, Stephen Glover, would take direct creative control of Lando as its writers. Simien, as it happens, left the project sometime before the Glovers signed on — all of which occurred before the current writers and actors strikes began. Presumably, the series is in a holding pattern until those industrial actions are resolved. But, curiously, original Lando Calrissian Billy Dee Williams posted on social media later that month that “something truly magnificent is coming soon.” Signing off his post with “May the Force be with you all” left many speculating that he may appear in Lando after all. Pending strike resolutions, of course.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: A series primarily concerned with the young Lando would be less beholden to lore and, potentially, revel more in the fun of being a scoundrel. Perhaps he could even run with (or against) Star Wars animation’s favorite ne’er-do-well, Hondo Ohnaka (voiced by Jim Cummings).
Read also: The Mandalorian Season 3 Finale: A Battle Ensues During the Return to Mandalore
(Photo by © Lucasfilm Ltd.)
Premiere Date: Indefinitely Delayed
What We Know: A third series from Favreau and Filoni — the others being The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka — was meant to follow a group of New Republic soldiers in the same era as The Mandalorian. While Kennedy offered few details about this show during a Disney Investor Day presentation in December 2020, she mentioned it will cross over with other stories from The Mandalorian and Ahsoka to culminate in an “event” at some point in the future. Unfortunately, development of the program was postponed indefinitely with Kennedy telling Empire Magazine in November 2021 that some of its ideas may be absorbed into The Mandalorian. The description of the series will remain here until a Lucasfilm rep calls it completely kaput. Also, why would Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) survive his encounter with Cad Bane in The Book of Boba Fett if not to become a ranger?
In a curious twist, the culminating event will occur as Filoni’s feature film debut (more on that below).
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: As the program is the most mysterious, the crossover seems to be the most tantalizing element. Will a larger skirmish with the Imperial Remnant prove to be its focus? Also, considering the state of the galaxy in the Sequel Trilogy, did the Rangers’ mission fail? Definitely a question worth exploring.
Release Date: TBD
What We Know: An open secret in Hollywood, Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson were reportedly working on a script for two-time Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy since October 2022. The whispers became shouts when reports surfaced in March 2023 indicating the two writers were leaving the project. Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight soon emerged as their replacement. At Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023’s Lucasfilm presentation, Kennedy confirmed the project exists and that it will center on Rey’s attempts to build a new Jedi order 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
Obid-Chinoy, who claimed the 1990s Star Wars Special Editions saved her life, said, “I’ve always been attracted to the hero’s journey and the fact the world needs many more heroes. I’ve spent the better part of my life meeting real heroes who fight oppressive regimes. I am attracted to immersing myself in a new Jedi Academy with a powerful Jedi master.”
Although neither she, Ridley, nor Kennedy offered a release date, we were left to assume it will open in the 2025 calendar slot Disney held for a Star Wars feature. In subsequent months, Disney unveiled a long-term release calendar with May 22, 2026, December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027 held in reserve for Lucasfilm titles. Of course, this was before the industry strikes began, so those dates may already need rescheduling.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: The film will establish a new class of Jedi and the forward status quo for the Star Wars timeline. It is, in essence, Episode X.
Read also: Everything We Learned at Star Wars Celebration 2023: Ahsoka, Andor, and Rey’s New Jedi Order
What We Know: Long after he signed up to make a Boba Fett film, director James Mangold will finally join the pantheon of Star Wars storytellers with a film looking back into the furthest reaches of Star Wars history and focus on the first human to touch the Force 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga. According to the filmmaker, “When I first started talking to Kathy about doing one of these pictures, I thought about a biblical epic, a Ten Commandments.” Presumably that tone will give Star Wars a fresh perspective. That said, it is unclear when the film will be ready as Mangold is preparing scripts for the project and a Swamp Thing feature at Warner Bros. Also, the strikes could imperil its very existence.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: The story of the first Jedi is something teased and suggested across the years, but making a concrete tale could have wide-reaching implications in future stories.
What We Know: Where the Obid-Chinoy and Mangold films represent the future and distant past of the Star Wars timeline, Filoni will make his feature film debut with a story firmly rooted in the “present” of Star Wars — the post Return of the Jedi era he and Favreau explore on Disney+. According to Kennedy, it will be the climatic event first teased during her 2020 Disney Investor Day presentation, tying up ideas from The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and presumably Skeleton Crew with tensions between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant reaching a crisis point.
“I grew up in a time of the Original Trilogy,” Filoni added. “I grew up with the Expanded Universe. We’re drawing on a lot of things [from then] and new things that were created in the meantime to tell this epic.” Based on this and a few other teases across Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, some believe the film will adapt author Timothy Zahn’s 1990s Thrawn Trilogy. The trio of books, starting with 1991’s Heir to the Empire, introduced Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Imperial Remnant, and may other ideas now seen on The Mandalorian. But will the film actually be called Heir to the Empire? That remains to be seen.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: Beyond giving the current television shows as cinematic climax, the film will presumably also establish how the Remnant became the First Order of the Sequel Trilogy.
(Photo by Jasin Boland/©Marvel)
Release Date: TBD
What We Know: Although the industry knew about Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi’s Star Wars project for some time, Kennedy finally commented on it in December 2020, saying his approach to Star Wars will be “fresh, unexpected,” and “unique.” She also pointed to his talent — which is evident in his films — and his “sense of humor” as two strengths which will set Waititi’s project apart from other Star Wars endeavors. Meanwhile, reports indicate Waititi is in talks to star in the film as well as write and direct. Although, it seems he still needs to write the script before anything can go forward.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: It all depends on when it is set. With thousands of years of lore available to explore, Waititi could do just about anything he wants — from a story of the early hyperspace routes to a film set entirely in Ackmena’s (Beatrice Arthur) cantina from The Star Wars Holiday Special.
(Photo by David James/ © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Lucasfilm Ltd. /Courtesy Everett Collection)
Status: Not In Active Development
What We Know: First announced in 2017, Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is expected to spearhead a new trilogy sometime in the next decade — writing and directing the first film himself. Although he reaffirms his involvement every so often, the trilogy is reportedly no longer in active development. At the same time, it is said to be something both Johnson and Lucasfilm want to return to at some juncture. First, he has another Knives Out sequel to make and another season of Poker Face to produce. Kennedy also cited his schedule as a stumbling block as recently as Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: Right now, it doesn’t. It’s just an agreement to make a series of movies, and as seen with Lucasfilm’s quick decision to cancel the Star Wars Story anthology of films in wake of Solo: A Star Wars Story’s underperformance, that deal could dissolve at any moment — if it hasn’t already. See also: the company’s about-face regarding a series of films to be developed by Game of Thrones executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
(Photo by Courtesy the Everett Collection)
Release Date: TBD
What We Know: As Kennedy described at the 2020 Investor Day presentation, the only Star Wars TV movie currently on the Disney+ roster will be an “epic journey” featuring a new hero guided by Star Wars’ most famous droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. Although the Lucasfilm president was light on story details, she did mention the project will be a chance for the company’s animation and live-action special effects groups to stretch their expertise to its limits. No further concrete details have come to light since.
How It Fits Into the Emerging Star Wars Galaxy: Like Star Wars Visions, the film may also be freed from canon.
(Photo by Leon Bennett/WireImage)
Release Date: Presumably Shelved
What We Know: According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sleight director J.D. Dillard and Marvel TV writer Matt Owens (Luke Cage) were developing some sort of Star Wars project for Lucasfilm. In the years since the story first broke, though, no additional details have come to light. And even at the time of reporting, it was unclear if the project would be a Disney+ series, TV movie, or feature film. That ambiguity made it an even more tenuous project than Johnson’s trilogy. In November 2022, Dillard left the project. It is unclear if it will continue in any form.
(Photo by Clay Enos/©Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection)
Status: No Longer In Active Development
What We Know: First revealed at the 2020 Investor Day presentation, Rogue Squadron was to be directed by Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins and focus on a new generation of X-Wing pilots. In a video posted to her Twitter account, Jenkins revealed the story is personal as her father was a fighter pilot who lost his life in service to his country. She also subsequently clarified that the film will honor the Rogue Squadron video games and novels even as it flies off in its own direction. Sadly, the film was indefinitely delayed in November 2021. But in a curious note, Disney still listed its intended December 2023 release date for a surprisingly long time. Additionally, Kennedy told Vanity Fair in May 2022 that the film is still happening with Jenkins at the helm. In early 2023, the project was said to no longer be in active development, but not necessarily abandoned.
(Photo by Albert L. Ortega/WireImage)
Staus: A Genuine Mystery
What We Know: Word first broke in 2019 that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was involved in developing a Star Wars film with Kennedy. At the time, Walt Disney Studios Co-Chairman Alan Horn said “it made sense for these two extraordinary producers to work on a Star Wars film together.” In May 2022, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron told Variety that he was not only writing the film, but appreciated being unmoored from the TV shows and films. In early 2023, reports surfaced indicating the project is on indefinite hold as Disney looks to slow down development across all its divisions. During Celebration 2023, Kennedy told IGN that the project was “something announced in the press, or I suppose fandom, but there was nothing — nothing ever got developed,” adding to the mystery of a film some say is still very much in active development.
Which Star Wars projects are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.
On an Apple device? Follow Rotten Tomatoes on Apple News.
Thumbnail image: ©Lucasfilm Ltd.
