Lucasfilm announces 3 new Star Wars movies, including one with Daisy Ridley back as Rey
The Star Wars saga is returning to the movies.
At London’s Star Wars Celebration on Friday (Apr 14), Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that they are making not one, not two but three Star Wars features, including one with Daisy Ridley reprising her role as Rey.
The untitled feature — which is the first since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker — will pick up where Episode IX left off and focus on Rey as she builds a new Jedi Order. Pakistani filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms Marvel) is directing from a script by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders).
Another feature will hail from James Mangold (Logan, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) and is set 25,000 years before the Battle of Yavin (that’s the one where the Alliance rebels blew up the Death Star), and focuses on the origins of The Force, the mysterious energy field created by life binds the galaxy together. Sounds like a Star Wars period pic, no?
The third feature, with Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian, The Clone Wars) at the helm, will tie up the interconnected narratives that are told in the TV shows, including The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Is this Star Wars' own Avengers: Endgame?
Mind you these are just announcements. (Some of us are just jaded, can't you tell?)
We’ve been down this path before where we all got psyched by the new projects, only to be let down when they were pulled from the line-up. Remember Patty Jenkins’ Star: Wars Rogue Squadron and the Kevin Feige-produced untitled Star Wars movie? Taika Waititi, Shawn Levy and Rian Johnson are said to be developing their own Star Wars features, but so far updates from them.
More promising — and certain — are the Star Wars TV shows heading to Disney+. The convention also unveiled trailers and first-look footage of the Rosario Dawson-led Ahsoka (due in August), the Amblin-flavoured Skeleton Crew (late 2023) starring Jude Law, the female-centric thriller The Acolyte (2024), and Season 2 of Andor (2024).
Appearing in a panel to discuss The Acolyte — which chronicles the rise of the Sith during the last days of the High Republic, about 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace — creator and showrunner Lesley Headland (Russian Doll) said, “I really wanted to delve into the Star Wars universe and tell the story of this entire world that I love so much from the perspective of the villains.” Think Frozen meets Kill Bill, Headland joked.
Headland also said she drew inspiration from the movies of Akira Kurosawa (notably The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo) and Shaw Brothers wuxia flicks (King Hu’s Come Drink with Me and A Touch of Zen), the same sources that inspired franchise creator George Lucas.
Headland was joined on stage by her cast, including Amandla Stenberg, Joonas Suotamo, Manny Jacinto, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dafne Keen, and Squid Game’s Lee Jung-Jae.
Speaking through an interpreter, Lee said he plays a Jedi master on the show and it was the first time he got to touch a light sabre. “I’m still shaking from the experience,” he added.
Force to be reckoned with: The cast of The Acolyte — (from left) Lee Jung-Jae, Charlie Barnett, Rebecca Henderson, Dafne Keen, Amandla Stenberg, Leslye Headland, Manny Jacinto, Dean-Charles Chapman, Jodie Turner-Smith and Joonas Suotamo — at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 7, 2023.
Photos: TPG News/Click Photos, Jeff Spicer/Disney+
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