Star Wars is really going through it right now. Or really, has been going through it ever since The Rise of Skywalker kicked off a strange period for the franchise that has seen it completely retreat from theaters, find success in streaming TV, and make new attempts to rebolster the cinematic side of the galaxy far, far away that have repeatedly been hit by fizzled-out developments and project setbacks.
The latest attempt by Lucasfilm to expand the Star Wars franchise this week came with the revelation of a whole new trilogy of films—but years of doubts over many announced or rumored projects across film and TV ever materializing have engendered a deep skepticism among Star Wars fans that even news of an entire new saga isn’t exactly trusted. So what is and isn’t happening in Star Wars these days? We’re here to help.
Over the past five years, we’ve seen a litany of projects across film and television at Lucasfilm wind up and wind down, and while Star Wars‘ streaming TV rise has led to actual new material releasing, its cinematic aspirations have largely stayed in the realm of the hypothetical. Clearly, with this week’s news, Lucasfilm at least is committing to changing that, even as years of rumors and announcements have led to very little to show of that commitment so far. So, what’s alive, what’s dead, what’s… maybe in the realm of Star Wars canonical film and TV future? Here’s everything we know is up in the air (or dead in the ground) right now.
The Mandalorian & Grogu
Currently the only upcoming Star Wars movie project members of the public have actually seen footage of since 2019 thanks to D23 this past summer, this continuation of The Mandalorian TV series is directed by Jon Favreau, and will set the stage for developments in the post-Return of the Jedi, pre-Force Awakens timeline that will be picked up by other projects set in and around the “Mandoverse.” It’s currently scheduled for a May 22, 2026 release date.
Skeleton Crew
We’re now less than a month from the next live-action Star Wars TV show: Jon Watts and Christopher Ford’s adventure series, which is also set in the same approximate time frame as The Mandalorian. It follows a group of young kids discovering a starship and getting themselves whisked away from their homeworld, and needing a little help from Jude Law to get back. It hits Disney+ December 3, 2024.
Ahsoka Season 2
Officially confirmed just a few months after season one came to a close, the continuation of the Ahsoka Tano standalone series (née spiritual successor to Star Wars Rebels) will also set the stage for other events in the Mandoverse. We recently learned from star Natasha Liu Bordizzo that the series is not expected to enter production until summer 2025.
Andor Season 2
The second and final season of what is arguably the best thing to come out of the last half-decade of Star Wars was originally expected to release in summer 2024, but with final production impacted by the Hollywood strikes last year, and other scheduling concerns, Tony Gilroy’s political insurgency thriller was pushed into 2025. As Bix said in the season finale: Cassian will find us.
Simon Kinberg’s Trilogy
This was literally revealed yesterday. Sources close to production told io9 in the wake of the news that this new trio of movies is in the very earliest stages of development, is designed to begin a “new saga,” and will sit alongside the myriad other projects currently in development.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s New Jedi Order Film
One of three films announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s film will see Daisy Ridley reprise her role as Rey Skywalker, now a Jedi Master, after the events of The Rise of Skywalker—the first and currently only project set after that film.
Originally set to be the next film to enter production before the announcement of The Mandalorian & Grogu, it is expected to start up sometime in the next few years. The film did recently lose its second screenwriter, Steven Knight, who replaced original writing team Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson.
Dave Filoni’s Imperial Remnant vs. New Republic Film
Another of those Celebration Europe announcements, this film (Dave Filoni’s cinematic directorial debut) is the project that other entries in the Mandoverse are building towards. Widely rumored to be titled Heir to the Empire as a nod to Timothy Zahn’s beloved trilogy of Expanded Universe novels, the film will pit Grand Admiral Thrawn’s remnant Empire against the nascent New Republic explored in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. This film will likely release at some point after Ahsoka season two.
James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi Film
The final Celebration Europe film announcement, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold’s film will be set in a “new” time period, hundreds of thousands of years before the Skywalker Saga, to explore the origins of the first people to wield the Force.
“What I really wanted to do, what I told her, was just can we make a kind of the Ten Commandments of the Force, you know?” Mangold told io9 last year about the film. “A kind of origin story of how the Force came to be known, understood, wielded, and harnessed.”
Donald Glover’s Lando Film
Originally revealed as a TV series from Justin Simien, Solo star Donald Glover and his brother Stephen took over the project in July 2023, which was then confirmed to now be a film in September of that year. Recently, Glover described the project to the Wall Street Journal as one in which he wants to strike a joyous tone, in contrast to the gravity of the Skywalker saga.
Animation
Although we do not have definitive confirmations of either continuations or cancellations of these projects, we do know there are several Star Wars animated projects that could continue, including non-canonical standalones like anthology series Star Wars Visions or the Lego Star Wars specials, or ongoing but not yet officially confirmed series, like the kid-friendly Young Jedi Adventures or the Tales of anthologies.
We also know that Lucasfilm recently began staffing up for a new, undisclosed animated project, which will potentially be the next major animated Star Wars series after the conclusion of The Bad Batch earlier this year.
While these specific projects have not been officially scrapped, we’ve also not really heard much about them outside of reporting that they exist in some form of development.
Taika Waititi’s Film
This long-in-gestation project, first revealed in 2020, would see the Thor: Ragnarok and Love & Thunder director co-write alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns and potentially star. It’s survived several rounds of Star Wars project trimmings, with our last update coming from Disney CEO Bob Iger re-affirming its active existence in March 2023.
Shawn Levy’s Film
A more recent addition to the Star Wars slate, reports first attached the Deadpool & Wolverine director to the galaxy far, far away in late 2022. Levy would go on to say he had an “idea” for the film, but forward momentum had been blunted by the arrival of the SAG-AFTRA and writers’ strikes in summer 2023.
Rian Johnson’s Trilogy
The longest project in gestation, it was announced just before the release of The Last Jedi that Rian Johnson would return to Star Wars with his own trilogy of films, but ever since reaction to that film essentially kicked off the cultural and political moment we now live in, Lucasfilm and Johnson have stayed relatively quiet. But they haven’t explicitly scrapped it either: Johnson has instead gone off to work on other projects like Poker Face and his Knives Out series at Netflix, while regularly reminding us that he would still like to do more Star Wars eventually. Again, Iger mentioned the trilogy as in active existence during that March 2023 update, so keep the faith, Last Jedi fans.
Patty Jenkin’s Rogue Squadron
Now here’s a weird one. As was first confirmed at a Disney investor meeting in 2020, Wonder Woman‘s Patty Jenkins was tapped to direct a movie centering around the legendary X-Wing fighter squadron. But within a couple of years the film was beset with delays and removed from Disney’s schedule, as Jenkins continued to push back against rumors of the film’s cancellation. It was previously reported that Rogue Squadron had been scrapped alongside other projects in March 2023, but just a week later Jenkins insisted she was still back on board the film. We’ve heard nothing since.
The Mandalorian Season 4
The runaway success of Star Wars‘ streaming era hit rough ground in its third season critically, but many had assumed that it would continue regardless until the announcement of The Mandalorian & Grogu earlier this year, with series co-creator Jon Favreau actively discussing its writing process last year. However, after the film’s reveal in January 2024, sources close to production informed io9 that nothing had been set in stone about a continuation of the series after the The Mandalorian & Grogu.
The Book of Boba Fett Season 2
The Mandalorian spinoff (and occasionally just a straight up multiple episodes of The Mandalorian regardless) Book of Boba Fett concluded in 2023, and while no active announcement of either a continuation or cancellation has been confirmed, star Temuera Morrison has kept his options open for a return to the series. More recently, however, he’s cast doubts on its likeliness.
Obi-Wan Kenobi Season 2
The limited series, starring Ewan McGregor as the famed Jedi Master, concluded with a not-quite-definitive end in June 2022, and while Lucasfilm has insisted that right now it plans to keep the show as a limited series—and potentially return to Obi-Wan in other avenues—this by no means has stopped McGregor from regularly checking in to remind the world that he’d quite like Obi-Wan Kenobi season two to happen eventually.
Kevin Feige’s Film
There had been conversations about Marvel Studios architect Kevin Feige heading to Star Wars for several years, but after reports indicated that the film was being scrapped from development, Feige himself flatly confirmed its death in November 2023. That also means, as they’d previously mentioned themselves, Avengers directorial duo Anthony and Joe Russo are no longer loosely connected to directing a Star Wars movie, either. Not like they’re busy or anything.
Guillermo del Toro’s Film
Perhaps the most fleeting of all Star Wars projects, we only heard about this one after it was already dead: Pacific Rim director Guillermo del Toro revealed he had been working on a Star Wars film in September 2023, based off a script from his long time collaborator David Goyer. Del Toro eventually revealed that the film was going to center around the rise and eventual fall of Jabba the Hutt.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ Trilogy
The first high profile victim of Lucasfilm’s announce-and-scrap limbo, the Game of Thrones directors were first revealed as potential helmers of a new trilogy of Star Wars movies in 2018, before it met its untimely end a year later. The project was purportedly going to be about exploring the origins of the Jedi Order, and Benioff and Weiss would go on to state that a lack of appetite in telling that story at Lucasfilm was why the trilogy was canned. Definitely not because anyone at the studio saw how Game of Thrones ended, probably.
The Acolyte
Star Wars‘ most recent TV series—examining the moral decline of the Jedi Order and the rise of the dark side a hundred years before The Phantom Menace—met a shocking end just months after its debut season wrapped up with a pretty major series of open plot threads that are now left unresolved. Whether or not those threads will be picked up in other mediums or other series remains to be seen: Lucasfilm has remained pretty silent about The Acolyte since news of its cancellation.
Rangers of the New Republic
Announced in 2020 alongside Rogue Squadron and Ahsoka, this series was intended to potentially star Gina Carano’s Madalorian character Cara Dune, navigating the law enforcement of the galaxy after the events of Return of the Jedi. But Lucasfilm then hastily cut ties with Carano in 2021 after a series of controversial public statements about covid-19 vaccination and the perceived persecution of conservatives, leaving the series dead in the water, before the studio eventually acknowledged that the show was barely even in an early stage of development before that decision already.
However, Carano, backed by financial support from Elon Musk, is currently suing Disney for wrongful termination with the hope of the studio being forced to see her return to Star Wars in some capacity. Disney has failed several times to get the case dismissed, which is now expected to go to trial unless a settlement is reached.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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