Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy has discussed a list of Star Wars projects as she exits her role as company president — though curiously there was no mention of the previously-announced standalone movie set to feature Rey Skywalker.
The project, revealed by Kennedy with fanfare three years ago at Star Wars Celebration 2023, is planned to feature the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker, and reveal how the character founds a new era of the Jedi Order.
Kennedy announced the project on-stage alongside Ridley and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who was confirmed to be helming the project. But in the years since — as with so many other Star Wars movies — little more has been said.
“We’re pretty far along,” Kennedy said of the slate of Star Wars films announced back in 2023. “These are things, as you can imagine, certainly looking at what Dave [Filoni]’s been doing with Ahsoka, that’ll be at least six, seven years building to what it is we’re going to be doing in a movie. As [for the project being made by] Sharmeen, we’ve been working on that for a couple years already.”
Discussing the standalone Rey movie’s plot in more detail, Kennedy described it as set 15 years after Rise of Skywalker. “We’re post-war, post-First Order, and the Jedi are in disarray, and there’s a lot of discussion around who are the Jedi, what are they doing, what’s the state of the galaxy?” Kennedy teased. “[Rey is] attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order based on the books, based on what she promised Luke.”
Of course, this isn’t the only project expected to feature Rey in the future. Lucasfilm is also incubating a new trilogy of movies from Simon Kinberg, the director behind the widely-panned X-Men movie Dark Phoenix and 2022 spy action flop The 355.
Perhaps notably, The Hollywood Reporter suggested in late 2024 that Rey’s future had subsequently become a matter of debate within Lucasfilm, as multiple projects from different directors sought to make use of the character. And while Kinberg’s trilogy was then earlier in development, it was noted that Obaid-Chinoy’s standalone movie had suffered setbacks, including the departure of writer Steven Knight.
By way of contrast, Kinberg’s trilogy was discussed again by Kennedy this week — though it too now seems to have faced upheaval.
“[Kinberg] wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there,” Kennedy told Deadline. “We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it’s a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in March.”
Once again, Kennedy referred to Kinberg’s project as a “trilogy,” though ready to film this seems not.
“Mangold’s is really on the back burner as is Soderbergh’s,” Kennedy continued, listing off other Star Wars projects that have failed to materialize. Logan director James Mangold also had his Star Wars project announced at Celebration 2023, though little is known of what it would have entailed. Steven Soderbergh’s project, meanwhile, was The Hunt for Ben Solo — a movie that was reportedly blocked from progressing by Disney president Bob Iger, to the uproar of fans. (As part of the same interview, Kennedy suggested it could still be made if someone was “willing to take a risk.”)
“I think the ones by Taika and Donald are still somewhat alive,” Kennedy continued. “That’s going to really be up to the new team to figure out.” Here, the executive is referring to Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi’s Star Wars project originally announced in 2020, and Solo star Donald Glover’s Lando project, originally discussed as far back as 2018.
Numerous other Star Wars projects have been mentioned over the past decade, including a Jabba the Hutt film from Guillermo del Toro, a Knights of the Old Republic trilogy written by Shutter Island screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, a Star Wars: TIE Fighter idea written by Luke Cage series scribe Matt Owens, and a Jedi origin movie (or perhaps full trilogy) from Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. There’s no suggestion any of these will ever be made.
Kennedy also made no mention of the Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Boba Fett crossover movie previously announced by Dave Filoni, though it’s likely Filoni himself will be the one to give an update on this as he succeeds Kennedy, and as its fate likely rests on the performance of The Mandalorian and Grogu this year.
Amid all this, only two Star Wars films have been definitively confirmed to release. The Mandalorian and Grogu launches in theaters on May 22. The Ryan Gosling-starring Star Wars: Starfighter arrives on May 28, 2027.
Image credit: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
