Right now, the future of Star Wars is worryingly hazy. Lucasfilm has a bunch of Disney Plus shows in various stages of development, with Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte, and Andor season two either shooting or in pre/post production, but news on Star Wars‘ rightful home on the silver screen is hard to come by.
We recently learned that Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron is now not moving forward, along with Kevin Feige’s project (which apparently never left the planning stages). That leaves Damon Lindelof and Taika Waititi’s untitled movies, though fans don’t seem particularly hyped for either.
But The Mandalorian co-creator Jon Favreau may know more than he’s letting on…
Jon Favreau confirms Lucasfilm is actively exploring the future of ‘Star Wars’ beyond the sequel trilogy
In an interview with Moovy TV, Favreau was quizzed about plans for post-The Rise of Skywalker story. So far, Disney and Lucasfilm have been reluctant to tell any stories set after that film wrapped up, with only the non-canon The LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special and Star Wars: Visions leaping into the future.
But Favreau said something big may be announced soon:
“Because the sequel trilogy only takes place over the course of a few years. And it’s a big thing on the screen, and it’s very eventful. But it is a relatively brief moment in history over the course of the thousands of years that Star Wars takes place. And so what happens after it is interesting too, and I know that there’s some discussion, exploration going on about what happens after it.”
This lines up with Kathleen Kennedy’s comments late last year that some projects will go “beyond the existing sequels.” Everything we’ve heard indicates that this will be Lindelof’s movie, with Waititi’s said to be a completely separate story with original characters. We can expect some sequel trilogy characters to make a comeback, though whether we’ll ever pick back up to continue Rey, Finn, and Poe’s stories remains to be seen.
The Rise of Skywalker was a crushingly disappointing end to the sequel trilogy, so we’d love to see these characters again in a movie that’s a teeny bit better thought out. Another fun option might be to leap even further into the future to a time where the name ‘Skywalker’ is just a legend.
The current canon is getting very cramped for telling new stories, so staking out a Star Wars: Legacy-style story a few hundred years on from the movies we’ve seen would let the creative teams stretch out their wings and tell new stories.
‘The Acolyte’ will arrive in a courtroom before Disney Plus
It sounds like there’s quite a bit of blood over the upcoming show The Acolyte. Deadline is reporting that former executive producer Karyn McCarthy has filed a lawsuit against Lucasfilm relating to her dismissal from the show last year. As per the documents filed. McCarthy turned down an offer from Apple TV to work on Colin Farrell’s Sugar in favor of The Acolyte, though was shown the door after only two weeks working on it. McCarthy claims that her termination was “without explanation, without reason, without justification,” with the documents saying:
“As a result of its bad faith and wrongful termination, Defendants deprived Ms. McCarthy significant employment, from which she would have earned millions of dollars over the life of the series.”
Despite that, McCarthy still expected to be compensated as per her contract with Lucasfilm film, though they came back with an offer of just $5000 for a single day’s work (which sounds pretty great to us…). Now, she’s seeking an unspecified amount of damages likely to run into the millions. So, depending on whose lawyers are better, Lucasfilm could be due a substantial bill very soon.
‘The Mandalorian’ creators break down the history of the Darksaber
We’re now two episodes into The Mandalorian‘s first season and it’s looking like the legendary Darksaber will be at the core of the story. This unique lightsaber made its debut in the show in the season one finale, was won in combat by Din Djarin in the season two finale, and is now in his arsenal. Despite his wide weapons proficiency, Din still hasn’t quite mastered using it.
It’s looking likely that the core plot of the season will see a character becoming the new Mandalore, so expect much more Darksaber action to come. But seasoned fans will know that the weapon has a long history in Star Wars, with its genesis lying with George Lucas himself.
In light of that, this quick video of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni breaking down its past appearances and why it’s so tricky to use is very welcome:
The top candidates for the next Mandalore are Din and Bo-Katan, though it might be worth putting an outside bet on Grogu somehow eventually meeting all the criteria. Could Grogu actually be the titular ‘Mandalorian’ rather than Din? With his growing skills in combat and survival, we wouldn’t put it past the cute little guy.
Before all that, there’s an ongoing debate over whether Bo-Katan now has a legitimate claim to the Darksaber after using it to save Din’s life from a creepy cyborg, so we’re expecting their uneasy partnership to turn into an outright rivalry sometime soon. But even if Din did fulfill all the criteria to be the new Mandalore, it doesn’t seem like he actually wants the job.
There’s a sucker born every minute…
And finally, the Star Wars toy that never should have been has reared its ugly head once more. A fan on Reddit has discovered an old Jar Jar Binks Tongue Sucker candy from The Phantom Menace era, which is renowned amongst fans as one of the very worst things to happen in the history of the franchise.
We included this frankly disturbing bit of tat in our ‘9 Most Embarrassing ‘Star Wars’ Things Ever Released‘ list, and still think it’s a monument to Lucasfilm’s rapacious desire to plaster every conceivable piece of merchandise, no matter how distasteful, with the Star Wars logo. Fans new to it agreed that it makes them “uncomfortable just thinking about it,” with another saying “weird fleshlight, but live your life buddy.” Thanks for the mental image, we’ll just be busy scrubbing our brains with steel wool.