If you exclude the exceptional wave of success ridden by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni on Disney Plus of late, Star Wars is still in a hot mess as far as the Skywalker Saga and Lucasfilm’s plans for the future are concerned.
After the lackluster sequel trilogy came to a close with an altogether divisive Rise of Skywalker in 2019, Kathleen Kennedy and co. began laying the foundations for what would be the next chapter in the story of the galaxy far, far away. Almost three years later, we’re no closer to seeing those new visions realized than we were in 2019.
All Lucasfilm has to show for the past three years is a string of failed attempts to produce a worthy followup to the Skywalker Saga, and projects such as Rian Johnson’s planned trilogy and the canned Star Wars saga by the Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are just some of the examples that come to mind.
Now, according to a new report published by Matthew Belloni of Puck, Kennedy has been advised by the higherups to stop announcing projects before they’re an absolute certainty, “lest the ravenous nerd press pounce when those projects don’t actually happen, as is the case frequently at Lucasfilm.”
The report also claims that the new Star Wars movie being overseen by Lost and The Leftovers creator Damon Lindelof is pushing ahead and might be shooting earlier than the other serious project helmed by Taika Waititi. Still, despite their differences, it seems that Kennedy understands the next movie has to be good and innovative, rather than just okay and a rehash of everything that came before it, which is basically what Lucasfilm did with The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker.
Belloni claims Lucasfilm execs find it frustrating that the strategy shifts as often as it does, and there have been debates about whether Kennedy is the best person to steer the ship, but with the president’s portfolio, she will be around to continue doing that for a little while longer yet.