Some big Star Wars news was reported today, as Deadline’s Mike Fleming Jr. broke the news that Simon Kinberg has been hired by Lucasfilm to write and produce a new Star Wars trilogy.
Kinberg adds that he has heard the movies will be episodes 10-12 of the Skywalker Saga, which obviously would be pretty massive news, if true. But he notes in the report that others have disputed that, and it seems the other trades are leaning into the latter. In their own report on the news, The Hollywood Reporter directly states that it is not meant to be episodes 10-12, but rather will “have brand new characters and a new story, and not have it be a continuation”. Variety noted that Lucasfilm has disputed Deadline’s original report, suggesting rather that this will be a new trilogy of films and not a continuation of the original saga.
Whatever the case may be, Kinberg is not a newcomer to the Star Wars franchise. He co-created and executive produced Star Wars Rebels with Dave Filoni, a series I still consider to be the best in the franchise. Kinberg also wrote several episodes of the series, including some of the best like “Spark of Rebellion”, “Fire Across the Galaxy”, “Twilight of the Apprentice” (co-written with Filoni and Steven Melching), and “Family Reunion – and Farewell” (co-written with Filoni, Henry Gilroy, Kiri Hart, and Melching). He has been rumored to be attached to various Star Wars writing film projects over the years that haven’t seemed to materialize, but now it appears Lucasfilm is moving forward with Kinberg helming a new trilogy. That will bring him back in partnership with Dave Filoni, Executive Vice President / Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm.
Kinberg has also worked on plenty of other projects, notably writing and producing a number of X-Men films and producing The Martian. He will be the key creative behidn this new Star Wars trilogy, writing the movies – which will, ideally, provide a more coherent voice throughout the three films. He will also produce, though it sounds like others will direct the movies under Kinberg’s general leadership. Kinberg will produce the films alongside Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy.
It’s unlikely that we will see these movies anytime soon, and as such (especially given the poor track record of reported projects actually getting made) it’s hard to get too excited at this point. But it’s great that Lucasfilm is moving forward with plans like this, especially in giving a singular voice oversight of a trilogy of movies. This joins several other theatrical projects in the works, including The Mandalorian & Grogu (directed by Jon Favreau), a Mandalorian movie directed by Dave Filoni, a Rey film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and a movie about the origins of the Jedi directed by James Mangold.
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