Lucasfilm currently has a number of Star Wars projects in various stages of development, with The Mandalorian & Grogu recently wrapping filming, a Rey movie (or several?) in the works, and more. One of the movies that has been publicaly announced will be directed by James Mangold and about the dawn of the Jedi.
Speaking with Deadline, Mangold said that he and co-writer Beau Willimon are in the process of writing it currently. “My partner and I have been writing it”, Mangold said. “I don’t know what’s next because we haven’t gotten to the end of that process. We’re trying to finish a draft.”
Mangold previously worked with Lucasfilm as the director and writer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, while Willimon worked with Lucasfilm on seasons one and two of Andor (writing one arc in each season). They’re now teaming up to develop a script for a Star Wars movie, and in the midst of it currently. It has been thought in the film industry that Mangold would turn his attention to this film once he finished work on A Complete Unknown, which premieres later this month, so if that’s the case we’ll probably be hearing more about this movie before long.
Though “Dawn of the Jedi” is not yet an official title, it has been used to describe the film since it was first announced at Star Wars Celebration in 2023. The movie will be set 25,000 years prior to the Skywalker Saga and explore the origins of the Force and the Jedi. “When I first started talking to Kathy [Kennedy] about doing one of these pictures, what occurred to me was thinking about what kind of genre of movie within Star Wars I wanted to do,” Mangold said when the project was first announced. “And I thought about a biblical epic, like a Ten Commandments, about the dawning of the Force. Where did the Force come from, when did we discover it, when did we learn how to use it?”
That’s a really fascinating concept for a Star Wars movie, and I’m especially excited to see such a different period of time and a whole new story with brand new characters – yet tying in to the established stories in a significant way as an origin story of sorts. It sounds terrific, and I’m excited to learn more in the coming months and years.
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