Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy went public in a recent interview with Deadline to clear up recent rumors that she would be retiring this year. But the interview touched on far more than just her future, venturing into the future of the Star Wars franchise.
The next theatrical Star Wars movie will be, as we have known, Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian & Grogu, which Kennedy is producing. But she mentioned that work on that finishes up, Shawn Levy’s movie is next. She did not directly state that it would be the next film released, but the fact that it will be the next movie to move into production makes that seem likely. That would also line up with reports that suggested production was significantly speeding up due to the fact that Ryan Gosling is going to star in it. Getting an A-lister like Gosling attached to the project made Lucasfilm accelerate the schedule, so Kennedy’s statements are in line with that.
What was even more telling is that Kennedy gave a few hints as to what to expect from the movie. It’s set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, as a standalone story that will be set “maybe five or six years out”. Additionally, Kennedy shared that this era is one that they’re focused on quite a bit at the moment, and that while Levy’s movie is “all pretty much new characters”, they might bring some characters back from the sequel trilogy.
I’m guessing that we’ll learn more at Star Wars Celebration in April, especially since Levy’s movie will be moving along in production so soon. The whole post-sequel trilogy timeline seems to be a significant focus with several different projects being planned for the era, so I’m really excited to see how it all ties together.
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