'Star Wars' Is Taking A Three Year Break From The Movies After 'The Rise Of Skywalker,' Sets Future Release Dates
The Walt Disney Company has just published the studio's updated release schedule, and among several other shifts and announcements, we've learned about several new Star Wars release dates. The film franchise is taking a three year break from the big screen, and you can continue reading to learn more details about Disney's upcoming trips to a galaxy far, far away.
In the wake of Solo: A Star Wars Story's relatively disappointing box office performance, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger had both previously indicated that once J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives in theaters, they were going to slow the pace of Star Wars franchise movies moving forward. Now they're following through on that promise, because according to the Disney press release, "three new as-yet-untitled Star Wars films will release on the pre-Christmas weekend every other year beginning in 2022."
We what two of those films will be. One is the first entry in a new trilogy from writer/director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), which will expand the scope of the Star Wars films beyond what we've already seen and take us to new, unexplored corners of the galaxy. Another will be the first entry in a separate trilogy, this one hailing from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Early rumors have indicated that they'll be working on a film set during The Old Republic, and at this year's Star Wars Celebration, Kennedy confirmed that she's actively developing something involving the Knights of the Old Republic, which could end up being this trilogy.
But what about that third film? Will it be the second entry in one of those respective trilogies? (It still hasn't been confirmed which one will be first out of the gate.) Or is there an entirely new film being developed that we haven't heard about yet?
Update: I suppose it's technically possible that Disney and Lucasfilm could release all three entries of one trilogy in order. Personally, I think there's no chance in hell that happens, because it would mean that one of those trilogies would have been publicly announced a year or two ago and its first entry wouldn't hit screens until after 2026. That's an insanely long time, so I'd bet large sums of money that won't happen. Our original article continues below.
"We have to be careful that there is a cadence to Star Wars that doesn't start to feel like too much," Kennedy said in a previous interview, and it certainly seems like putting a three year break between Star Wars movies on the big screen will be a way to do that. This should make Star Wars films feel special again after being seemingly inundated with them for the past several years, and I expect The Rise of Skywalker will have an even greater sense of finality now that fans know it won't be immediately followed up by a new movie. And don't forget, Disney+ shows like The Mandalorian and the Cassian Andor prequel series should be able to fill the gap for fans who are still hungry for more Star Wars content between films.