Star Wars’ journey has been quite turbulent. It has established its place in animation through shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels. Then founder George Lucas sold the company to Disney. They tried to kickstart a new trilogy. that explores the galaxy far far away after the events of Return of the Jedi. After the last entry of the new trilogy, Rise of Skywalker, was released to a mixed reception, they decided to take a step back to re-evaluate their next move. Everyone was waiting to find out what the future would hold. The franchise has started expanding more into long-term storytelling, especially after its success with The Mandalorian on Disney+ and many other shows in the pipeline.
According to the President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy, they are still planning out how they will move forward. She highlighted that they want to try and expore the 25,000 years of history in this universe. They are also not trying to be bound by one medium, as they expand their projects into books and games. Their goal is to continue what George Lucas started. One interesting thing to note is that she did point out in her interview with The Wrap:
“That’s what we’ve been doing, and we’ve been having a great deal of fun doing it, and meeting with lots of different filmmakers and talent. There’s so many fans out there and so many filmmakers that have been influenced by Star Wars for so long that it’s a fantastic opportunity to get a sense of who wants to be a part of this. So that’s what we’ve been doing.”
So far, we know that a film is in development with Taika Waititi, who also direct episodes on The Mandalorian. We are still anxious to find out what kind of story he will tell in the Star Wars universe. This also means that we might get more standalone films moving forward. There were rumblings of them potentially exploring the Old Republic to take a unique look at Jedi history. She also highlighted that TV will be an integral part for the franchise’s future.
“I do. And I’ve already seen evidence of it. The ability to be very character-driven, with extended storytelling and connected storytelling, I think this space offers us a great opportunity to do that.”
It’s an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan. There are a lot of stories to explore in the galaxy far far away. Kennedy‘s last statement also fits their current approach to the brand. We’ve mainly heard many various shows being announced, like the untitled Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi shows. They also created a spin-off from The Clone Wars titled The Bad Batch. One thing is for sure, we won’t be running out of Star Wars content anytime soon.
Source: The Wrap via Comic Book
