With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker due to hit theaters in less than a month, fans are curious what Disney and Lucasfilm have in store next for the venerable series.
Will Star Wars face another hiatus, like the decades between the original trilogy and the prequels, or the prequels and the new trilogy? Will Disney push the series into a more episodic (excuse the pun) structure, with more stand-alone titles like Rogue One and Solo? Will the House of Mouse push forward with another trilogy? And what does the departure of Game of Thrones’ directors David Benioff and D.B. Weiss mean for the mysterious Star Wars film previously scheduled for 2022? Speaking to Rolling Stone last month, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy explained that Disney is right with us in wondering what comes next after Episode 9.
“No [I haven’t decided what’s next],” she answered. “We’ve got various things we’re looking at and various ways in which we can begin or not…You know, do you go back? Do you go forward?…Do we stay in this galaxy? Do we go to another?”
This lack of a clear roadmap may come as a shock to fans of Disney’s other nerd culture blockbuster series, the MCU, which has already laid out a detailed schedule for its next phase. But with Solo, the most recent Star Wars movie, releasing to an underwhelming response, critics have spent the last year and a half wondering if the MCU structure can even apply to Star Wars.
Our own review of Solo called it “minor – perhaps even disposable? – Star Wars,” but with two trilogy of extreme films behind it, the extremely good originals, and the extremely bad prequels, moviegoers may not yet know how to take “just OK” Star Wars. One way or another, up until recently, a new Star Wars movie has always been an event. Which leaves Kennedy (and Disney CEO Bob Iger) in the unenviable position of recreating that feeling on a regular basis.
It’s no surprise, then, that Disney put its “A Star Wars Story” spin-off series on hold in June of last year, after the dust had settled on Solo. But while the film series may not currently be looking to copy the MCU’s structure, it’s still taking a few key lessons on how it can apply the MCU’s success to its unique needs. First of all, by bringing in MCU talent.
Kevin Feige, head of Marvel studios, revealed this September that he is currently working on developing a Star Wars movie for Lucasfilm, coming hot off his success in working with Sony on the MCU Spider-Man films. While we know little else right now, Kennedy explained to Rolling Stone:
“Kevin’s been a huge fan of Star Wars, and he’s made that pretty clear. And when he went off [with Sony] to do a couple of the Spider-Man movies, he realized that he could kind of step in and out of what he’s doing specifically with just Marvel. He talked to us, and he talked to the studio and said, ‘You know, is there any chance I could step in and do one of the Star Wars movies?’ And I thought it was a pretty cool idea. So we’re just beginning to talk about what that might be and when that might be.”
On top of recruiting top Marvel creators, Star Wars is also aping Avengers: Endgame’s success in its lack of concern for a clearly detailed future. Talking about Endgame’s missing end-credits scene in its first theatrical release, Anthony Russo revealed:
“The reason why there’s no end credits is because our goal in this movie was simply to bring to a conclusion the 22 movies now that comprise the MCU for these 10 years of storytelling. …I think one of the great creative upsides for Joe and I, as storytellers on the movie, was that this is the first MCU movie we got to tell where we weren’t thinking about the future. We were simply thinking about the past, the journey that we’ve all been on together since that first Iron Man movie. And how do we bring the most epic sense of closure to that journey that we can possibly do?”
Essentially, The Russo brothers were able to go into Endgame with creative freedom that a strict roadmap wouldn’t allow, making for a film that took more risks and prioritized its own story over forward-thinking brand continuity. Similarly, Kennedy explained to Rolling Stone that, with The Rise of Skywalker, Lucasfilm is following the same strategy. “We know what the previous eight movies are. We know what that story is. So in this movie, we’re taking all of what’s come before, and we’re trying to find a satisfying conclusion.”
Also, despite recent lagging in the box office, Star Wars is still succeeding on the smaller screen. Season 2 of The Mandalorian is currently in development, with an Obi-Wan Kenobi show starring Ewan McGregor entering production next year. Meanwhile, video games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order are releasing to rave reviews, and Marvel’s Darth Vader comics are continually doing the same. Just as the original trilogy found success with its extended universe of novels, comics, and video games after film production ended, new distribution avenues like Disney+ might offer the same to the new trilogy.
As such, Star Wars has plenty to keep the force alive in fans’ hearts while the film series finds its own identity, taking inspiration from but separate from the MCU’s clear cut phases, and looking towards its own varied multimedia history. Regarding the challenge of following up the classic Skywalker Saga, whether by continuing it or starting with something new, Kennedy said to Rolling Stone:
“I think whatever the next movie is, and how it begins to define a new way forward, it’s something we want to take plenty of time and plenty of conversation and careful thought before deciding what we’re going to do next…The universe is never-ending.”
The specifics of Star Wars’ future is unknown, but as well know from the prequels, relying on prophecies isn’t always a good thing. Sometimes, leaving a little wiggle room allows for a more, not less, defined idea.
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