Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, says they are taking the time to step back from Star Wars movies to absorb what George Lucas has created.
The last Star Wars film to hit cinemas was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019 and we know that the next film won’t be coming our way until at least 2023. That’s a fair while to wait and while we do have Disney+ shows like The Mandalorian to keep us going, what is the reasoning behind the gap?
Well, Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, explained the studio’s thinking to The Wrap: “Oh yeah. It’s an ever-evolving process. You know, when I personally came into this, George had already been having conversations with his previous actors, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill — there was a saga that the fans loved and he never finished. He always talked about doing nine movies and he was ready to complete that. And so our focus had been from the beginning on finishing that saga.
“And now we’re stepping back. Stories have been told within this universe over the last 40-odd years, and there’s now the realization that this is a mythology that actually spans about 25,000 years, when you really start to look at all the different stories that have been told, whether it’s in books and games.
“We just need the time to step back and really absorb what George has created, and then start to think about where things might go. 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.”
It really sounds like they want to take their time to get the next phase in Star Wars movies absolutely right. Which certainly seems like the right approach. There is no need to rush into anything and with The Mandalorian, Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan series, for example, on the way, fans won’t exactly be starved for Star Wars content.
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It should all make the arrival of the next movie quite the event when it eventually happens.