There has been a growing number of YouTube channels and websites that hellbent on pushing bogus Star Wars gossip for views/clicks. One of the biggest lies circulated from the group of butt-hurt fans known as the “fandom menace” is that Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige is being lined-up to replace Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy and that Kennedy is on the cusp of being fired by Disney (started in the wake of Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s release). This stems from a vocal minority online that have spun a narrative that Kennedy is the real problem behind every single hiccup with the Star Wars franchise, which for the most part comes off as misogynistic as a lot of the gripes have been cited as adding female leading characters and diversity being a priority. It comes off like the same group that have directed a lot of their ire towards actress Brie Larson and her Marvel movie Captain Marvel.
Well, Variety released an article recently commenting on the power structure of Disney’s various studios and specifically mentioned that Kevin Feige has “no ambition” to run Lucasfilm. This would debunk false fan speculation for another couple of months before it’s resurrected by sketchy online sources looking for attention.
After it was announced in 2019 that Feige would produce a “Star Wars” movie, there were rumors that he might assume more control of Lucasfilm. However, insiders say that Feige is fully committed with his Marvel duties and has no ambition to lead Lucasfilm or take more of a role. Few details have emerged about the “Star Wars” film he wants to make, and no production timeline has been set.
The bunk rumor was birthed from legit trade reports that Kevin is aiming to produce an untitled Star Wars film with screenwriter Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange 2, Rick & Morty) attached to work on a script. However, Feige was granted the new role of chief creative officer at Marvel by Disney. This essentially gave him full creative control of the company and allows him to oversee everything Marvel-related. With that in mind, it really wouldn’t make sense that he would throw that away to run another studio division that is making money and earning Emmy awards.
There have also been chatter among those same fans that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are looking to replace Kennedy as well. The problem with that theory is they’re way too busy producing, writing, directing and running multiple Disney+ shows to be stepping back from their current creative roles to become administrators.
As today is Star Wars day, May The 4th, I decided to rundown all the upcoming live-action projects in the works over at Lucasfilm and what we know about them.
THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT: Originally confused with the third season of The Mandalorian, the Boba Fett series will continue the adventures of Temuera Morrison’s Fett and Ming-Na Wen’s wonderful Fennec Shand. In a post-credit scene in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, the pair return to Tatooine and assassinate Bib Fortuna at Jabba’s Palace. It’s unknown officially if we’ll see Boba take a kingpin role within the criminal underworld or will be slightly more heroic.
A Boba Fett movie had been in the works with Simon Kinberg and Josh Trank, but the studio ultimately killed it and instead decided to make The Mandalorian allowing them to insert Boba Fett in the second season because of where the shows take place in the timeline.
At one time, Guillermo del Toro pitched a gangster project to Yahoo! during an interview featuring Jabba that was described as a Godfather saga in the Star Wars universe.
DEL TORO: “I would do the sort of Godfather saga that Jabba the Hutt had to go through to gain control. One, because it’s the character that looks the most like me, and I like him. I love the idea of a Hutt type of mafia, a very complex coup. I just love the character.”
It’s possible The Book of Boba Fett could end up being a revised version of that idea and we could see more of the criminal elements as The Mandalorian sort of abandoned low-level criminal threats when Grogu came into the picture and Imperial baddies became more the focus.
Producing will be Robert Rodriguez, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni. They secured Emmy-winning production designer Andrew Jones (The Mandalorian) with filming taking place in California giving them access to The Volume/StageCraft. We are hearing the producing team will also act as directors on the series as well with at least 7-episodes.
It’s seemingly set to debut on Disney+ in December.
ANDOR: A prequel to Rogue One: A Story Wars Story, the project will focus on Diego Luna’s Rebellion spy character Cassian Andor. Production had been taking place in the United Kingdom with Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Utopia, Black Mirror) taking on directing duties from Tony Gilroy after the pandemic made things difficult, who was also working on scripts. Gilroy famously was brought-on to write and direct extensive reshoots on Rogue One.
Joining Diego Luna will be Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, Dune, Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), Fiona Shaw, and Kyle Soller. However, it sounds like K-2SO won’t be appearing in the first season according to actor Alan Tudyk giving the impression that we’ll be getting a Season 2 of Andor. This was a little puzzling as he was announced as being a cast member originally alongside Luna and would suggest that his role was scaled-back in rewrites.
It’s supposed to debut on Disney+ in 2022.
OBI-WAN KENOBI: Like Boba Fett, Lucasfilm had been trying to develop a Kenobi feature film that was abandoned for a 6-episode series on Disney+ instead. The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow is directing with a crew such as cinematographer and production designer Todd Cherniawsky (Avatar, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Trek: Picard).
The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat, the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.
We’ll see at least four prequel actors return with Ewan McGregor as Ben Kenobi, Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, Joel Edgerton as Uncle Owen, and Bonnie Piesse as Aunt Beru. The show’s new additions are Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Kumail Nanjiani (Eternals), Sung Kang (F9, Tokyo Drift), O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Godzilla: King of The Monsters), Benny Safdie (Good Time), Rupert Friend, Moses Ingram, and Simone Kessell.
While Obi-Wan is known as spending most of the time between Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith and Star Wars: A New Hope wondering Tatooine as a hermit, it sounds like the series will be a little more exciting than that and we’ll see other locations. Ewan McGregor has teased extensive training for lightsaber battles which would expose himself as a Jedi Knight if he did this publicly on Tatooine and also hinted Kenobi could be going off-world.
MCGREGOR: “There’s a hunger for this character to come back. The fans have been waiting long enough, you know? We start on Tatooine, and we go on a rollicking adventure.”
We’re expecting that a young Luke Skywalker will appear in the show given the era and that his Uncle/Aunt are confirmed.
The return of Darth Vader could mean we’ll see more action sequences with the baddie or Kenobi having to tangle with Inquisitors as it could explain the training McGregor has been undergoing, unless we’ll see flashbacks to battles during the Clone Wars. In Rogue One, one of the big highlights was seeing Darth Vader unleashed against a group of Rebels and the series could give Lucasfilm an excuse to shoot another action sequences with the Sith villain.
It’s not confirmed if Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn will show up in some capacity, but Liam has revealed he would be open to return for the Disney+ series. However, the rumor of Jar Jar Binks making a return was debunked by actor Ahmed Best on Twitter.
THE MANDALORIAN – SEASON 3: The finale of Season 2 ended with uncanny valley Luke Skywalker saving the group from the Dark Trooper droids and agreed to train Grogu. We also see Din Djarin beat Moff Gideon in a duel earning the Darksaber making him the new leader of Mandalore which should develop into some conflict with Bo-Katan.
Lead actor Pedro Pascal will be busy over the summer as he’ll be playing Joel in HBO’s series adaptation of the Naughty Dog video game The Last of Us, which will be filming in Calgary, Alberta, Canada making things a little complicated if he’ll be needed on set of The Mandalorian.
I wouldn’t be shocked if the show won’t return on Disney+ until late 2022 as The Book of Boba Fett seemingly took it’s production schedule last fall.
AHSOKA: A spinoff of The Mandalorian, as revealed in Ahsoka Tano’s episode the former Jedi is searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn. While there has been plenty of fan speculation that other characters from the animation side will appear in the show that has yet to be confirmed.
After making her long awaited live-action debut in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano’s story, written by Dave Filoni, will continue in a limited series starring Rosario Dawson and executive produced by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau.
RANGERS OF THE NEW REPUBLIC: Like Ahsoka, the project takes place within the same timeline of The Mandalorian and will likely feature a handful of characters we’ve already been introduced to. Cara Dune would have been shoe-in before Lucasfilm fired Gina Carano, but we don’t know if they’ll recast the role or pivot to a new character instead.
Set within the timeline of The Mandalorian, this new live-action series from executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will intersect with future stories and culminate into a climactic story event.
I have to imagine that Bill Burr’s sharpshooter Migs Mayfeld and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s Captain Carson Teva could be part of the show’s lineup. Paul’s CBC comedy series Kim’s Convenience recently ended allowing him to commit to other shows like Rangers of The New Republic.
THE ACOLYTE: The Disney+ series from Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland is said to be taking place during The High Republic, the new era of Star Wars that will be explored heavily in new publications of both novels and comic books.
The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take the audience into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.
LANDO: Referred to as an “event series” suggesting it will be a one-off like Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lando will be developed and written by Dear White People’s Justin Simien. Justin had recently been hired to direct Disney’s new Haunted Mansion movie based on the theme park ride and it’s unclear if they’ve signed-on Donald Glover to reprise the role as he’s got a bunch of projects in the works thanks to his deal with Amazon, including a Mr. & Mrs. Smith series with Solo: A Star Wars Story co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
ROGUE SQUADRON: In December, it was officially announced that the next big movie, Rogue Squadron, is set to be released on December 2023 and will be directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman, Monster). Jenkins will be the first female director to helm a Star Wars film.
The next Star Wars feature film will be Rogue Squadron — directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman franchise). The story will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.
JENKINS: “[In the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie] we’re doing something original with great influence from the games and the books. There’s a lot of things being acknowledged and understood about the greatness of all of those things, but yes, it’s an original story and I’m so psyched to do it.”
Other feature films in the works include one from director Taika Watiti (Thor: Love & Thunder, Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Rangrok) that seemingly lost co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night In Soho) as her name was missing from Lucasfilm’s press release from December.
Rian Johnson continues to state in interviews that his original Star Wars trilogy is happening even though he recently signed-on to direct two Knives Out sequels for Netflix and is working with Natasha Lyonne on a new mystery series called Poker Face for Peacock.
Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige is also said to be producing his own feature with Michael Waldron (Rick & Morty, Loki, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness) writing it.
In 2020, it was revelaed by The Hollywood Reporter that J.D. Dillard (Devotion, Sleight) and Matt Owens (Luke Cage, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) would be co-writing a movie, but we haven’t any real updates on the project. Dillard is currently shooting the Korean War pic Devotion starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell. He was also in talks to direct a remake of The Fly.
Lastly, an unconfirmed report from BuzzFeed claimed that the studio tasked screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Altered Carbon, Shutter Island, Avatar, Ghost In The Shell, Alita: Battle Angel) to pen an adaptation of Knights of The Old Republic (a potential “trilogy”) and studio head Kathleen Kennedy confirmed to MTV News it’s an era they’ve been talking about exploring internally. I’m curious with the talk of video game remake in the works if they’ll attempt to expand upon The Old Republic in a similar manner as they are with The High Republic.
Lucasfilm and director James Mangold has added Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen to the cast of Indiana Jones 5, according to Deadline. Mikkelsen joins Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who had been announced officially by the studio.
Making the trio of leads of Indiana Jones 5 all Star Wars alumni.
The nature of his role isn’t revealed in the report. Mads has played villains in films such as Casino Roayle and Doctor Strange but has taken supporting heroic roles in things like Clash of The Titans and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if Mikkelsen is playing a rival character to Indy that is also seeking the film’s object of interest aka McGuffin.
Henry Jones Jr. aka Indiana Jones is a professor that hunts down antiquities all over the world leading to various adventures. Given Ford’s age there is expectation his action scenes will be limited and I would imagine his role in the movie could be similar to Sean Connery in Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade.
James Mangold is also writing the film after previous attempts by Jonathan Kasdan (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Willow) and David Koepp, he’s teased on Twitter that it could end up with a 1960s setting. The filmmaker’s credits include Ford v. Ferrari, Cop Land, The Wolverine, Logan, and Walk The Line. Mangold stepped in after Steven Spielberg exited the project as it’s director and George Lucas is seemingly not involved creatively.
Indiana Jones & The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull saw Soviets replacing Nazis as the franchise baddies because the timeline has moved past WWII. Indy’s war service with the allies sadly happened off-screen between The Last Crusade and Crystal Skull. Given the Cold War setting, it would make sense to potentially see the Soviets make a return.
Lucasfilm confirmed back in December the fifth installment will be the final film starring Harrison Ford and studio head Kathy Kennedy previously stated it will be a continuation, not a reboot.
Filming is set to begin this summer with a release date of July 29, 2022.
Disney and Lucasfilm has officially announced today that British actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge and composer John Williams have joined James Mangold’s untitled Indiana Jones 5. The news was first mentioned on the Indiana Jones Twitter account with a tweet that you can see below.
A new #IndianaJones adventure begins July 29, 2022. Phoebe Waller-Bridge joins the cast alongside Harrison Ford in the fifth installment of the iconic franchise. The inimitable John Williams will also return to score the film. pic.twitter.com/OrYJHNY6Ys
Phoebe is likely best known from her series Fleabag and was part of the main cast of Lucasfilm’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. She wrote on No Time To Die and is said to be also working on developing the story/script for the untitled Bond 26, the latter is expected to have a new actor in the role of James Bond. Another interesting project on the horizon is an Amazon Prime Video series reboot of Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Phoebe reuniting with Solo co-star Donald Glover, as the two will take on the roles previously played by Brad Pitt and Angelina in the Doug Liman film.
James Mangold is writing and directing Indiana Jones 5, having previously worked on the X-Men franchise with The Wolverine and Hugh Jackman’s final outing Logan. His other films such as Cop Land, Ford v Ferrari, and Walk The Line have been more grounded which would suggest he’s been brought in to help elevate the final film that will star Harrison Ford.
Details about the film or Phoebe’s role haven’t been shared by Disney. Although, director James Mangold has teased the film will take place the 1970’s.
Production is said to begin sometime this summer.
As stated in the tweet, Indiana Jones will be released on July 29, 2022 going head-to-head with Dwayne Johnson’s DC Comics film Black Adam.
Erin Kellyman is having quite the career thanks to Disney as the British actress has appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story as Enfys Nest, is currently seen playing Karli Morgenthau on Marvel’s The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, and has a lead role in the Willow sequel series at Disney+ that is filming in Wales.
The young actress is doing some press for The Falcon & The Winter Soldier when she was asked by Screen Rant about the possibility of reprising the role of Enfys Nest in a future Star Wars project. In her response, admitting she hasn’t spoken to the studio about it but would be willing to play her again.
KELLYMAN: “I would love if that was the case. I haven’t heard anything, but I would love to play Enfys Nest again. If Disney came to me and said, ‘Will you play her again?’ I would 100% do it. She was such a fun character to play.”
While the Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series takes place around the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story (follows Han Solo over multiple years), her other commitments to Willow would likely prevent her from appearing even if that was an option. However, depending when the upcoming Lando series is set within the Star Wars timeline, it could allow Kellyman to at least cameo as Nest down the road.
A much older version of the character could appear in The Mandalorian era shows on Disney+, but would likely mean they’d have to hire an older actress or keep Nest in the helmet.
We’ll have to wait and see if Lucasfilm ultimately has her return to the Star Wars universe.
Today, Lucasfilm has announced a batch of new additions to the cast of Obi-Wan Kenobi with Kumail Nanjiani, Sung Kang, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Benny Safdie, Rupert Friend, Joel Edgerton, Moses Ingram, Bonnie Piesse, and Simone Kessell. They’ll join the previously announced cast of Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, and Indira Varma.
The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat, the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.
Bonnie and Joel will be reprising their prequel roles of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, these casting announcements would confirm that the limited series will add a young Luke Skywalker. This makes perfect sense as the limited series is set 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith, also years before Star Wars: A New Hope and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Ewan McGregor has sort of hinted that we could see Ben Kenobi off-world and it’s been officially announced that Hayden will be returning to the role of Darth Vader, so the series will likely have an Imperial angle.
Ewan has confirmed the filming will take place in Los Angeles sometime in spring with Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) directing. The press release includes an update of an April production start.
The incredible cast includes Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie. pic.twitter.com/VltHs5Aw6r
In the last season of The Mandalorian, we saw Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano on a mission to find Grand Admiral Thrawn, a Legends villain that become part of Star Wars canon after appearing in Star Wars: Rebels. This leading many to assume that a live-action incarnation is likely coming in the very near future.
A big fan-cast contender has been Sherlock and Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch, who has played villains in the past such as Star Trek’s Khan in the J.J. Abrams movies, The Hobbit’s Smaug The Dragon, and Marvel Comics supervillain Dormammu in Doctor Strange.
While speaking with Collider, Benedict was asked about his interest in the hypothetical role of Thrawn but seems to be turned-off to the idea of being in a makeup chair. A grueling makeup job could easily be a reason someone might want to avoid a role like Thrawn, while others might jump at the chance.
CUMBERBATCH: “That’s a straight no from me, right now. There’s no way I want to be turned blue. I turned the air blue, very recently. No no, seriously, I have precious time with my children and I think sitting in a makeup chair and being painted blue, and the amount of time it would take to do that and then take it off at the end of the day might just… it’s not the right time in my life for that.”
Despite the tease in The Mandalorian, we still don’t know when and where Thrawn could end up appearing officially. Benedict Cumberbatch is currently shooting Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness and is also attached to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home as well.
Deadline is reporting that Castle Rock actress Ruby Cruz has replaced Cailee Spaeny in he role of Kit in the Disney+ sequel series based on the 1988 Ron Howard-directed fantasy film Willow.
The rest of the cast includes Warwick Davis reprising the role of Willow Ufgood, Erin Kellyman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) is said to be up for the role of Jade, English actress Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as Dove, and Tony Revolori from the Spider-Man films is in talks for a role.
Jonathan Entwistle, who is attached to direct the Power Rangers reboot, is set to direct the pilot after Jon M. Chu exited the fantasy series from Lucasfilm.
According to Lucasfilm, production on Willow is set to begin this March in Wales.
WILLOW – Enter the world of Willow. Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side … to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears.
The Ronin can confirm that Andrew Jones, the production designer of The Mandalorian Season 1-2 will be returning to the Star Wars universe for The Book of Boba Fett. The series is said to be currently filming in California and according to Lucasfilm/Disney, will be debut this December on Disney+.
Jones won an Emmy last year for his work on the first season of The Mandalorian.
Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Robert Rodriguez are executive producing the series that stars Tamuera Morrison as Boba Fett and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. It’s expected the trio of producers will also be directing episodes.
The Book of Boba Fett will be set within the timeline of The Mandalorian and star Temuera Morrison as the titular bounty hunter, along with Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand. Robert Rodriguez — who directed Chapter 14 of The Mandalorian, a thrilling installment that reintroduced Boba Fett to the Star Wars galaxy — joins Favreau and Dave Filoni as executive producer.
We’ll be excited to see what the cast ends up looking like.
It looks like Rian Johnson himself has revealed in a chat with Sariah Wilson with that he’s indeed still working on his new Star Wars trilogy. This comes after the December update from Lucasfilm concerning their Star Wars projects failed to give us an update on the status of Johnson’s trilogy. However, it sounds like he’s still making them but his Knives Out sequel is the priority at the moment.
WILSON: “Yes, Rian’s SW trilogy is still on. No dates or timelines because he has other projects going on, but it is happening.”
This is how Lucasfilm described the trilogy when they first announced it’s development back in 2017.
Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce.
As writer-director of The Last Jedi, Johnson conceived and realized a powerful film of which Lucasfilm and Disney are immensely proud. In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.
Concerning the feature films, if the December presentation is to be believed Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron would be the next project to go into production. While it’s a possible toss-up between Taika Waititi’s film (may have lost screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns) and this mysterious project from Rian. There have been multiple rumblings that either the studio or Johnson himself has moved on, but these have always been met with denials and this update seemingly is coming from Johnson himself. It’s worth mentioning a handful of Star Wars films haven’t reached the finish line and likely has people wondering if the trilogy will ever get made given how long ago it was announced.
The Book of Boba Fett and Andor are currently in production with Kenobi about to start filming in the late spring. Pedro Pascal might be a little busy shooting HBO’s The Last of Us and could suggest he’s been given a window to shoot something else before Season 3 of The Mandalorian beings.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see what exactly Rian is making and when that first installment will get in front of cameras.
THE RONIN 
