An unreliable rumor had made the rounds online that actor Pedro Pascal had a dust-up with producers over wearing the helmet on The Mandalorian and led to even more dubious claims that episodes would be reshot possibly with a new actor. All of this seems to have been debunked thanks to the episodes themselves but Pascal added his own two-cents while appearing on BBC’s The One Show to promote Wonder Woman 1984.
“That is not true, actually,” Pascal said. “It’s a really wonderful way of telling the story. It’s always been a very clear creed for the character, and the collaborative process of the whole thing has been, we’ve all been on the same page with this, I think. So I, you know, what I want is for them to make the best show possible, however they get that done.”
After the announcements from Lucasfilm that new Disney+ series Rangers of The New Republic and Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka would be set within the timeline of The Mandalorian there had been assumptions that Pascal could do crossovers. A brief comment from the actor to Comic Book suggests he’s at least open to the idea.
“Man, fingers crossed. How could you not?,” Pedro says. “This is like, this is something that’s so much bigger than all of us, and we’re all a passenger to it in a great way. And so, I find out, as it is decided and shared.”
This Friday will see the final episode of Season 2 and could inform us what to expect in Season 3.
It was exciting to learn last week during the Lucasfilm presentation, at Disney Investor Day, that Patty Jenkins would become the first female director to tackle a Star Wars film with Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and she’s given a little more insight to what they’re planning to do with the sci-fi adventure 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.
Patty spoke exclusively with IGN and revealed while Rogue Squadron will be an original project rather than a direct adaptation of existing stories within the Star Wars universe, but will still have “great influence” from the games and books.
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.”
It’s not shocking the studio is looking to focus on pilots as the best scenes from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi were the spectacular space battles enhanced by modern special effects.
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron will be released on December 22nd, 2023 and will likely between shooting sometime in 2022.
I’ll be keeping my fingers-crossed that Patty and Lucasfilm will consider adding Legends pilot Dash Rendar aka Rogue Twelve for the new film.
The X-Wing pilot book series had 10 installments which consists of the following titles:
Rogue Squadron (1996), Wedge’s Gamble (1996), The Krytos Trap (1996), The Bacta War (1997) -Wraith Squadron (1998), Iron Fist (1998), Solo Command (1999), Isard’s Revenge (1999), Starfighters of Adumar (1999), and Mercy Kill (2012).
The run of video games included Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998), Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001), and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (2003).
Earlier in the year, Lucasfilm and EA released the video game Star Wars: Squadron.
The Obi-Wan Kenobi series will be directed by Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) officially takes places 10 years after the events of Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith as announced by Lucasfilm during the Disney Investor Day presentation last week.
Kenobi actor Ewan McGregor made some interesting comments (spotted by The Playlist) on the upcoming Star Wars project which might hint that the limited series may actually leave Tatooine for off-world adventures.
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.”
What this could mean is pretty vague as some fans believe that we might get to see some gritty flashbacks to battles during the Clone Wars as General Kenobi giving more of a war-like edge to the prequels or possibly Obi-Wan reflecting on past adventures as a Jedi Knight. Also, it’s possible something else could drag Kenobi off-world like fellow Jedi in distress and during the development of the Sequel Trilogy there was chatter that Rey might have ended up part of the Kenobi family, something that could be explored in this project.
It’s worth mentioning that Hayden Christiensen is confirmed to reprise the role of Darth Vader in the series and having him arrive on Tatooine wouldn’t make a lot of sense as he simply arriving on the planet could sense a young Luke Skywalker’s presence. Then again, he had multiple interactions with Princess Leia without discovering she was his daughter. Having whatever interactions off-world with Obi-Wan Kenobi or through the force could be a better explanation of his involvement. Darth Vader is also under the impression his children died in childbirth and the Empire is possibly only seeking out former Jedi to kill them.
Having off-world adventures might be one of the ways to keep Luke Skywalker’s location on Tatooine kept a secret along with the knowledge that the Jed Knight is using the alias Ben Kenobi while hiding out on the planet or even there to begin with.
Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that production would begin this March and that Andor is already three weeks into it’s UK production.
There are plenty of fans that are praying that the limited series could be the perfect excuse to bring in Legends characters such as Galen Marek aka Starkiller, a powerful character from the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video games played by actor Sam Witwer (The Mist) that happened to be Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. He was slightly referenced in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story via Mads Mikkelsen’s character Galen Erso and before that with Starkiller Base in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens. However, since he’s a Legends character he can be retrofitted to become whatever a specific project needs him to be and may simply turn Marek into one of the many force-sensitive Inquisitors that are tasked to hunt-down and kill Jedi for the Empire as seen in Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
The Mandalorian has established that most characters aren’t off the table for live-action adaptations as Legends character Grand Admiral Thrawn was repurposed for Star Wars: Rebels and a live-action version could show up on the Ahsoka series after being teased in Season 2 of The Mandalorian.
A release date for Obi-Wan Kenobi hasn’t been announced but sometime in 2022 wouldn’t be shocking that Andor is aiming for a release in 2022.
On Thursday we got a massive amount of information all at once and one of the big highlights was all the Star Wars updates from Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy. The news included brand new films and television shows along with the official return of prequel actor Hayden Christiensen in the role of Darth Vader.
Here is a rundown of the big news revealed at the event by Kennedy and Lucasfilm.
ROGUE SQUADRON – 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.
I’ll be hopeful that Legends pilot Dash Rendar from Star Wars: Shadows of The Empire is considered for the project given he used the call-sign Rogue Twelve and can finally join Star Wars canon.
Rogue Squadron is set for release on December 22, 2023.
KENNEDY: “Patty has established herself as one of the top directors working in the film industry today. She’s a visionary who knows how to strike the balance between action and heart, and I can’t wait to see what she does in the Star Wars galaxy.”
JENKINS: “It’s been a lifelong dream as a filmmaker to one day make a great fighter pilot film. As the daughter of a great fighter pilot myself, some of the best memories of my life are of seeing my father’s squadron take off in their F4s every morning, and hearing and feeling the awe-inspiring power and grace. When he passed away in service to this country it ignited a burning desire to one day channel all of those emotions into one great film. When the perfect story arrived in combination with another true love of mine, the incomparable world of Star Wars, I knew I’d finally found my next film. I’m extremely honored and excited to take it on, and grateful to Lucasfilm, Disney, and the fans for extending that thrill to me.”
OBI-WAN KENOBI –Ewan McGregor returns in the iconic role of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi for a special event series on Disney+. Officially titled Obi-Wan Kenobi, the series begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where he faced his greatest defeat, the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader. The series is directed by Deborah Chow, who helmed memorable episodes of The Mandalorian,Season 1, and features the return of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader.
Despite previous rumblings of filming starting next month, Kennedy confirmed it won’t begin until March.
CHRISTIENSEN: “It was such an incredible journey playing Anakin Skywalker. Of course, Anakin and Obi-Wan weren’t on the greatest of terms when we last saw them… It will be interesting to see what an amazing director like Deborah Chow has in store for us all. I’m excited to work with Ewan again. It feels good to be back.”
AHSOKA – 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.
After appearing in The Mandalorian, she revealed a search for Star Wars: Rebels villain Grand Admiral Thrawn and this likely means he could be part of show alongside the return of characters like Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger. We wouldn’t be shocked if Filoni ends up directing the bulk of the episodes.
ANDOR –Andor, a tense nail-biting spy thriller created by Tony Gilroy, is set to arrive on Disney+ in 2022. Diego Luna, reprising the role of rebel spy Cassian Andor from Rogue One, will be joined by a fantastic new cast that includes Stellan Skarsgard, Adria Arjona, FionaShaw, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, and Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. Production kicked off three weeks ago in London.
They showed a sizzle reel that had behind the scenes footage and concept artwork.
THE ACOLYTE – Leslye Headland, Emmy Award-nominated creator of the mind-bending series Russian Doll, brings a new Star Wars series to Disney+ with The Acolyte. 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.
I’ll be keeping my fingers-crossed that this potential Sith-focused series with a female lead means we’ll finally be getting Darth Talon or reason to include a version of her.
LANDO – Everyone’s favorite scoundrel Lando Calrissian will return in a brand-new event series for Disney+. Justin Simien, creator of the critically-acclaimed Dear White Peopleand a huge Star Warsfan, is developing the story.
Kathleen Kennedy stopped short from confirming the return of Donald Glover.
A Legends character like Mara Jade could be an interesting addition for the Lando series as before she joined the Empire she was smuggler.
RANGERS OF THE NEW REPUBLIC – 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.
TAIKA WAITITI’S UNTITLED STAR WARS MOVIE – A brand-new Star Wars feature with acclaimed filmmaker and Academy Award-winner Taika Waititi is in development.
KENNEDY: “Taika’s approach to Star Wars will be fresh, unexpected, and…unique. His enormous talent and sense of humor will ensure that audiences are in for an unforgettable ride.”
Although, it was noticeable that co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns is absent from the update, despite being mentioned in the original announcement.
Taika begins shooting Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder next month in Australia.
THE BAD BATCH – The series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.
They dropped a sizzle reel for the upcoming Disney+ series.
STAR WARS: VISIONS– Presenting all-new, creative takes on the galaxy far, far away, Star Wars: Visions will be a series of animated short films celebrating Star Wars through the lens of the world’s best anime creators. The anthology collection will bring 10 fantastic visions from several of the leading Japanese anime studios, offering a fresh and diverse cultural perspective to Star Wars.
STAR WARS: A DROID STORY –As Lucasfilm continues to develop new stories, the intersection of animation and visual effects offers new opportunities to explore. Lucasfilm Animation will be teaming up with Lucasfilm’s visual effects team, Industrial Light & Magic, to develop a special Star Wars adventure for Disney+, A Droid Story. This epic journey will introduce us to a new hero, guided by legendary duo R2-D2 and C-3PO.
The craziest part is that they’re developing even more projects that they didn’t announce or give updates for such as Rian Johnson‘s all-new trilogy.
We’ve already heard from Deadline that Disney’s Investor Day 2020 event tomorrow will reveal a wave of new film/television projects from Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.
The New York Times is echoing this sentiment and adds the following concerning potential Star Wars announcements.
A significant expansion of the Star Wars universe.
Neither outlet are ready to give out specifics on what the announcements will be but there are plenty of candidates are known and unknown. We have a better idea what the Marvel Studios announcements will look like as a bunch of the films haven’t been announced officially.
The main thing I’m expecting is Lucasfilm to announce the next wave of Star Wars shows for Disney+ which should include the Boba Fett series that Deadline reported is already filming. I’m sure fans are keeping their fingers-crossed that Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan will get their own spinoffs.
We still have two more episodes of The Mandalorian left and Jon Favreau confirmed they’re trying to get production started on Season 3 as soon as possible.
Deadline reports that Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley is negotiations with Disney+ to play Trudy Ederle in an upcoming drama from director Joaquim Ronning, who previously worked with Disney for Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Disney+ is negotiating for Daisy Ridley to star and Joaquim Ronning to direct Young Woman And The Sea, a Jeff Nathanson-scripted drama based on the book by Glenn Stout that chronicles the daring journey of the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel. Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle made the 21 mile swim in 1926.
The daughter of a German butcher from Manhattan, Ederle was a competitive swimmer, who won gold in the 1924 Olympics when she decided to attempt crossing the channel. She undertook the feat after first swimming 22 miles from Battery Park in New York to Sandy Hook, NJ, setting a record that stood for 81 years. She contracted with two newspapers and sold her story, thereby financing her quest. There was actually a race among women who would be first to cross as only five men had done so before.
Daisy Ridley is coming off making three massive Star Wars movies for Disney, she also has a Lionsgate film titled Chaos Walking co-starring Tom Holland. Disney+ is expected to have many more original films developed for the streaming service and picking-up more dramatic features might be an attempt to attract an older demographic.
Last Friday, we finally got to see the true return of Boba Fett thanks to The Mandalorian episode directed by Robert Rodriguez, which saw Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison inhabit the role and give him a coolness factor he didn’t get with the original trilogy as he was a much more effective warrior.
The Maori actor talked to The New York Times about how he added his culture to the role and played super coy about reprising the Boba Fett anytime soon despite reports from Deadline that a project is currently filming focused the bounty hunter.
MORRISON: “I come from the Maori nation of New Zealand, the Indigenous people — we’re the Down Under Polynesians — and I wanted to bring that kind of spirit and energy, which we call wairua. I’ve been trained in my cultural dance, which we call the haka. I’ve also been trained in some of our weapons, so that’s how I was able to manipulate some of the weapons in my fight scenes and work with the gaffi stick, which my character has.”
MORRISON: “I’m just going to have to wait and see. I think a lot of it depends on how things go with this season, but I don’t really know. I wanted to bring everything I had to that [episode] and give them a glimmer of what I can offer. There’s room for this to go someplace. I hope I’m going to be included.”
Boba Fett mentions in the episode that his father Jango Fett was a foundling that eventually fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars, re-establishing the pair as “real Mandalorians” after it had been alluded that the pair were grifters pretending to be Mandalorians. The image upgrade could have something to do with this Boba Fett project that is apparently shooting but it remains to be seen where in the Star Wars timeline the show will take place.
In a report from Deadline, Mike Fleming claims that Disney will make announcements at Investor Day 2020 on December 10th concerning new projects (theatrical films and television) from Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, and Pixar.
Details aren’t mentioned or what those “new” projects will be.
Disney on December 10 will announce its upcoming slate. While the studio will solidify what Deadline revealed recently – that the Tom Hanks-starrer Pinocchio, Peter Pan and the Emma Stone-starrer Cruella will bypass movie theaters to become Disney+ releases, the studio will also announce new projects from Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar that will encompass TV as well as theatrical. It will be a gesture toward not abandoning the exhibitors.
Fans will be curious to hear if Disney will attempt a similar day-and-day model that was recently announced by WarnerMedia for their entire 2021 film slate, as delayed Marvel films such as Black Widow and Shang-Chi could be part of that hypothetical announcement seeing large theatrical films landing on Disney+.
Collider recently suggested that Disney might be considering merging Disney+ and mature content from Hulu into a single service, another big update from Disney that could be announced (if true) at Investor Day this week.
Kevin Feige would likely confirm castings concerning Oscar Isaac as Moon Knight and Tatiana Maslany as She-Hulk. A Nick Fury series was announced to be in develop, which we assume will star Samuel L. Jackson and possibly include Skrulls/S.W.O.R.D. but that would need to be confirmed. They could also announce their plans for an MCU reboot of Fantastic Four on the film side or updates concerning things we know are happening officially like Ant-Man 3, Captain Marvel 2, Black Panther 2, Deadpool 3 and Blade.
Concerning Lucasfilm, we know that Star Wars shows such as Boba Fett, Cassian Andor, Kenobi, The Mandalorian (Season 3), and a series coming from Leslye Headland are in varying stages of prep/production. There are a couple of films in development from Taika Waititi and Rian Johnson as well.
They’re also about to begin shooting their Willow sequel series in Wales with director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and we might finally get a concrete update on James Mangold’s Indiana Jones 5.
Hopefully, we get some new details on December 10th and we’re not hearing new information for projects already made known.
While George Lucas has been hands-off with the franchise since selling it to Disney back in 2012, fans have sort of wondered what the reasoning was behind handing over the franchise to Disney beyond the billions they gave him.
Author Paul Duncan has posted on Twitter an excerpt from his new book The Star Wars Archives Episodes I-III giving some insight, in the pages he asks George Lucas why he ultimately sold the rights to Disney and stepped away from making the Sequel Trilogy himself. Lucas’ answer seems to be more about having free time and not having to spend the next decade working on film trilogy.
DUNCAN: I wonder why you passed control of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012?
LUCAS: “At that time I was starting the next trilogy; I talked to the actors and I was starting to gear up. I was also about to have a daughter with my wife. It takes 10 years to make a trilogy, Episodes I to III took from 1995 to 2005.”
“I was 69. So the question was am I going to keep doing this the rest of my life? Do I want to go through this again? Finally, I decided I’d rather raise my daughter and enjoy life for a while.”
“I’m one of those micromanager guys and I can’t help it. So I figured I would forgo that, enjoy what I had, and I was looking forward to raising my daughter. Also, I wanted to build a museum, which I’d always wanted to do, so I was thinking ‘if I don’t do this now, I’ll never get that done’.”
“I’ve spent my life creating Star Wars, 40 years, and giving it up was very, very painful. But it was the right thing to do. I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else. Things don’t always work out the way you want it. Life is like that.”
Lucas previously dished to Duncan about what some of his ideas for the new trilogy were that didn’t ultimately get used by Disney including the villains and how the Luke would started a new wave of Jedi with help from the survivors of Order 66.
With the second season of The Mandalorian winding-down, we won’t likely have any new live-action Star Wars until possibly next fall. So, I figured I would give a rundown of what other live-action projects are in the works from Disney+ shows to feature films in various stages of development.
BOBA FETT SERIES: Deadline reported last month that a secret Boba Fett project for Disney+ had begun shooting without mentioning who exactly was starring, writing or directing the thing. We can only assume with Temuera Morrison now firmly in the role for The Mandalorian that this might be the incarnation that this new project tackles.
I have my own speculation that this might actually end up being Season 3 of The Mandalorian given the lack of information on who is working on it and the proximity of when Jon Favreau wanted to start shooting Season 3. While Lucasfilm can be sneaky, this would be the first time they’ve started filming a Star Wars project without us knowing who was at least writing and directing it.
At one time, Josh Trank and Simon Kinberg were developing a Boba Fett movie but the project ultimate didn’t come together after hiccups between the two making Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot. There had even been rumors that James Mangold was in talks to resurrect the series but quickly shot that down along with his involvement with Season 2 of The Mandlorian.
CASSIAN ANDOR PREQUEL SERIES: Diego Luna recently confirmed to Jimmy Kimmel that his Rogue One prequel series focusing on Cassian Andor and K-2SO has already started shooting in London with director Toby Haynes (Black Mirror). Haynes stepped in for Tony Gilroy, who may still end up directing an episode.
The cast for the Star Wars series includes Luna, Alan Tudyk, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kyle Soller. Andor will skew more in the spy genre and might continue the tone established in Rogue One.
DEBORAH CHOW’SKENOBI SERIES: Ewan McGregor is officially reprising the Obi-Wan Kenobi role but as we all know uses the name Ben Kenobi while hiding out on Tatooine and overseeing the protection of Darth Vader’s son Luke Skywalker from the Empire. Lucasfilm revealed via a franchise timeline that Kenobi will take place around the time of the Corellia scenes in Solo: A Star Wars Story. The series will be directed by Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) and there are assumptions that Joel Edgerton will return to the role of Uncle Owen along with a new actor playing a young Luke Skywalker. It’s unconfirmed if we’ll be seeing flashbacks to the Clone Wars or if Kenobi will ever go off-world at any point.
Casting announcements should be incoming shortly.
Filming according to Ewan McGregor is expected to take place this March. The locations are said to be Pinewood Studios UK and Boston, England as the Pinewood facility will have their own Volume/StageCraft which has been used frequently on The Mandalorian.
THE MANDALORIAN: A third season of The Mandalorian is expected to begin shooting at some point after there was word from showrunner and producer Jon Favreau they hoped to get filming started before the end of 2020. We had heard that Jon is expected to direct at least one episode in Season 3.
It’s also possible we could see spinoff series focusing on Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan and Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano. Those have yet to be announced despite the fan assumptions.
LESLYE HEADLAND’SMYSTERY STAR WARS SERIES: Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) is officially working on a new female-centric Star Wars series that according to Deadline would include martial arts elements and take place at a different point in the Star Wars timeline.
Adding to the confusion is the fact that Disney+ is developing a female-centered Star Wars series, written and showrun by Leslye Headland, believed to be a female-driven action thriller with martial arts elements and set in an alternate timeline from the usual Star Wars universe. The rumored spinoff is said to be separate from this Star Wars project but the situation is fluid.
There has been plenty of speculation of what the show could be or who it could focus on but no details have been confirmed by Lucasfilm or Disney.
I’m sure we’ll learn more about the series soon.
RIAN JOHNSON’S BRAND-NEW STAR WARS TRILOGY: Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson has been developing his own original trilogy for the studio but looks to be more focused on his Knives Out sequel at the moment. There haven’t been much in the way of details concerning Johnson’s project but is expected to take place in another era of Star Wars with new characters. Also, there had been some talk that while Rian would oversee all three films he likely wouldn’t end up directing all them.
Here is how the official press release described the trilogy.
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…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.
Johnson has also dismissed multiple claims he’s exited.
TAIKA WAITITI’S STAR WARS MOVIE: After dismissing reports of his involvement, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi was officially announced for an upcoming theatrical Star Wars film with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night in Soho) co-writing the script. This news wasn’t terribly shocking after Kathleen Kennedy suggested wanting to work with him. Taika later getting his feet wet working on Season 1 of The Mandalorian as both director and voicing the bounty hunter droid IG-11.
The Kiwi director is going to be a little busy as he’ll start shooting Marvel’s Thor: Love & Thunder soon in Sydney, Australia.
JEDI ORIGIN TRILOGY: According to Variety back in October 2019, the Game of Thrones showrunners, D.B Weiss and David Benioff, had been developing a trilogy of films that would have explored the origins of the Jedi.
Benioff and Weiss had ambitious plans to take the “Star Wars” universe in a new direction, one that would exist apart from the Skywalker family saga that comprised the franchise’s centerpiece nine-film series. The Star Wars period the pair was interested in exploring was how the Jedi came to exist. However, Lucasfilm executives and the creators begin to see their visions for the films diverge during meetings last summer.
This would have likely taken place way before eras like the Skywalker Saga, The High Republic or even The Old Republic.
However, the pair left Lucasfilm for a rather pricey deal with Netflix which seemingly squashed the project for the foreseeable future. There are new rumblings online that this project might get resurrected but it’s unofficial for the moment.
THE OLD REPUBLIC TRILOGY:BuzzFeed had once reported that Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Ghost In The Shell, Altered Carbon, Shutter Island) was developing a Knights of The Old Republic film that could eventually become it’s own trilogy.
A movie based on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic — the beloved video game first released in 2003 — is currently being written by Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Shutter Island) for Lucasfilm, three sources close to the project told BuzzFeed News.
Kalogridis is close to finishing the first script of a potential KOTOR trilogy, according to the three sources.
While this was never confirmed, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy teased they’ve had internal discussions about projects in that era during a chat with MTV back in April 2019.
MTV: Knights of The Old Republic, a lot of fans wanna see that, is there any development of that?
KENNEDY: “You know, we talk about that all the time. Yes, we are developing something to look at. Right now, I have no idea where things might fall..”
There is also a film project that would see Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige get involved as a producer but there next zero official information about what and when that would be. I have to assume it’s either something already mentioned like Taika’s film or something that hasn’t been made public.
I’m sure with Disney keen to get more originals for Disney+ that we’ll likely hear about more live-action Star Wars shows in the near future.
THE RONIN 