May the 4th Week is the perfect time to wrap our minds around the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows. The former have been a much trickier situation than the latter, with rumors flying around faster than you can say "get down, Grogu!"
Fortunately, some recent announcements have given us some clarity, and placed three big movies on the horizon in the galaxy far, far away.
Oh, and while this story covers a wide range of reportedly confirmed and shelved Star Wars movies and shows, Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi)'s return to the Star Wars world is still such a faint idea that we're not covering it below.
Without further scrolling text, let's break down all of the announced and rumored Star Wars movies, the known release dates and everything else we know.
Upcoming Star Wars movie release dates
Rogue Squadron, as you'll read about below, was once expected to come out on December 22, 2023. That movie and that date were removed from Disney's calendar of theatrical releases, leaving these two following Star Wars movie dates:
- December 19th, 2025
- December 17th, 2027
No specific films are attached to these dates.
Announced Star Wars movies
James Mangold's untitled Star Wars film ('Star Wars Zero')
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, Kathleen Kennedy announced three new live-action Star Wars films. One will come from director James Mangold (Logan, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), and it focuses on the origins of the Jedi.
Hence why Mangold referred to the film as a "Star Wars Zero" when he told Screen Rant that the film is about "The idea of where it all started. To make a Star Wars Zero, if you will. Where was the Force born? To me, a movie always has to have a question to answer. Some singular thing that you can say it's about. Not just connecting plot of who built this when and who's gonna defeat [who], but what's it about? To me, this is about this discovery."
Mangold told Empire that " takes place 25,000 years before Episode IV," and that this distance will free them up in terms of the story they tell.
The New Republic Star Wars movie
Dave Filoni (Clone Wars) will also direct one of the three recently announced Star Wars movies, and it's supposed to be the end of the stories told in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and other Disney Plus shows set in the New Republic era.
How do we know it's the end? StarWars.com's official post on the matter says it will "close out the interconnected stories told in" those shows.
This new film will focus on "the escalating war between the imperials and the fledging New Republic."
Star Wars' "Episode X"
Documentary film director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is directing a movie that we're calling Episode X, as it follows Rey (Daisy Ridley) building the "new Jedi Order." This is as close to a sequel to the Skywalker Saga as any announced title is.
Taika Waititi's Star Wars movie
In May 2020, StarWars.com announced that Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok) was going to direct a Star Wars film. He will also co-write, with screenplay help from Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917, Last Night in Soho).
Waititi, according to a March 2023 Deadline report, was still working on the script, and may star in the film.
Shawn Levy's Star Wars movie
While Disney didn't announce the new Star Wars movie from Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Deadpool 3), the director is talking about his TBA project in the Star Wars world following Deadline's report he was in talks to direct one.
In December 2022, Levy told Syfy that "We’re in pretty early development still, but my goal is to make a Star Wars movie that is like a lot of my movies, which is visual spectacle and a healthy dose of wish fulfillment, levity, and big heart."
He's really busy though, as he's also working on Stranger Things season 5.
In short: Don't expect anything any time soon.
Patty Jenkins' Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Is Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie canceled?
Back at Disney Investor Day 2020, the Star Wars landscape for the next many years was revealed, with many titles announced. Some of them, such as Star Wars: Visions and Andor, have come to fruition. Others, such as Star Wars: Ahsoka, and The Acolyte, are on the horizon.
Only one Star Wars movie, though, was announced. That was Star Wars: Rogue Squadron, and it was to be directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman). Jenkins said the movie would bear the influence of games and books that bore its name.
Then, delays pushed its production past 2022. Next, it fell off of Disney's official schedule, from its Dec. 2023 spot.
Most recently, at Star Wars Celebration 2023, Kennedy told IGN that "Rogue Squadron, that definitely is something that we still talk about," she said, though alluded that it may not return in the same way. "Whether it's a movie, or whether it ends up being in the series space, that's definitely something." So, right now, we classify Rogue Squadron as "don't hold your breath."
Damon Lindelof's Star Wars movie
What's going on with Damon Lindelof's Star Wars movie?
One of the most exciting pieces of Star Wars news this side of Mandalore arrived in 2022 when Deadline reported that Damon Lindelof (Lost, HBO's Watchmen) was "developing" a Star Wars film for Lucasfilm. That same week, Puck News' Matthew Belloni claimed that this movie was already on pace to shoot before Taika's Star Wars.
This was big news because of Lindelof's recent history including his massive home run on HBO's Watchmen and its The Leftovers series.
Sadly, that's not happening. Lindelof told Esquire that he "was in more than talks to join the Star Wars universe ... I joined the Star Wars universe and was asked to leave."
And it's not like Lindelof's script will go on without him. He told Variety that his script written with Justin Britt-Gibson (Banshee, The Strain), was a "true labor of love," and has been trashed.
Kevin Feige's Star Wars movie
Yes, even Marvel Studios exec Kevin Feige has been attached to work on a Star Wars movie. It makes sense, as Lucasfilm and Marvel are both under the Disney umbrella.
In March 2023, however, Variety reported that this film was shelved.
Upcoming Star Wars shows
Ahsoka, a live action series about Ahsoka Tano (a Jedi trained by Anakin Skywalker) debuts in August 2023 on Disney Plus. It takes place after the events of Tano's appearance in The Book of Boba Fett, and will see the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn appear in-live action for the first time. He will be played by Lars Mikkelsen, who voiced the character in the Star Wars Rebels animated series.
Skeleton Crew, starring Jude Law as a Jedi, is a live-action Star Wars series due in 2023. It's about four kids lost in space after discovering something important on their home planet. Production completed in January 2023, and it's created by Jon Watts (all of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies) and Christopher Ford (Spider-Man: Homecoming).
The Acolyte, expected in 2024, comes from Leslye Headland (Russian Doll), is a Disney Plus series taking place approximately 100 years before Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
Andor season 2 is confirmed. It will tell the second half of the radicalization of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). We expect it in summer 2024.
