Following this year’s release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, the Star Wars franchise will be back on the big screen next year with Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter. A new trilogy of movies is separately in the works, and the first installment has officially found its director.
Per THR, it has been revealed that Spider-Man franchise director Jon Watts will direct the first entry of a new Star Wars trilogy written by Simon Kinberg (Dark Phoenix). Watts previously co-created the Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, which was released in 2024. He also directed two episodes of the series. The filmmaker is best known for helming the first three Spider-Man movies starring Tom Holland, each of which grew progressively bigger at the box office.
Jon Watts Takes the Helm for Episode X
The new trilogy has been in development since 2024, when Kinberg started writing the trio of scripts. While specific story details are not yet known, it’s intended to serve as the next chapter of the “Skywalker Saga,” serving as Episode X. Daisy Ridley is expected to appear as Rey Skywalker in “some capacity” in the new trilogy. This is separate from another Star Wars movie in early development from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, which would be primarily following Rey. That film is not yet dated.
“It’s not even a dream come true—I couldn’t have dreamed it,” Kinberg previously said about taking on the project, via Nerdtropolis. “Just to be told there’d be more movies would have been unbelievable. To be allowed on the set of any of them was already a dream. My enthusiasm only grows with working on and around it.”
He added, “There’s a ton of wildly talented folks that want to do great work. I was super inspired and just sort of awestruck by what Tony Gilroy did with Andor. I thought that was about as good of science fiction storytelling as you can do in any franchise.”
Stars Wars Returns to Theaters in 2027
Jon Favreau directed the most recent Star Wars film, which was this year’s The Mandalorian and Grogu. It served as a feature film continuation of The Mandalorian and its spinoffs on Disney+. While it had been seven years since a Star Wars movie played in theaters, The Mandalorian and Grogu underwhelmed at the box office, making around $346 million worldwide, a tremendous drop compared to The Rise of Skywalker making over $1 billion. However, the film became a big streaming hit when it landed on Disney+.
Star Wars: Starfighter is bringing the franchise back to the big screen next year when it releases on May 28, 2027. Directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), it is a standalone story set about five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. Ryan Gosling stars as Kade Auberon, a cynical rogue with a mysterious past who goes on a dangerous adventure across the galaxy with a young companion (Flynn Gray). Mia Goth, Matt Smith, Amy Adams, and Aaron Pierre also star.
