Kathleen Kennedy on planning the next decade of Star Wars films

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Earlier today, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that there will be a bit of a hiatus following the release of STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER. "We have not announced any specific plans for movies thereafter," Iger said. "There are movies in development, but we have not announced them. We will take a pause, some time, and reset because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Stars Wars movies, but there will be a bit of a hiatus." As we've had four STAR WARS films in as many years, I'm definitely onboard with pumping the breaks a little.

Although STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER will bring the Skywalker saga to a conclusion, Disney still has big plans for the future of the franchise, including a trilogy of films from STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI writer/director Rian Johnson and another trilogy from Game of Thrones show-runners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. While speaking with THR during Star Wars Celebration in Chicago, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that bringing the Skywalker saga to a conclusion was always the plan and that she's looking at developing the next decade of the franchise.

We knew we were going to close this up, we knew that even before we started The Force Awakens. We are looking at the next saga. We are not just looking at another trilogy, we're really looking at the next 10 years or more. This [movie] is the culmination of the Skywalker Saga; it’s by no means the culmination of Star Wars. I’m sitting down now with Dan Weiss and David Benioff…and Rian Johnson. We’re all sitting down to talk about, where do we go next? We’ve all had conversations about what the possibilities might be, but now we’re locking it down.

Kennedy added that the big meeting between the architects of the future of the STAR WARS franchise will take place next month. The thought of new STAR WARS stories stripped away from familiar characters is quite exciting, and I can only hope that these new trilogies really will give us something new.

Although the film side of the STAR WARS franchise may be taking a breather following THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, the television side of things is gearing up in a big way. When Disney's upcoming streaming service, Disney+, finally launches on November 12, 2019, The Mandalorian will be there right off the bat. In addition to that series, we've also got a new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the way as well as an untitled ROGUE ONE prequel which will star Diego Luna as Cassian Andor and Alan Tudyk as K-2SO.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER will hit theaters on December 20, 2019.