As Disney Leaves Current ‘Star Wars’ Behind, New Updates Surface on Next Sequel Trilogy
Lucasfilm is in the midst of the most consequential leadership transition in its recent history, and the ripple effects are already being felt across its film slate.
For much of 2025, speculation swirled around the future of longtime Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. She addressed the chatter directly that February, telling Deadline that any restructuring was a matter of long-term planning rather than an imminent departure.
“What’s happening at Lucasfilm is I have been talking for quite some time with both Bob [Iger, former Disney CEO] and Alan [Bergman, Disney Entertainment] about what eventual succession might look like,” Kennedy said. “We have an amazing bench of people here, and we have every intention of making an announcement months or a year down the road.” At the time, she was unequivocal about staying in the filmmaking business, joking that she intended to “die” making movies.
The announcement came sooner than her comments suggested. Lucasfilm confirmed this year that Kennedy had exited the presidency, with oversight of the studio now split between Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan. Filoni has taken the creative reins, while Brennan is steering the business side of the company.
A Film Slate in Flux
The succession news arrived at a turbulent moment for Lucasfilm’s theatrical ambitions. Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu marked the studio’s return to theaters in 2026 — its first release on the big screen in nearly seven years — with Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter, led by Ryan Gosling, set to follow in May 2027. Beyond that, the runway is far less certain. James Mangold’s long-gestating “Dawn of the Jedi” and Dave Filoni’s planned Mando-Verse crossover film remain unscheduled and, by most accounts, in limbo.
The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s underwhelming box office return has only added pressure. Disney CEO Josh D’Amaro addressed the film’s performance directly on the company’s most recent quarterly earnings call, and subsequent reporting has suggested Filoni’s crossover project could be scrapped entirely — a possibility made more complicated given Filoni’s expanded responsibilities as Lucasfilm co-head.
The Trilogy Taking Priority
Amid that uncertainty, one project has consistently been described as one of Lucasfilm’s top priorities: Simon Kinberg’s new trilogy, set to follow 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Kennedy confirmed the project was moving briskly back in 2024. “We’re absolutely rolling fast and furiously,” she said at the time. “That has gone exceptionally well, and he’s literally going to script as we speak. We’ll see something probably around June.” She further described the project’s scope: “This is the next iteration, the new saga that moves us into the future,” signaling a trilogy built around largely new characters rather than legacy figures from the Skywalker Saga.
Kennedy offered a more detailed progress report in her exit interview with Deadline at the start of this year. “He’s working right now,” she said of Kinberg’s script. “He wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there. We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it’s a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in [March 2026].”
Where Rey Fits In
That update left one notable omission: any mention of Daisy Ridley’s planned “New Jedi Order” film, a gap that has since fueled speculation about its status. Reports from industry tracker Daniel Richtman indicate Ridley’s Rey remains part of the plan but may no longer be positioned as the central figure of her own film, raising the possibility that the project is being absorbed into Kinberg’s trilogy rather than developed separately. That theory gained further traction after Disney reassigned the December 2026 release date once held by Star Wars to 20th Century Studios’ Ice Age 6 (the animated movie has since shifted to a February 2027 debut).
Little concrete news has followed — until this week, when Kinberg was spotted at Skywalker Ranch. In a social media post, the writer-director shared an image of Lake Ewok, the manmade lake on the ranch grounds. Neither Kinberg nor Lucasfilm offered further comment, but the appearance suggests the trilogy remains active in some form.
Looking Ahead
With Kinberg’s project positioned as the studio’s flagship effort and Filoni now shaping Lucasfilm’s creative strategy from the top, the franchise appears headed toward a meaningfully different chapter. Whether that shift will be addressed publicly remains to be seen — attention now turns to this weekend’s Entertainment Showcase at D23 Expo in Anaheim, where it’s unclear if Lucasfilm plans to make any formal announcements regarding the future of Star Wars.
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