Some interesting news broke yesterday while I had disconnected from the internet that I’ve definitely been kicking around in my head. The official Star Wars site revealed that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson isn’t parting ways with the studio after finishing off that film as he’s signed on to write and direct a new trilogy of films that will be completely new and set in an unexplored corner of the Star Wars galaxy. The details are naturally a mystery and are expected to remain so for quite some time, but this shows a huge amount of faith in Johnson and a studio that must really love what he’s done with The Last Jedi to give him such an opening and sandbox to play in.
Here’s the official statement:
For director Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was just the beginning of his journey in a galaxy far, far away.
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.
As writer-director of The Last Jedi, Johnson conceived and realized a powerful film of which Lucasfilm and Disney are immensely proud. 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.
“We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.”
“We had the time of our lives collaborating with Lucasfilm and Disney on The Last Jedi,” Johnson and Bergman said in a joint statement. “Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology and we feel very lucky to have contributed to it. We can’t wait to continue with this new series of films.”
Johnson’s upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives in U.S. theaters on Dec. 15, 2017.
No release dates have been set for the new films, and no porgs were available for comment.
StarWars.com. All Star Wars, all the time.
In addition to that, the Q4 2017 earnings call went out and while we’ve known that Disney is getting their own branded streaming service in 2019 the question has been the content for it. While a lot are expecting formal Disney branding shows to arrive on there and some Marvel branded shows as well, Star Wars was the bigger question. An animated series seems a given but it was also revealed that a live-action TV show will be in the works for it as a confirmed project. But again, no details have been revealed.