Post-Celebration Breakdown: What Wasn't Discussed

Star Wars

Apr 28

Star Wars Celebration Japan brought quite a few (surprising) announcements:

Shawn Levy's movie not only got a title (Starfighter) and the confirmation that Ryan Gosling will be the main lead but also a release date (28.05.2027).

On the animation front, (Darth) Maul will get his own series (Shadow Lord), set shortly before the events of A New Hope, there will be a spin-off of Star Wars: Visions called The Ninth Jedi, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures will receive a third season, and last year's LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy gets a sequel this fall (Pieces of the Past).

RELATED:

Featured

Jon Favreau Still Has 'The Mandalorian' Season 4 On His Desk

This is in addition to the already known and confirmed projects, The Mandalorian and Grogu, Visions: Volume 3, and the second season of Ahsoka.

Additionally, Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that the following projects are still in active development:

Rey's New Jedi Order film: The project got a new writer with George Nolfi a few months back and is still helmed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

Simon Kinberg's Star Wars trilogy: Not much is known about this project other than that Kinberg will write and produce all three movies, that they will take place some time after the Sequel Trilogy, and probably feature some characters from Episodes VII to IX.

James Manglold's Dawn of the Jedi movie: Announced back in 2023, the director of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is still working on a script about the origins of the Jedi Order.

Dave Filoni's Mandoverse movie: Dubbed as a kind of Avengers-style culmination of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, this movie will likely focus on the final battle between the New Republic and the forces of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Taika Waititi's Star Wars film: Perhaps the biggest surprise was that this film is still in development: the project has been in an off-and-on-again state since its announcement a few years back, with Waititi publicly stating that his film will probably upset many Star Wars fans and that he is still willing to do it if he finds the time to come up with a compelling story. Kennedy is obviously willing to wait for him.

Still, there are some projects that Lucasfilm has announced over the years that were not even mentioned during the most recent Star Wars Celebration:

Star Wars: Rouge Squadron

Image Source: IMDB

Revealed in December 2020 and accompanied by a teaser video of director Patty Jenkins rollerskating towards a life-size X-Wing, things got sour when Wonder Woman 84 struggled at the box office.

The film, which was initially set to be released in December 2023, would focus on a group of Rebel Alliance/New Republic pilots after the fall of the Empire and would honor events and characters from the beloved Expanded Universe novels of the same title.

The film got delayed due to "creative differences" and was ultimately removed from Disney's release schedule.

Then, in March 2024, Jenkins announced that she had signed a new contract with Lucasfilm and now owned the company a script.

While Kennedy had confirmed at Star Wars Celebration 2023 that Lucasfilm was internally discussing the movie, it is curious that it was not mentioned in Tokyo at all and that Jekins had not posted any update on the progress of her script.

Lando

Lando was announced as one of the upcoming Star Wars projects at Disney's Investor Day in 2020 as a new show for Disney+.

Set to be written by Justin Simien, the project went dormant for roughly 2.5 years until Simien was out, and Donald Glover and his brother Stephen would act as writers and showrunners for the series, with Donald set to reprise his role from the Solo movie.

In September 2024, Lucasfilm confirmed that Lando would no longer be a series but a movie and that Glover was still attached to the project. Not much has happened since then other than that the Atlanta star confirmed that he wanted the movie to be more fun and less serious than other Star Wars movies.

All this hints that the Lando movie will finally happen, although it might take some time until the famous smuggler returns to the big screen.

A Droid Story

Also announced in December 2020, this show, set to be created by Lucasfilm Animation and Industrial Light and Magic, would focus on a new droid character that was guided by C-3PO and R2-D2 on an "epic story".

The project received its last update in February 2021, as being still in development.

More than four years later, it seems more and more dubious that A Droid Story will finally see the light of day.

Rangers of the New Republic

Another announcement from the 2020 Investor's Day, this Disney+ series was set to be part of the Mandoverse and a spin-off of The Mandalorian. Led by Gina Carano's Cara Dune, the project got in trouble when the actress was fired by Disney after posting some controversial tweets. For some time, there were rumors that other characters, like Hera Syndulla or Carson Teva, could become the leads of the new show, but in November 2021, Kennedy confirmed that the company had abandoned the project.

And with Carano currently suing Disney to receive compensation for the cancelation of the show, it is all but certain that Rangers of the New Republic will never happen.

Rian Johnson's Star Wars Trilogy

Even before the release of The Last Jedi, Lucasfilm confirmed that Johnson would write and direct three films set in the Star Wars galaxy, but aside from the main Skywalker saga.

When Episode VIII led to a huge divide in Star Wars fandom, the project turned into another off-and-on-sgain undertaking, with Johnson repeatedly saying that he would get to make the films eventually if he could find the time and Kennedy confirming that they were still willing to work with Johnson again.

As of now, the continuously very busy Johnson is still a persona-non-grata for many Star Wars fans, and with Lucasfilm working on a number of new films to be released in the coming years, it is more and more unlikely that Johnson's trilogy will ever get made.

READ NEXT:

Featured