Jon Watts Is Set To Direct A New 'Star Wars' Film Written By Simon Kinberg
A new director is about to jump into hyperspace! It’s been reported that award-winning filmmaker Jon Watts will direct the first installment of a brand new Star Wars trilogy written by Simon Kinberg! It was first reported by Caleb Williams, the Editor-in-Chief at Knight Edge Media, and later confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter.
This latest Watts-directed installment has reached the most advanced stage of development among current Star Wars projects in the works. It was first reported in 2024 that Simon Kinberg was working on a new trilogy of films as a writer. His involvement wouldn’t be confirmed until last year during Kathleen Kennedy’s exit interview with Deadline. According to Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter, Kinberg has allegedly been working on this trilogy since 2018. Over the last few years, we’ve had Star Wars films helmed by Josh Trank (Chronicle), Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel), James Mangold (Logan), and Dave Filoni (Ahsoka) be officially announced by Lucasfilm. Separate film trilogies by The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss & David Benioff were also announced in the late 2010s. A Lando Calrissian spin off film written by Donald Glover and his brother Stephen was first reported in 2023 and confirmed in 2025. Sadly these projects have fallen through due to creative differences, scheduling conflicts, labor strikes, shifting corporate priorities, bad timing, or gaining the dreaded status of being “on hold.” According to the original report from Knights Edge Media regarding Jon Watts, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey-led project is no longer in development and will likely be folded into this new film. Prominent leaker Fiveswalker (Who hinted at Watts’ involvement days before the news dropped) hinted that James Mangold and Dave Filoni’s films are no longer happening. Sources close to the writer of this article have said that Donald Glover is still actively working on his Lando film, but it has not been greenlit at this time. Lucasfilm is currently focused on post-production on Shawn Levy’s upcoming Starfighter and this new Jon Watts-helmed film.
Jon Watts launched his career directing commercials and short films, primarily as part of the filmmaking collective Waverly Films. Watts made his feature directorial debut with Clown in 2014, but it didn't receive a wide release until 2016. Clown was recently released on 4K UHD and Blu-ray. In 2015, Jon Watts helmed Cop Car, which he also wrote alongside frequent collaborator Christopher Ford. It received positive reviews from critics and was named as one of the 10 Best Independent Films of 2015 by the National Board of Review. That same year, Watts was hired to direct Spider-Man: Homecoming, which would go on to receive highly positive reviews and gross over $880.9 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing superhero film of 2017. Watts returned for Spider-Man: Far From Home, which also received positive reviews and became the first Spider-Man film to make a billion dollars. He would become the first MCU director to complete a trilogy of films with Spider-Man: No Way Home, which received critical acclaim for its acting, emotional weight, action, and Watts’ direction. No Way Home grossed $1.921 billion worldwide, becoming the first film in the pandemic era to make that much. Watts earned a Saturn Award nomination for Best Director, though lost to Matt Reeves for The Batman. He was originally set to direct The Fantastic Four: First Steps for Marvel Studios, but later dropped out due to exhaustion from superhero movies and his desire to make other projects. The first of these was the original crime film Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Most recently, Jon Watts co-created the Star Warsseries Skeleton Crew. Watts served as director alongside Star Wars veterans Bryce Dallas Howard and Lee Isaac Chung, Academy Award winners Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, former collaborator and fellow MCU filmmaker Jake Schreier, and A24 regular David Lowery. It received 17 Children's and Family Emmy Award nominations and won 4 including Outstanding Young Teen Series. Watts signed a first-look deal with Disney in 2024. He recently produced Final Destination Bloodlines which he also co-wrote the story for.
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