The Empire Strikes Back: A New Star Wars Trilogy Is on the Horizon

It’s been seven long years since we’ve seen a Star Wars movie on the big screen. Episode IX: The Last Jedi, released in 2017 and seemingly brought the curtain down on the decades-spanning Skywalker Saga introduced by George Lucas in 1977. Since then, the Star Wars franchise has made a migration to streaming series, releasing one show after the other on Disney+ to varying levels of success and critical reception. Now, it seems like the franchise is returning to its grandiose, cinematic roots, with Simon Kinberg closing a deal with Lucasfilm to write and produce a new trilogy of Star Wars films.

And Star Wars fans are euphoric. What makes it even better is that Kinberg has already worked on a critically and commercially successful Star Wars project before, the animated series Rebels. Kinberg also has extensive credits for working on other tentpole franchises, further cementing his suitability to bring the next era of Star Wars to life. Best known for having helmed the X-Men series from the first installment up to Logan, he also helped develop the Sherlock Holmes franchise, starring Robert Downey Jr. More recently, he served as the producer for the first two Deadpool films, and was the executive producer for this year’s superhero blockbuster hit, Deadpool & Wolverine.

It remains to be seen what direction the trilogy developed by Kinberg will choose. Sources from Lucasfilm say this will be the launch of a new Star Wars saga, leaving the Skywalker clan in peace, at last! There’s no shortage of storytelling opportunities in the Star Wars universe, which spans multiple eras and millennia. 

Perhaps the Force is with Star Wars fans, because Kinberg’s new trilogy isn’t the only treat in store for them. Despite canceled projects like the proposed trilogy helmed by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, it feels like Lucasfilm is pumping out plans for new Star Wars projects faster than a Kaminoan cloning factory. 

There is also Jon Favreau’s upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu, Dave Filoni’s untitled conclusion to the Mandoverse, and other tantalizing projects with talented directors like Taika Waititi and Patty Jenkins waiting for development. So polish your lightsabers and air out those Jedi robes, because there’s going to be plenty of reasons to wear them to the theater in the coming year or so!