Though the November launch of the Disney Plus streaming service will see an aggressive push by the Walt Disney Company to bring the Star Wars franchise to the small screen in live action, with The Mandalorian and Rogue One spinoff, CEO Bob Iger signaled this week that the movies are on hold for the foreseeable future.
After the Thursday announcement of Disney Plus, Iger told Bloomberg Television that there were no specific plans for movies after Star Wars: Episode IX, though a number of unannounced films were in development.
“We will take a pause, some time, and reset,” he said, “because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Star Wars movies, but there will be a bit of a hiatus.”
Star Wars: Episode IX, set for release on Dec. 20, 2019, completes an arc that began with George Lucas’ original Star Wars film in 1977. Where the mega-franchise could go next is the great unknown, but Lucasfilm has given some hints. The formal plans include a new series from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who will carve out their own Star Wars mythology in what’s expected to be a set of films.
“David and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today,” Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said in February 2018. “Their command of complex characters, depth of story and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push Star Wars in ways I find incredibly exciting.”
Also on the slate is a trilogy of films written and directed by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson. When news broke in November 2017, just before the release of Johnson’s Last Jedi, Lucasfilm emphasized a disconnect from the familiar arc.
“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,” said Lucasfilm and Disney in a news release at the time.
The meager box office of last year’s Solo: A Star Wars Story seems to have dampened Lucasfilm’s original plans for a run of spinoff movies. Those spinoffs, which began with 2016’s Rogue One, were rumored to include an Obi-Wan stand-alone movie directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours) and a Boba Fett spinoff from Logan writer-director James Mangold. While either project could still be in active development, neither has been formally announced, as the Johnson or Benioff and Weiss projects have. Despite setting up a sequel, a second Han Solo movie has also not been suggested as a direction for the franchise.
The Mandalorian, which will premiere before Star Wars: Episode IX, will debut with the Nov. 12 launch of Disney Plus. Expect more news on Episode IX and beyond during this weekend’s Star Wars Celebration.