Disney Announces Plans for New Star Wars Movies Through 2026

Disney announced their upcoming movie release schedule all the way through 2027, where they will release Avatar 5. The schedule also indicates they have Star Wars films planned to be released through 2026.

In the newly announced schedule, which also includes their plans for new Marvel films, Disney confirmed the release date for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be December 20, 2019.

There will not be any new Star Wars films until 2022. In 2022, Disney does have an untitled Star Wars film slated for release on December 16, 2022. It appears this film might be the first in a new trilogy as they also have new Star Wars films slated for release on December 20, 2024 and December 18, 2026.

It’s not surprising there won’t be any new Star Wars films for two years following Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Disney CEO Bob Iger indicated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last September that he did make a mistake with the Star Wars franchise by pushing too many films too quickly:

“I made the timing decision, and as I look back, I think the mistake that I made — I take the blame — was a little too much, too fast. You can expect some slowdown, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to make films.”

He would add, “But I think we’re going to be a little bit more careful about volume and timing. And the buck stops here on that.”

Iger would double down on those comments in the lead up to Star Wars Celebration earlier this year. In an interview with Bloomberg, Iger indicated the franchise would go on “hiatus” following The Rise of Skywalker:

“We have not announced any specific plans for movies thereafter. There are movies in development, but we have no announced them. I think we are going to hit pause, and take some time to reset. Because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Star Wars movies, but again I think we’re going to end up in a period where there will be a bit of hiatus.”

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy echoed Iger’s comments indicating the film franchise would go on hiatus, “We’re going to take a hiatus for a couple of years.”

However, Kennedy also added, “And we’re taking the time to really look at where this is going from the standpoint of a saga.” She continued, “We’re not just looking at what the next three movies might be, or talking about this in terms of a trilogy. We’re looking at: What is the next decade of storytelling?”

Kennedy confirmed that the next decade of Star Wars storytelling on the big screen will include Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss alongside The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, “As they finish Game of Thrones, they’re going to segue into Star Wars. They’re working very closely with Rian.”

While their might be a hiatus for Star Wars films, Disney is developing two live-action Star Wars shows on Disney+ as well as continuation of The Clone Wars animated series. The live action series include Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian starring Pedro Pascal as well as a Rogue One spin-off focusing on Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor and Alan Tudyk’s K2-SO.

What do you make of Disney’s plans for the future of Star Wars films?

 

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