To the surprise of absolutely no one who has experienced any given Star Wars production in recent years, a number of Disney insiders have reportedly admitted that Lucasfilm is absolutely struggling to come up with a concrete plan for the future of the once-beloved franchise.
This insight regarding the supposed turmoil in a galaxy far, far away was first brought to light by The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit, who himself learned of the information after having personally spoken to the alleged insiders.
Claiming to have personally spoken to said insiders, Kit reported on November 7th that according to them, the reason behind Disney’s decision to have Rey star in both a solo movie and a new Star Wars trilogy (wherein, per noted entertainment reporter Jeff Sneider, she will serve as the story’s ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’) was, simply put, the fact that they literally have no other ‘recognizable characters’ on which they could focus the franchise.
And though the group of insiders widely denied that either of those projects would need to ‘fight for the right’ to use the Daisy Ridley-portrayed character in their respective stories, they further admitted that there was “a internal deliberation within Lucasfilm as to what do with the heir to Skywalker next.”
Said one alleged insider, “She is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now.”
To this end, Kit claims that numerous sources informed him that “Rey is set to play a role in several movies that are being developed, although which ones remains unclear.”
Offering their own take on Disney’s decision to go all in on Rey as the main pillar of the franchise’s future, one source told the THR mainstay, “The closet [of characters] is a little bare.”
But outside of the heroine’s promotion, said sources indicated that when it came to planning the future of Star Wars, Lucasfilm was basically flying by the seat of their pants.
“There are numerous Star Wars movies being developed that overlap characters or timelines. They are not related but whatever one were to come out first, could, in a domino effect, then impact the ones after it,” recapped Kit of his sources’ information. “Some Lucasfilm directors are aware of what others are working on while others are not.”
Yet another source told Kit that these issues extended to the franchise’s writing, with Lucasfilm unable to move the franchise past the original trilogy due to their inability to reach a consensus on just how to do so.
“You’re being asked to create the new New Testament,” said an individual who is said to have worked on prior Star Wars films. “And no one can agree on anything and there’s a lot of second guessing about meanings.”
Likewise, another insider observed that the franchise’s problems boil down to the fact that “Star Wars is a nostalgia-based enterprise and they are running out of ways to create nostalgia.”
As such, said a further insider, “To make standalone movies or continuing the Skywalker Saga in any form is a fundamental question the company faces as it tries to move forward.”
As of writing, outside of it being helmed by director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and the fact that it will see the aforementioned Ridley reprise her role as the titular Force user, absolutely zero official information is currently known regarding the upcoming Rey movie.