Lucasfilm will no longer announce Star Wars projects years prematurely.
According to Puck, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has been advised by Disney to stop announcing new projects years in advance of their release date. The report comes after a tumultuous few years for the Star Wars franchise that saw several film projects and creative partnerships fall apart after initially being hyped up by Lucasfilm and Kennedy. Notable projects mentioned include Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron and the planned trilogy of films that were going to be written and produced by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss.
Lucasfilm originally announced Rogue Squadron during Disney Investor Day 2020, with Jenkins set to direct and a release date planned for Dec. 22, 2023. However, after two years in development, the film was removed from Disney's release schedule in September 2022 with the project now considered to be on the back burner. Benioff and D. B. Weiss' trilogy was first reported in February 2018. After stepping away from the project in October 2019 due to previous commitments with Netflix, the project was shelved.
Rian Johnson's Star Wars Trilogy Is Still Happening
The Puck report also mentioned Rian Johnson's proposed Star Wars trilogy as a project that has failed to materialize in the years since it was first announced. However, Johnson recently confirmed that his trilogy is still happening and that scheduling is what is currently keeping them in development hell. "It's entirely a matter of scheduling," he said. Johnson, who directed 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, previously offered an update on his trilogy, saying, "It would break my heart if I were finished, if I couldn’t get back in that sandbox at some point." Kennedy has also stated that "the deal that [Johnson] made at Netflix for multiple [Knives Out] movies" is one of the reasons why his Star Wars trilogy has been delayed.
In addition to the aforementioned projects, three more Star Wars films are in various stages of development at Lucasfilm. Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi is still working on the script for his standalone Star Wars feature with Krysty Wilson-Cairns while Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is in the early stages of his own Star Wars film. It was also recently announced that Damon Lindelof has co-written a Star Wars film that will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who helmed the fourth episode of Marvel Studios' Disney+ original series Ms. Marvel. No additional information on Lindelof's film has been made available at this time.
Source: Puck