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‘Star Wars’ Series Expected To Expand With 2020 Anthology Film, More General Leia In ‘Episode Eight’ [Spoilers]

By David Cornell
Published on: 04:53 PST, Sep 22, 2016

The Star Wars series of films had been around for a long time, and the folks at Lucasfilm only began to talk about a possible second trilogy, or prequels as they are now known, several years after Return of the Jedi. When the very first one finally hit, it was actually a box office flop. However, after moviegoers spread the word, it became enough of a success that we got two sequels to the first prequel.

As some fans might not be aware, George Lucas only directed Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope and the prequels, while he handed the reins to other directors for The Empire Strikes Back and Jedi. He did write the initial trilogy and its prequels.

Now that Lucas has officially given Kathleen Kennedy full command of Lucasfilm, it seems the Star Wars series has come back stronger than ever. Admittedly, when J.J. Abrams directed The Force Awakens, he said he’d made it similar to the original trilogy so fans would know he was going for the feel of the classics. This backfired when fans claimed the film was a copy and paste of the original trilogy, but the film still generated enough box office revenue to show that we remain excited about the new movies. The J.J. Abrams reboot has earned over $2 billion at the box office, making it the third-highest-grossing film of all time.

The next film in the Star Wars series is Rogue One, where a band of rebels shows us how the plans for the original Death Star were stolen. It’s expected to kick off another series of films now being called an anthology.

Gizmodo states that Star Wars Episode Eight will give General Leia more screen time. This might mean that the rumors surrounding Leia’s early death are false.

The Han Solo film, which stars a much younger Alden Ehrenreich in a story focusing on the early years of everyone’s favorite “scruffy-looking nerf-herder,” will be a standalone.

There is also expected to be a standalone Boba Fett movie, which should give us much more about the infamous bounty hunter who barely had any lines. He wasn’t even mentioned by name until Return of the Jedi, but he became one of the most popular villains in the Star Wars series. This may have led to the overwhelming hate for Attack of the Clones, where his father Jango was more prominent and died off much too quickly.

According to The Guardian, Disney chief executive Bob Iger has confirmed another anthology film for 2020, but no details point to it being the Boba Fett movie or being something else entirely, possibly focusing on a younger Yoda.

So far, this means we will see at least five more films before Disney is done with the franchise. This is eerily similar to another property which Disney has owned the rights to since 2009. The Marvel cinematic universe is meant to be seen in the order of release, while the Star Wars universe has been jumping back and forth through the timeline since The Phantom Menace.

Episode Eight is already in the final editing phases,and they are adding footage with General Leia. The film is set to hit theaters in 2017, while the story for the ninth film in the Star Wars series has already reached the desks of those behind the scenes. Of course, with the policy against spoilers as strict as it was when Mark Hamill spoke about the tight security while filming The Force Awakens, it’s highly unlikely we will know anything ahead of time.

For now, all we can do is speculate about what awaits Rey, Finn, and Poe in Episode Eight. Will Luke Skywalker train Rey in the ways of the Jedi after having given up following the rise of Kylo Ren? Who is Rey’s father? Will Finn come more into his own and rival Poe as a force against the First Order?

We will know more as the Star Wars series of movies continues with Rogue One and Episode Eight.

[Featured image via Lucasfilm/Disney]

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