Star Wars Movies: After ‘The Last Jedi’ And ‘Episode 9,’ What Can We Expect From Star Wars And Lucasfilm?


The Star Wars movies have provided Disney with one of the largest franchises in the world through its purchase of Lucasfilm. Moviegoers are eagerly anticipating the upcoming movies in the series, including The Last Jedi and the as yet unnamed Episode 9 – not to mention the currently unnamed Han Solo prequel movie. However, after those already announced films, what can we expect from future Star Wars movies?

Near-Term Star Wars

Movies already announced in the Star Wars universe include this year’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. As the follow-up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this film – to be released in late 2017 – will reportedly shift the focus on to Luke Skywalker. Luke was only teased at the very end of The Force Awakens, which had just a single shot of Rey handing him a lightsaber.

'Star Wars The Last Jedi' trailer scene with Rey.
‘Star Wars The Last Jedi’ trailer scene with Rey. [Image by Lucasfilm]

The Star Wars movies will continue alternating between the Star Wars Saga films – like Force Awakens and The Last Jedi– and the anthology Star Wars movies like Rogue One. So for 2018, we can look forward to the new Han Solo prequel movie, with Alden Ehrenreich taking over the role of everyone’s favorite smuggler.

Then in 2019, it’s back to the saga Star Wars movies with Episode 9. While this film hasn’t yet been named, we can safely assume following Carrie Fisher’s death that Luke Skywalker will have to play a major role in it as well, or none of the big three from the original Star Wars trilogy would be able to appear in this last movie in the latest trilogy.

Future Star Wars Movies

After Episode 9, the studio plans for an as of yet unnamed and undefined third anthology film. A good deal of speculation about this film has suggested that it might be a Bobo Fett movie that would essentially be the Star Wars movies version of Suicide Squad in space.

However, the internet and Twitter chatter makes it clear that most fans of Star Wars movies would much rather see a Star Wars anthology movie based on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ewan McGregor – who played Obi-Wan in the less than entirely celebrated prequel Star Wars movies – as made it clear he would love to come back to play the role again. So with any luck, that’s the direction Lucasfilm will choose for the third Star Wars anthology film.

After that, it’s not entirely clear how the Star Wars movies being made by Disney and Lucasfilm will evolve over time. Will they create another saga Star Wars trilogy, or will they shift to solo – no pun intended – films entirely for a while? It may be that they’ll want to take a break from the larger, more complex story arcs involved in the saga Star Wars movies.

Luke Skywalker in 'The Force Awakens'
Luke Skywalker in ‘The Force Awakens’ [Image by Lucasfilm]

At the very least, they may decide they want to shift away from Skywalker-centric Star Wars movies. However, according to Fandango, Kathleen Kennedy – who runs Lucasfilm under the Disney umbrella – suggests that, although they haven’t yet set their plans in concrete for the future of the Star Wars movies franchise:

I certainly foresee movies past nine. Whether or not we carry on the Skywalker saga… you know, George always intended nine movies, and whether we continue that or not is something we’re talking about right now.

She went on to say further that, “If the story warrants it, we’ll absolutely do it. If it actually inspires new ideas, then we’ll probably head in that direction. We just don’t know yet.”

Then there’s always the possibility that the Star Wars movies will shift their focus all the way back to the days of the early Republic and the ancient conflicts between the Jedi and the Sith. And this would definitely mean – presumably – a shift away from the Skywalker family storyline.

[Featured Image by Lucasfilm]

Share this article: Star Wars Movies: After ‘The Last Jedi’ And ‘Episode 9,’ What Can We Expect From Star Wars And Lucasfilm?
More from Inquisitr