Remember when we all thought “Return of the Jedi” was the end of the “Star Wars” saga? Oh, how naive we were. Then Disney swooped in and acquired Lucasfilm and milked the franchise dry, eeking out a whole new trilogy of films to follow “Jedi,” including 2015’s JJ Abrams-directed box office smash “The Force Awakens” and this year’s upcoming “The Last Jedi” directed by Rian Johnson of “Looper,” and not to mention a bundle of spinoffs, like last year’s $1 billion-grossing Death Star plans heist movie “Rogue One,” which slots in nicely between the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy.
We could talk about these exciting new additions to the overall “Star Wars” canon until the cash cows come home (and Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, has done just that recently at a USC tech conference), but it’s even more exciting to talk about what’s beyond that. It’s all well and good to explore the presents under the Christmas tree, but imagine there’s a bunch of others in your parents’ wardrobe that they haven’t told you about yet! Apparently Disney is doing just that but with “Star Wars” films.
‘Star Wars’ could go on for another 15 years or more
Disney’s original plan with the new “Star Wars” films was to create a trilogy that would follow “Return of the Jedi” and be a nice addition to the story, but according to Iger, they’re looking way, way beyond that and beyond 2019’s yet-to-be-titled “Episode IX.” He says that the media giant company is currently contemplating “what could be another decade and a half of “Star Wars” stories.”
At the current rate of one new “Star Wars” Film per year, that would give us a potential fifteen brand new “Star Wars” films.
That’s five whole trilogies (bearing in mind that the unbelievably epic George Lucas-helmed original saga was comprised of just two), or possibly two or three trilogies with “Anthology” spinoffs like “Rogue One” and the upcoming Han Solo movie peppered in there for good measure (and to give the creative team time to create, since you can’t just whip up a “Last Jedi” or a “Force Awakens” overnight).
Other ‘Star Wars’ matters came up
On other “Star Wars”-related topics discussed at the conference, Iger said that his guys at Disney are “not changing” “The Last Jedi” in the wake of Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing, and instead, “her performance remains as it was,” out of respect. He also said that Disney will not be digitally resurrecting her Princess Leia character, as they did with Peter Cushing in “Rogue One,” which Iger has already said but felt it needed to be said again.
Iger also teased the new “Star Wars” film that focuses on young Han Solo and is due to be released next year, saying it will cover age 18-24 of the character’s life, and it will also feature the story of how Han got a hold of “a certain vehicle” (we know what vehicle he means!) and how he met “a certain Wookiee” (we know which Wookiee he means, too!). He also said that part of the film’s story is “how he got his name.” You mean he wasn’t just born as Han Solo?
