Kevin Feige Patty Jenkins Shelved Movies – Variety

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When Jon Favreau hit the red carpet at the Season 3 premiere of “The Mandalorian” on Feb. 28, Disney+ creator and executive producer was feeling nostalgic.

“It’s been a while since we’ve all been together like this,” Favreau said. diverse, teasing the November 2019 premiere to launch the show — and Disney+ itself. “That was before the first episode aired!”

At the time, “The Mandalorian” was a slasher runner in the vast “Star Wars” galaxy, catapulting in the wake of “The Rise of Skywalker,” a feature film from director J.J. Tickets are like the movie Death Star. Instead, “The Mandalorian” became a worldwide sensation thanks to the glowing oomph of Baby Yoda, sending Disney+ skyrocketing to the speed of light with 26.5 million subscribers in its first six weeks.

On the other hand, The Rise of Skywalker exploded in spectacular fashion. The film took half of the grosses of 2015’s “The Force Awakens” and was widely disdained by fans. Development of “Star Wars” has been stuck in the swamps of Dagobah ever since. While Disney+ boasts a strong fleet of live-action Star Wars series — it aired three movies in 2022 alone — not a single Star Wars movie has gotten the green light, let alone started production. The first film is scheduled to debut in theaters in December 2025, six years after The Rise of Skywalker.

Not out of wanting to try. In December 2020, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that “Wonder Woman” maid Patty Jenkins would direct the next “Star Wars” movie, the one-off adventure “Rogue Squadron”. But in September 2022, Disney pulled the title from its scheduled December 2023 release, and sources familiar with the production say it is no longer in active development at the studio. (A representative for Lucasfilm did not respond to a request for comment. In December, Jenkins said in a statement that she was still developing “Rogue Squadron,” but “I don’t know if that will happen.”)

while, diverse I’ve learned that a Star Wars feature produced by Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige is no longer in active development at Lucasfilm.

When news of Feige’s involvement in the Star Wars movie broke in September 2019, it sparked fan speculation, since widely debunked, that he was in line to replace Kennedy as leader of Lucasfilm. The movie recently came alive in May 2022, when screenwriter Michael Waldron (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”) said diverse that he had begun working on a “Star Wars” script for Feige. “I enjoy the freedom to do something that’s not necessarily a sequel or anything,” Waldron said.

Five months later, Feige hired Waldron to write the script for 2026’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” the “Endgame” style culmination of Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga. Between this project and the 19 other titles (and counting) that Marvel has announced to theaters and streaming in the next four years, Feige’s responsibilities to the MCU have kept him far, far away from Star Wars for much of the decade.

As for Rian Johnson, the in-demand director has made it no secret that he still wants to make the Star Wars movies he first announced in 2017 before the release of The Last Jedi, and Kennedy has been clear that Lucasfilm still wants him, too. But Johnson’s immediate priorities — continuing his Benoit Blanc films with Daniel Craig on Netflix and season two of the popular Peacock series “Poker Face” with Natasha Lyonne — will keep him busy for the foreseeable future.

So which ‘Star Wars’ movie could get into the open December 2025 release date? Sources say that “Thor: Love and Thunder” director Taika Waititi is continuing to work on a potential “Star Wars” feature, and will likely have a role in it as well, similar to his iconic role as fictional actor Adolf Hitler in his 2019 Oscar-winning film. Titled “Jojo Rabbit”. And though Lucasfilm hasn’t officially confirmed it yet, sources say the studio is committed to a “Star Wars” film from two-time Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Charmaine Obaid-Chinoy (“Save Face,” “A Girl in the River”): The Price of Forgiveness. ), which debuted live-action narration with two episodes of Disney+’s “Ms. Marvel”. Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen”) and Justin Britt-Gibson (“Counterpart”) were attached in October to write the script for this movie.

Whether it’s one of these films, or a yet-to-be-announced project landing the front of the line has been a closely guarded secret at Lucasfilm, but sources say the studio will begin revealing its plans for the future of “Star Wars” cinema at Star Wars Celebration in London. On the weekend of April 7th. However, this announcement will compete with the expected updates of no fewer than four Disney+ series, including the final season of the critically acclaimed “Andor”; new performances from Leslye Headland (“The Acolyte”) and Jon Watts (“Skeleton Crew”); And the first big installment of “Ahsoka,” the spin-off of “The Mandalorian” and “The Clone Wars” animated series starring Rosario Dawson that aims to debut in late summer.

So, for now, Lucasfilm’s message to fans of the Star Wars movies: Patience, you gotta have it.

Mark Malkin contributed to this story.