Not only is “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” a turning point for the franchise because it’s the end of the story that was introduced more than 40 years again in ‘A New Hope,’ but also because the film marks the beginning of Lucasfilm taking “Star Wars” into Skywalker-less, uncharted territory. And as Kathleen Kennedy, Lucasfilm president, explained to the LA Times, charting a new course for the galaxy far, far away is something she’s not taken lightly, and it’s something that will take time to figure out.
Kennedy explained that the previously-announced hiatus on “Star Wars” films is due to the fact that Lucasfilm is working without a blueprint for the future of the franchise. Previously, the studio has been continuing the story that George Lucas started in 1977 and because of that, there has been a foundation to build the franchise on. With ‘Rise of Skywalker’ ending that story, the future is seemingly limitless and Kennedy is attempting to find the next story worth diving into.
“We’re literally making this up from whole cloth and bringing in filmmakers to find what these stories might be,” the Lucasfilm boss said. “It can take a while before you find what direction you might want to go. We need the time to do that.”
Apparently, Kennedy realized this was going to be an issue and spoke to Disney CEO Bob Iger during production on ‘Rise.’ She asked the CEO if it would be okay to “pause” the “Star Wars” franchise after ‘Rise’ so that they could decide on where to go next. As we know, Iger agreed and it appears that we won’t get a new “Star Wars” feature film until 2022, at the earliest. This is in stark contrast to the previous five years, where we have seen at least one new film a year since 2015’s ‘The Force Awakens.’
While Kennedy isn’t ready to announce what the future might look like, she told the LA Times that decisions will be made in the coming weeks. Also, don’t count out appearances of the new characters that were introduced in the recent Sequel Trilogy in future films. And speaking of trilogies, the Lucasfilm president wants fans to know that, moving forward, “Star Wars” stories won’t be forced into trilogies.
“I think it gives us a more open-ended view of storytelling and doesn’t lock us into this three-act structure,” Kennedy said. “We’re not going to have some finite number and fit it into a box. We’re really going to let the story dictate that.”
READ MORE: Kathleen Kennedy Explains Why The New ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Couldn’t Be Fully Mapped Out
As for the questions surrounding when we might see the already-announced film from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Kennedy said the idea that Feige presented is still in the early stages. And yes, apparently Rian Johnson is still working on some “Star Wars” ideas of his own.
“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” arrives in theaters on Friday.