Screenwriter Gary Whitta Says Future 'Star Wars' Movies Will Move Beyond Legacy Characters

When Disney first announced they were acquiring Lucasfilm and making more “Star Wars” movies, initial hopes sparked that fans would get blockbusters that would explore other planets and new worlds in the massive universe that George Lucas created. That didn’t quite happen, with Lucasfilm choosing instead to make a new trilogy tied to the original saga, and spinoff films about classic characters. However, the multiplex will eventually get “Star Wars” movies made entirely for a new generation.

Rogue One‘ screenwriter Gary Whitta recently spoke with SuperHeroHype and said the gameplan is for “Star Wars” movies with new characters, though we could still be decades away from that happening.

READ MORE: Gareth Edwards Says You’ll Likely Never See ‘Rogue One’ Deleted Scenes, Talks Darth Vader & The Original Ending

“I think you’ve already seen us get 90% of the way there with ‘Rogue One.’ Yes you see Leia, yes you see the Death Star and Vader, because those are elements of that story and they belong there, you can’t tell that story without those characters. But for the most part, 90% of that story is completely new characters. Completely new planets and places you’ve never seen before. It’s a ‘Star Wars’ movie with no Jedi! You don’t see a lightsaber once until Vader pops it out at the end. It doesn’t have any spirituality or mysticism… a little bit through Donnie [Yen]’s character, but it’s very different DNA to the ‘Star Wars films’ that have come before it,” he said. “I really like the fact that we tried to do something different. The next spin-off is ‘Han Solo,’ that’s another familiar character, but I think increasingly you’re going to see… One of the thing things we really want to do at Lucasfilm is create a universe and not keep relying on old legacy characters. We’ve got Rey and Finn and Kylo Ren, they’ve already introduced a new generation of characters. Whatever kind of ‘Star Wars’ films they’re making 10 or 20 years from now, I don’t think they’re going to be relying on the same legacy story elements as we have in the past.”

It’ll be interesting to see how Lucasfilm balances the giving fans what they want and expect from ‘Star Wars’ movies, and trying to do something different. Certainly, Kathleen Kennedy has already said that the spinoffs afford Lucasfilm the opportunity to take some more risks with the property, and trying some different genres (‘Rogue One’ was loosely a war movie, ‘Han Solo’ is said to be a western in spirit), and it’s very likely that Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac and their characters will be tied to the franchise for life, and likely lead the next batch of stories.

Thoughts? Let us know below. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” opens on December 15th.