The next Star Wars movie will be here next year, Lucasfilm has confirmed. Studio president Kathleen Kennedy said in an interview with Total Film that the next entry in the sci-fi series will hit theaters in late 2023, and it will be from director Taika Waititi.
Basically nothing is known about the Oscar-winning JoJo Rabbit director’s Star Wars film, but he said in August 2021 that he already mapped out a story. “I’m really excited by it because it feels very me. I tend to go down that little sincerity alleyway in my films,” he said. “I like to fool the viewer into thinking, ‘Ha it’s this’ and then them going, ‘Damn it, you made me feel something!'”
Waititi is no stranger to Star Wars, as he was a director on the Star Wars TV show The Mandalorian, and he voiced the droid IG-11 on the show.
Also in the interview, Kennedy said that while Lucasfilm is focusing a lot of time and energy on Star Wars TV shows right now, that doesn’t mean the film franchise is any less important. In addition to Waititi’s movie, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins is making a Rogue Squadron movie while The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is making at least one new Star Wars film as well. Johnson’s movie, however, has been put on the backburner, apparently, as he focuses on his Knives Out sequels and other Netflix projects.
“We have great talent that we’re working with–people who care so deeply about what the next iteration of Star Wars is and about getting people back into movie theatres, so we can really come out with a bang. That’s important to us,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy went on to say that the goal is to create a “whole new saga” for Star Wars. “That takes a lot. There’s a lot of conversation around that,” she said.
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As for the Star Wars TV world, Obi-Wan Kenobi debuted today, May 27, with its first two episodes, while the Andor series premieres in August. Another show, Skeleton Crew, is in production with Spider-Man director Jon Watts and actor Jude Law. The existing show, The Mandalorian, returns for Season 3 in February 2023.