Guide to every 'Star Wars' movie and TV show that's planned right now
EVERY dozen parsecs or so, the “Star Wars” universe seems to expand.
Just one day after the world glimpsed “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke in the first full trailer for this summer’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” Disney announced on Tuesday that “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will write and produce a new series of “Star Wars” films.
Disney chief executive Bob Iger also announced on Tuesday that the company is developing “a few” “Star Wars” TV series, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
So if you’re tracking Disney’s cinematic march forward (cue John Williams and the peal of trumpets), you can see that our screens will be practically overlapping with fresh Lucasfilm fare.
To help you keep track of just how many projects Disney has deployed, here’s a user guide to the “Star Wars” plans: 1. “Solo: A Star Wars Story” Next up is the latest standalone story, “Solo,” starring Alden Ehrenreich as young Han, as directed by Ron Howard and written by veteran “Star Wars” scribe Lawrence Kasdan and son Jon. Lucasfilm is hoping to land it safely after original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller got the galactic heave-ho. (Due out: May 25.) 2. “Star Wars: Episode IX” Stepping in for the booted Colin Trevorrow, “The Force Awakens” filmmaker J.J. Abrams returns to the director’s chair for the final film in the current “Star Wars” sequel trilogy. But will Luke (Mark Hamill) return, now with Forcepowers from the afterlife? (Due out: Dec 20, 2019)
3. The new Rian Johnson trilogy
As fans continue to debate every last burn-it-all turn in Johnson’s “Last Jedi,” the director is guiding the next “Star Wars” trilogy. Johnson will write and direct the first outing in the new triptych, which Lucasfilm has said will exist outside “the episodic Skywalker saga.” When might we see it? It could be years, Padawan. 4. The Benioff/Weiss trilogy The “Game of Thrones” creators will see their epic HBO series launch its final season next year, according to Variety. The pair had planned on a follow-up HBO series, “Confederate” — which imagined an America in which the South had won the Civil War — but as The Washington Post reported in the autumn, Benioff and Weiss were no longer working on that technically still-in-development series after it sparked controversy.
Besides the team’s massive “Game of Thrones” success — they’ve won four Emmys for the series — Benioff received screenplay credits for the critically drubbed 2009 film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” the sword-and-sandals epic “Troy” and the well-received “Brothers.”
So how might they fare in the world of “Star Wars”?
As The Post’s Stephanie Merry wrote on Tuesday, Benioff and Weiss “have an excellent track record adapting beloved material for a fanatic audience, not to mention coming up with new narratives within an established universe. But HBO is known for giving its showrunners creative freedom, whereas Lucasfilm is not.”
So we wait to see whether they can retain the faith that Iger and Kennedy are placing in them.
5. Potential spinoffs of other characters
Talk continues to swirl around Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Boba Fett getting their own films, according to such outlets as the Hollywood Reporter. At this point of galloping Disney expansion, who’s to say that each won’t one day get his own TV trilogy? 6. The streaming TV series Iger’s new announcement comes just several months after he first said a live-action “Star Wars” series would happen. Expect that TV menu to grow at a significant rate, as Disney gets set to launch its own entertainment streaming services by next year. — WPBloomberg