Star Wars: The Acolyte Set for 2024 Release

Star Wars Celebration 2023 has started and the result is a bit of a news dump on upcoming plans for Star Wars for the next few years. Starting with The Acolyte which is now set to premiere on Disney+ in 2024. No specific date in that year but wouldn't be surprised if its by summer. The show stars Amandla Stenberg, Carrie-Anne Moss, Lee Jung-Jae and more. The series is set about 100 years before A New Hope during the "Golden Age of the Jedi" in the High Republic era. Footage was show to attendees, described by Gizmodo:

Each could be seen in the series’ brief footage, shown in the room only. It began with a group of younglings, all types of humans and aliens, being trained by a Jedi Master in bright white robes played by Lee Jung-jae. “Close your eyes. Your eyes can deceive you. We must not trust them,” he says as we see a very run-down, busy village where a hooded figure walks down the street. “The Force is powerful. It’s a power we must respect,” the Jedi master’s speech continues. Inside a bar, a Jedi is sitting, played by Carrie-Anne Moss. For some reason, the Jedi and this hooded figure, played by Stenberg, begin to fight. Stenberg’s character looks like a ninja, complete with a black mask covering the bottom of their face.

The rest of the footage plays mostly in montage: We see footage inside what looks like a Jedi temple. Several younger Jedi (Keen and Barnett) sneak through tight spaces. Someone is scaling up the side of a temple. There’s a scene in the snow. A Neimoidian appears. And finally, Stenberg’s character says over the montage, “This isn’t about good or bad. This is about power. And who is allowed to use it.” The final shot is of around eight Jedi standing in the woods, with Jung-jae’s character in the middle. He lights up his lightsaber, and then all the other Jedi join him, igniting their own blades of all different colors. The vibes we got were sort of a samurai movie mixed with a heist movie, but with a lot of Jedi.

Another Star Wars Movie Plan Bites the Dust (Updated)

At this point it is just too hard to keep up with all the started and stopped Star Wars movie plans. The latest news is Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have exited the Star Wars movie they were working on for Lucasfilm and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel). The submitted a draft and few days later quit the project. Technically the film is still moving forward with the director while new scriptwriters are found as its still penciled in for a December 19, 2025 release date but wouldn't be the least suprised if its cancelled. Lindelof may have forecast these events when he spoke at SXSW last week saying "“the degree of difficulty is extremely, extremely, extremely high” when it comes to creating a film for Star Wars. Lindelof went on to say that “If it can’t be great, it shouldn’t exist... I think it’s possible that sometimes when you hold something in such high reverence and esteem, you start to get in the kitchen and you just go, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t be cooking. Maybe I should just be eating.’ We’ll just leave it at that point.” At this point its become clear that Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy is doesn't know what she wants in a Star Wars film, only what she doesn't want (once presented with a script). I suspect her input can best be summed up as "but not that" and little else making any effort to improve on the script difficult. This may also explain the continued director problems the film side of the franchise has had. The result is she has settled into not making any decision on much of anything on the movie front, likely hoping something comes forward that is a clear home run. Could be a long wait. If summarize any Star Wars film or TV show, none of it sounds like should be a hit. The franchise is highly dependent on that alchemy of a good enough script combined with actors, director, crew and more that elevates it into something much more along with a fandom that is willing to accept a lot if the core concept and execution is done well. Update: Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders creator) has been tapped to pick up where Lindelof and Britt-Gibson left off. More realistically its probably a page one re-write. On the bright side he has about one year to get an approved script together. To hit the December 2025, the latest the film can start filming is end of summer 2024. Maybe he will achieve what half a dozen or so writers have failed to do.

Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Cancelled, Lots of Movie Rumors Going Nowhere

The last Star Wars film was in 2015. The drought will continue until at least 2025 as what movies that were in some stage of planning have been cancelled. Variety is reporting that Star Wars: Rogue Squadron has been cancelled. The movie was announced back in 2020 and removed from the schedule in 2022. It would have been directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman). No reason for why it was cancelled but guessing Jenkins demanded Lucasfilm quit waffling so she could either do a new movie with them or turn her attention to a new project elsewhere. The long rumor MCU producer Kevin Feige film is also off the table but that was mostly just rumor to begin with.

There are supposedly still movies in the pipeline. Taika Waititi (Thore Love and Thunder) is working a film where he intends to cast himself as a major character. Lucasfilm wants to work with Rian Johnson (Knives Out, The Last Jedi) again but he is booked for the next three years so earliest a film from him could hit theaters is at least five years from now. There is also rumors that treatments are being worked on from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Saving Face, Ms Marvel) and Damon Lindelof (Watchmen).  Even if one of these rumors moves forward this year into something real (could happen on April 7 at Star Wars Celebration), it will still not hit screen until 2025 at the earliest.

Basically it is lot of rumors but nothing concrete. The rumors do not matter until a director, writer, and production date is officially announced. Even then, I wouldn't get excited until actual filming starts considering the many director problems they have had over the years. TV side of Star Wars is the future of the franchise for the foreseeable future thanks to the well run machine created by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, the only real smart move that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has made. If she was as hands on to the TV side as she is with the movie side, chances are we would still be hearing rumors about a second season of The Mandalorian and no other shows would have made it to production. 

Kennedy is so afraid of making the wrong movie move that she has settled into making no move, likely due to the debacle that was the last trilogy. Abrams decision to make post Return of the Jedi such a stagnant, negative 30 year gap just so he could retell A New Hope will be a problem that will haunt the franchise for decades. The best move is really to wipe the new trilogy from canon and work on new one that takes full advantage of the open universe that Return of the Jedi had left us and the Extended Universe had spent literal decades exploring before Abrams ill-fated decisions.

To sum all this up, from a fan perspective, as of right now there are no Star Wars films in the works.

The Mandalorian Season 3 Has Begun on Disney+

Just a friendly reminder that The Mandalorian season 3 has begun its weekly run on Disney+ with the first episode available now.

The Mandalorian Season 3 Trailer, Release Date

 Last night Disney+ dropped the first trailer for season 3 of The Mandalorian. The eight episode season will begin on March 1, 2023.