For director Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was just the beginning of his journey in a galaxy far, far away.
Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce.
As writer-director of The Last Jedi, Johnson conceived and realized a powerful film of which Lucasfilm and Disney are immensely proud. In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.
“We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.”
“We had the time of our lives collaborating with Lucasfilm and Disney on The Last Jedi,” Johnson and Bergman said in a joint statement. “Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology and we feel very lucky to have contributed to it. We can’t wait to continue with this new series of films.”
Johnson’s upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives in U.S. theaters on Dec. 15, 2017.
No release dates have been set for the new films, and no porgs were available for comment.
TLJ has yet to come out and be seen by audiences, and already they are giving Rian three more moves and a blank canvas to work on...that is impressive...and shows a LOT of confidence in his abilities.
Disney has closed a deal with director Rian Johnson to develop a new “Star Wars” trilogy, and it is planning a live-action “Star Wars” TV series to air on its entertainment streaming service that is expected to launch by the end of 2019.
Disney chairman-CEO Bob Iger announced the “Star Wars” news during the company’s quarterly earnings call. In addition to the “Star Wars” TV series, Disney is working on TV series adaptations of Pixar’s “Monsters Inc.,” the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” franchise and an original entry from Marvel.
Aren't they worried about fatigue setting in? And if they have such confidence in Rian, why isn't he directing IX? Is the TV series going to be in any way based on the unused Underworld scripts?
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 12:13 pm
by Ordo
1. Thor Ragnarok (the 17 Marvel Movie) just made $147 million domestic and $354 Million world wide, so I'm going to guess the answer is 'No', especially if this is a whole new caste of characters and corner of the Star Wars universe.
2. Rian may have already been tapped to do this new Trilogy when they were searching for a new director....OR when offered that chance he countered with this New Trilogy concept.
3. Unknown.
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 1:39 pm
by TGLS
Ordo wrote:
Disney has closed a deal with director Rian Johnson to develop a new “Star Wars” trilogy, and it is planning a live-action “Star Wars” TV series to air on its entertainment streaming service that is expected to launch by the end of 2019.
Oh boy. How many streaming services will that make? Twelve? How many will shutter before the market stabilizes? Seven? Another question; is this going to be only for Americans (and thus dig its own grave) or will the rest of the world share the pain?
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 1:48 pm
by Fixer
I'm intrigued as to whether they're going to try an entirely different time period or cast with the next trilogy. Still hoping for some EU Old Republic era stories.
Either way, it looks like they've got a lot riding on TLJ's success.
As for the TV show, I remember that G.L. was trying to get something off the ground but the expense was far too high. Perhaps with the new wave of high budget TV and streaming services that dream is now a reality. I am in complete agreement about not wanting to sign up for another service. Netflix and Amazon prime are already enough for me.
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 4:00 pm
by Morgaine
I wonder if they can truly resist the allure of pandering to old characters, locations and events.
The major problem of the old EU was how provincial it was, always focusing on the Skywalkers, the Solos, Imperial resurgence with Sith or Superweapon plot #563 and so on.
Even the Old Republic books, games, etc weren't immune from this. "Oh look, we're going to Tatooine! Again!"
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 5:05 pm
by Fixer
You do have to revisit some locations. Always a wonder why the sand planet gets in the into the course every story at in roughly the entire franchise. It's irritating that it gets everywhere.
However the soft integration of EU elements into Rebels has gone smoothly and the cheers of the fans I heard when Thrawn was announced at Celebration 2016 can't have gone unnoticed.
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:53 pm
by Madner Kami
Fixer wrote:You do have to revisit some locations. Always a wonder why the sand planet gets in the into the course every story at in roughly the entire franchise. It's irritating that it gets everywhere.
Say, your real name doesn't happen to be Anakin, eh?
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:42 pm
by The Romulan Republic
GandALF wrote:Aren't they worried about fatigue setting in? And if they have such confidence in Rian, why isn't he directing IX? Is the TV series going to be in any way based on the unused Underworld scripts?
There are franchises that have been around much longer than, and put out much more material than, Star Wars. Star Trek and Batman both come immediately to mind, and while Star Trek is limping along due to managerial incompetence these days, Batman has had some of its biggest successes in recent years/decades.
And after all, is a movie a year really that much? No, really. Some TV shows puts more material in terms of number of hours of screen time in a year than Star Wars will put on film in a decade at this rate- and people don't get tired of them after one season.
My view is that their is no arbitrary time limit or size limit on how long a franchise stays interesting. It depends on the creativity, talent, and integrity of those involved.
That said, a long-running franchise benefits from periodic reboots to allow a new take on the material while ditching the baggage of past mistakes. And if not that, then you really need to branch off into multiple side-characters/stories, which appears to be what Disney is doing here.
Re: New Star Wars Trilogy and TV series
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:00 pm
by Karha of Honor
Fixer wrote:You do have to revisit some locations. Always a wonder why the sand planet gets in the into the course every story at in roughly the entire franchise. It's irritating that it gets everywhere.
However the soft integration of EU elements into Rebels has gone smoothly and the cheers of the fans I heard when Thrawn was announced at Celebration 2016 can't have gone unnoticed.