by Joseph Sweeney | staff writer

The dead speak! After the apparent end of the Star Wars saga in December, fans have begun wondering: “What’s next?” 

Movies

While Disney has ended the Skywalker saga, with Rey’s story being left fairly ambiguous, the franchise is taking a step backwards in a film set to be released in around 2022, rather than continue with where episode nine left off. This film is likely to be something based on the book and video game series Star Wars: The Old Republic, a series prequel taking place starting around 5,000 years to 1,000 years before A New Hope, showing the Sith Order when they had amassed armies of dark-side users, rather than the two-at-a-time rule used in the eras we’re familiar with. 

Fans have demanding to see more Old Republic-based properties, especially since the release of the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO’s CGI trailers. One of the most popular requests from fans has been for actor Keanu Reeves of the John Wick trilogy to play Revan the “Prodigal Knight”, mainly due to the physical resemblance shared by the two characters. Fans hope to see The Old Republic’s characters explored in one way or another, though the premise of the planned trilogy has yet to be revealed. What has been said, however, is the fact that the Revan character has indeed been added back into Star Wars canon after being retconned from the series following the Disney reboot. This could definitely hint at the character’s story being re-written, especially since Star Wars: Rebels re-canonized the Mandalorian Wars: the war which Revan fought in. Other than Revan, the only other character from the original Old Republic storyline remaining in Disney Star Wars is Darth Bane, who appeared at the end of season six of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. 

Director Rian Johnson of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives out, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, and Game of Thrones show-runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are all also working on their own Star Wars projects, as was confirmed by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. Future anthology films under the A Star Wars Story moniker have also been said to be in the works, though will have to take a hiatus due to the underperformance of Solo at the box office in 2018. 

TV

The realm of TV shows is where the series holds a majority of its future, however, as on Disney+, season two of The Mandalorian has been greenlit, with a release date set for this fall. The new season, once again with Jon Favreau of the MCU heading the project, will likely explore the origins of the Mandalorian character, as well as baby Yoda. A hope for fans is to finally reveal the home-world of the race, and to learn the official in-universe name of the species, which as of this point, has only been referred to as “Yoda’s Species” officially. The mysterious black-lightsaber, known as the “Darksaber”, will also be explored, as, as of now, its history has not been explained after it was given to Mandalorian-rebel Sabine Wren in Star Wars: Rebels, where she adopted it after it was taken from its previous owner, Maul. 

Development for an Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show has also been announced for the platform. Originally rumored to be a Obi-Wan centered anthology film, Disney has since announced at their previous D23 Expo that a full-on tv show is in development. Actor Ewan McGregor, who played Obi-Wan previously in the prequel trilogy, is slated to return as the character, and though the premise of the series has yet to have been revealed, it is known that the series will return to Tatooine in between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Though production for the series was initially planned for this year, the series has seen a delay and will now begin production in 2021. 

Aside from the more major releases, Disney has also announced a more obscure series based on the Cassian Andor character from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Not much has been said about the project’s premise or release date, all that is known is that actor Diego Luna will be returning as the eponymous character. Rumors also state that a sequel to the DisneyXD series Star Wars: Rebels is in development. If the series does end up coming to fruition, it will likely follow Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger and Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn after they were lost in space in the finale of the original series. 

Video Games

In the realm of Star Wars video games, a remake of the beloved Lego Star Wars series is set for release later this year, entitled Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. This will include reimagining of the original Lego titles: Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, and Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with updated character models and level designs, as well as ones based off of episodes eight and nine. The title will also include original voice acting, which was not present in any of the original releases, and is planned for release on both console and PC platforms. 

Other than the Lego title, not much is known about the future of Star Wars in video games, though it is known that publisher EA is looking forward to having more single-player based games in the future after the massive success of Jedi: Fallen Order. The company has also announced that they will continue support of the online first-person-shooter Star Wars: Battlefront II, which just had an update rolled out earlier in December. A full out sequel, presumably entitled “Battlefront III,” has not been revealed yet, however, and will probably not be revealed until the distant future. 

Conclusion

Due to the divisive nature of the films in recent years, Star Wars is likely to begin its venture into being a primarily TV based franchise, what with the success of titles like The Mandalorian and with its many planned properties on the Disney+ platform. Though we may see a continuation of Rey’s story and that of the Jedi Order in the distant future, it is safe to say that Disney is taking a break from what they want to focus on bringing the fanbase back by giving them what they want.