Recently, we learned that a planned Star Wars sequel that would follow Rey (Daisy Ridley) after the events of her trilogy was going through some changes behind the scenes: Steven Knight, best known as the creator of the Netflix show Peaky Blinders, was leaving as the movie's screenwriter. And this after celebrated writer Damon Lindelof was "asked to leave" the project a while back. Should we add this to the pile of Star Wars projects Disney has started up and then abandoned, alongside the never-made projects from the likes of Taika Waititi, Kevin Feige, Patty Jenkins, Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss?
Well, star Daisy Ridley is out here doing very light damage control; she was asked about the Rey movie while promoting her new film Magpie and took the opportunity to dispel some rumors, for instance the rumor that losing Knight means the movie will miss its Christmas 2026 release window. "We don’t have a date," Ridley clarified to The Playlist.
It's true: although Disney has set aside December 18, 2026, and December 17, 2027 for Star Wars films, we never knew which films those were. Overall, Ridley sounds unbothered by the latest news. "I think the creative process is one that is really a journey,” she said. "hen everything is ready to go, we will be going, and it’s very—yeah, it’s good.”
"I’m really genuinely excited. And I have said I’m very excited, but I really do mean I’m excited about what’s coming. And I think we really have the luxury of making sure that this is the right."
Fans do probably make too much of bumps in the road; it's true that a lot of movies have long journeys before they debut in theaters. But I also get why people are extra sensitive about Star Wars movies given the graveyard of abandoned projects over the last several years. I have a theory that Disney greenlit a whole mess of movies without really thinking through whether they were feasible back during the brief tenure of CEO Bob Chapek as the head of Disney. Former CEO Bob Iger returned in late 2022, and they've been a bit more careful about not tipping their hand since then. So maybe the Rey movie is one of those films we learned about before we probably should have, and it's still winding its way towards its final form.
Meanwhile, Disney will actually release a new Star Wars movie in the near future: The Mandalorian & Grogu, a movie sequel to the TV series, just finished filming and is tap for a May 22, 2026 release.
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