For a while now, we've known that Disney is developing a new Star Wars movie that would follow up with Rey (Daisy Ridley) after the events of the sequel trilogy; that means this movie would be set later in the Star Wars timeline than any other film or TV show. But now, entertainment news hound Daniel Richtman is reporting that the movie is "on hold":
"The Rey movie is on hold once again, as both the Shawn Levy and James Mangold Star Wars films are moving forward first. The project is not canceled — just temporarily on hold."
Shawn Levy is working on a Star Wars movie called Starfighter; that one will star Ryan Gosling and will also be set after the sequel trilogy. Meanwhile, James Mangold is taking things back with a movie called Dawn of the Jedi, which sounds like it'll be a prequel set long before any of the Star Wars movies.
Maybe the Rey movie really will come back after Starfighter and Dawn of the Jedi have had their day...or maybe it will join the graveyard or planned-but-never-released Star Wars movies that's been filling out for years. At one point or another, Disney was planning Star Wars movies with the likes of Taika Waititi, Kevin Feige, Patty Jenkins, Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunnersDavid Benioff and Dan Weiss. None of them came to pass.
Not all of these projects are officially dead — Rian Johnson still talks about wanting to do more Star Wars even now, eight years after his project was announced — but if that much time passes with nothing to show for it, you have to start wondering how much chance there really is.
It's too early to know what will become of the Rey movie, but we do know that there's been a bunch of turnover behind the scenes; at one point, Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof was brought on to manage the project, and then he left. Later, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight were both brought on to manage the project, and then he left. Sometimes movies get things straight behind the scenes and then soldier forward, and sometimes they die a quiet death and the studio moves on to other things. Considering just how many Star Wars projects have suffered that fate, I'm inclined to think this "hold" might be indefinite.
But hey, I'd be happy to be proven wrong. For now, there is a Star Wars movie headed to theaters: The Mandalorian & Grogu, a continuation of the Disney+ show The Mandalorian, comes out on May 22. Starfighter and Dawn of the Jedi will be out sometime after that...if they make it.
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