Back in March, I broke the news over at The Ankler that Damon Lindelof was working on a top-secret Star Wars project. I wrote a follow-up story this summer after Lindelof was spotted at the Disney commissary, where he most definitely wasn’t working on his new Peacock series Mrs. Davis.
As it turns out, Lindelof was leading a two-week writer’s room that included Patrick Somerville, who created Station Eleven after working with Lindelof on The Leftovers; Rayna McClendon, who served as a writer on Lucasfilm’s upcoming Willow series and a consulting producer on its Obi-Wan Kenobi series; and Briarpatch creator Andy Greenwald, as well as a couple of other writers, possibly including Dave Filoni. Though it’s unclear whether Filoni was actually present, the group convened in July on the heels of Star Wars Celebration in May, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
When the dust settled, rising young scribe Justin Britt-Gibson (The Strain, Counterpart) emerged with a co-writing credit on the next Star Wars movie alongside Lindelof. After breaking the story together, they’re currently working on the script, taking into consideration the vision of the film’s director — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel), whose involvement was revealed Sunday night.
Though this top-secret Star Wars movie has been in the works for months, production is still a long way off, and the earliest that the next Star Wars movie could hit theaters would be Christmas 2025.
As far as the story is concerned, it’s expected to take place after the events of 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Though the new film is unlikely to continue the Skywalker saga, it could bring back characters from the most recent trilogy. While Lucasfilm had been focused on developing new Star Wars trilogies, the company has since pivoted to standalone projects, though if Obaid-Chinoy’s project is successful, it could always spawn sequels.
Disney pressed pause on its theatrical plans for Star Wars following 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, choosing instead to focus on shows such as The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor. While Taika Waititi and 1917 writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns are developing a Star Wars movie, it’s not as far along as Kevin Feige‘s project from Loki scribe Michael Waldron, though Lindelof’s movie may be ready first. Stay tuned…
