It has been almost three years since the last Star Wars film hit theaters. The ninth episode of the Skywalker Saga, The Rise of Skywalker, brought the newest of the franchise’s trilogies to an end while, supposedly, also completing the Skywalker Saga as a whole. However, there has been plenty of new Star Wars material to keep fans happy in the years since. The first season of The Mandalorian began airing on Disney+ about a month prior to The Rise of Skywalker’s release, and since then the franchise has really embraced television.
The Book of Boba Fett hit Disney+ earlier this year, and it has been followed by Obi-Wan Kenobi over the summer and the upcoming Andor, which premieres next month. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian is set to begin its third season in February, with other live-action shows such as Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte following soon after. Lucasfilm has announced a few different standalone films as well, such as Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron and an untitled film directed by Taika Waititi, but those projects have been stuck in development for a little while, and there’s speculation among fans that they might not happen at all.
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For a long time, Star Wars was a franchise of trilogies. There was the original trilogy that started it all back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, which was followed up by George Lucas’ prequel trilogy in the early 2000s. After Disney purchased Lucasfilm back in 2012, one of their first announcements was the development of a third Star Wars trilogy that would eventually become The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. Considering this long history of film trilogies, it’s only natural to ask when (or if) Lucasfilm will ever make another Star Wars trilogy. It’s bound to happen eventually, but should those films continue the Skywalker Saga with Episodes 10, 11, and 12 (X, XI and XII if you prefer), or should they be something entirely new?
The Disappointment of the Sequel Trilogy
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Although the three films in the sequel trilogy were financial successes, many fans of the series found the trilogy as a whole to be a big disappointment. While The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams, was a good starting point for the films, The Last Jedi heavily divided the fan base. While some enjoyed the new direction for the franchise, others detested the treatment of fan-favorite characters such as Luke Skywalker and called on Lucasfilm to erase the film from the franchise canon. The intense division over The Last Jedi still haunts Star Wars to this day, and it resulted in Lucasfilm bringing Abrams back for The Rise of Skywalker. With that, Episode 9 ended up walking back and retconning much of The Last Jedi while also attempting to wrap up the entire trilogy. At the end of the day, it delivered a lackluster and rushed story that abandoned some plotlines and ideas from the previous films entirely.
The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker is a trilogy at war with itself. There was no outlined story or general plan going into the films, which resulted in the story being yanked from one direction to another with each new creative voice that came on board. The potential was there for the sequel trilogy to tell an exciting new story about legacy and new generations; it dropped the ball and had fans wishing for something different. While the trilogy might have gotten off to a good start, reception to it quickly soured, and long-time fans were ultimately left with a bad taste in their mouths.
Continuing the Skywalker Saga
20th Century Fox
Considering everything that happened with the sequel trilogy and its attempt to wrap up the Skywalker Saga, returning to that story might not be the best idea right now. The galaxy of Star Wars is vast and there are so many other stories to be told within it that don’t center around the Skywalker family. That doesn’t necessarily mean that those characters need to be abandoned completely, as they can still serve useful and exciting roles in other stories. Take The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, for example. The brief inclusions of Luke in those shows have gone a long way. Shoddy CGI aside, fans were over-the-moon about seeing that character on-screen again, even if it wasn’t in a core Star Wars movie.
Through connections to the television shows and other stories, the Skywalker Saga can still be built upon without the development of an entirely new trilogy of films. The nine films in the saga have already established a rich universe and story. Instead of leaving that all behind and blindly pushing forward, Lucasfilm can win back the hearts of fans by just playing within the universe they’ve already developed. The Mandalorian is an excellent example of them doing just that. It’s a new story set in a familiar time with recognizable characters only occasionally weaving their way into the plot.
If Lucasfilm is determined to produce Episodes 10, 11, and 12, they should wait a while before they do so. Give the audience the chance to miss some of the new characters that were established in the sequel trilogy. Even if the overall story wasn’t the strongest, the lead characters of Rey, Finn and Poe were lovable and interesting. There are certainly more stories to be told with them, but just don’t do it yet. Come back to them in ten years or so, once audiences have had the chance to fully digest the sequel trilogy and the actors have been able to explore new parts of their careers. By that time, the kids that grew up loving those characters will be adults, and they will jump at the opportunity to see their favorite characters on screen again. Just look at how successful the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+ was, as those who loved the Star Wars prequels were immensely excited to see Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen on screen together again.
Exploring New Eras
Disney-ABC Domestic Television
Instead of moving forward with yet another sequel trilogy in the Skywalker Saga right now, Star Wars could benefit from delving into new eras or times that haven’t been fully explored yet. If the teams over at Lucasfilm are really wanting to make another Star Wars trilogy, their best bet might be to set it in an as-of-yet unexplored time such as the High Republic, which has recently been introduced and established in the comics and novels. Interestingly, live-action Star Wars is actually set to dip its toes into the High Republic for the first time with The Acolyte, which is set at the end of that era about a hundred years prior to The Phantom Menace.
It could be interesting to go back even further to see the High Republic at its height with a new generation and order of Jedi to lead the way. It’s a convenient way to essentially start an entirely new Star Wars saga that does not need to remotely connect to anything that has already been done on screen. It would be a completely new starting point for Star Wars, which would shed much of the heavy expectations that come with continuing the stories of already beloved characters.
Lucasfilm has reportedly already expressed some interest in pursuing a new trilogy like this. Back in 2019, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had signed on to a new trilogy of Star Wars movies that was reportedly set in the Old Republic. This story would have been set even further back in the Star Wars timeline, with the films potentially exploring the origins of the Jedi and the Sith. The films were described as much more fantasy-oriented than Star Wars had previously been, with more of a sci-fi Lord of the Rings style to them. Unfortunately, Benioff and Weiss left that project before anything got too far off the ground, so that story is likely dead and done at Lucasfilm, at least for the time being.
A new trilogy of films like those that Benioff and Weiss were working on might just be exactly what Star Wars needs right now. Continuing the Skywalker Saga with Episodes 10, 11, and 12 would certainly get some fans interested, but it would also feel like the franchise is flat-lining and falling back into the same ideas and tropes that it has already utilized time and time again. A new trilogy of films set in a different time period and centered around new characters, or even fan-favorite Legends characters like Revan or Darth Bane, could be the start of an exciting and necessary new direction for the franchise.
