Speaking at the University of Southern California, Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that Star Wars movies far beyond Star Wars: Episode IX are currently in-development. The planning for upcoming Star Wars movies stretches all the way to 2034, fifteen years beyond the current release calendar ending in 2019 with Episode IX.
“We’re just starting to talk about what happens to Star Wars after IX,” Iger said. “It’s way too early (and certainly nothing that I can reveal), but we’ve got a creative team actually thinking about what could be another decade and a half of Star Wars stories.”
Crucially, Iger’s statement is absent our biggest question about the future of Star Wars movies: will there continue to be the split between episodic Star Wars “Episodes” and anthology Star Wars “Stories,” like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the upcoming Han Solo movie? Also, can Lars Von Trier do one?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: Episode IX will both be new chapters in the ongoing “Skywalker family saga,” as Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has described the Episode entries of the series. It’s hard to imagine that coming to an end. If the current pattern continues, that means the Lucasfilm Story Group is currently planning through approximately Star Wars: Episode XVI.
“It’s kind of mind-blowing to spend an afternoon with a creative team talking about that,” Iger said. “Where could you go, where should we go?”
Maybe the best advice would be to heed sci-fi legend Ursula K. Le Guin’s 2010 warning. When science fiction is “pretty close toward being the norm,” she said. “Watch out when that happens. It won’t be fun anymore.”
The next entry will be Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which premieres Dec. 15.
