According to reports, ‘Star Wars: Rebels’ co-creator Simon Kinberg has been tapped by Lucasfilm to create a new trilogy of movies set in a galaxy far, far, away.
No plot details are available, but Kinberg is set to write and produce three new films which are said to feature new characters and will not be a continuation of the “Skywalker Saga”. Kinberg’s films would join a host of other new ‘Star Wars’ projects in development at Lucasfilm. These include James Mangold’s movie about the Dawn of the Jedi, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy film which sees Daisy Ridley return as Rey, Donald Glover’s ‘Lando’ series, and a film from Taika Waititi.
Kinberg is no stranger to ‘Star Wars’ having co-created the much beloved and Emmy-nominated ‘Star Wars: Rebels’ alongside the brilliant Dave Filoni, who was made Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm in 2023, and was a creative consultant on ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. Kinberg’s other work includes writing the 2005 film ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, writing and producing ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, ‘Days of Future Past’ & ‘Apocalypse’, along with making his directorial debut on ‘Dark Phoenix’. He also co-created the Apple TV+ series ‘Invasion’ with David Weil and produced the brilliant genre-bending ‘Sugar’ starring Colin Farrell.
Of course, Lucasfilm has a habit of letting news leak or even announcing projects for ‘Star Wars’ which have never made it to production in recent years, and people behind this news are keen to stress this is in “early development” right now, so may not make it to screen. Other films which were revealed but then canned over the past few years include projects from Patty Jenkins (‘Wonder Woman’), Marvel’s Kevin Feige, Rian Johnson (‘The Last Jedi’) and David Benioff/D.B. Weiss (‘Game Of Thrones’), so we’ll have to see if Kinberg fare’s any better.
Whatever happens, it’s likely to be a while off before we get any movement at all on Kinberg’s new trilogy, as he’s also signed up to produce Edgar Wright’s ‘The Running Man’ remake, and to produce a new ‘Star Trek’ movie, both for Paramount. Interestingly, this is something of “history repeating” as JJ Abrams found himself in a similar situation heading up both ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’. However, where as Abrams ended up dropping Trek for Wars, Kinberg is committed to doing the Trek film first, meaning any new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy from him is going to happen later rather than sooner.
In the meantime, we do have a number of confirmed ‘Star Wars’ projects on the horizon. ‘Star Wars Skeleton Crew‘ lands on Disney+ on 3rd December, with ‘Star Wars: Andor‘ Season 2 landing in 2025. There is also ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu Movie’ due to premiere in May 2026.
