Movies

The future of Star Wars: All the known movies and TV series coming your way


A long time ago, in our very own galaxy, there was just a Star Wars movie franchise.

George Lucas’ sci-fi saga has expanded in some big ways in recent years, with various spinoff films, television series, and new episodes of the core series already released or currently in the works. Given how many projects have been announced — particularly since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 — keeping track of what’s on the horizon in the Star Wars universe can be a daunting task.

To that end, we’ve compiled a list of all the Star Wars movies and television series you can look forward to in the near future, beginning with the most recent news and announcements. Scroll to the bottom to see recently released content.

A live-action Star Wars television series has been one of the franchise’s long-rumored but never fully realized projects, dating back more than a decade. That will change soon as Disney has recruited  Iron Man and  The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau to write and produce a live-action series for Disney Plus, Disney’s exclusive streaming platform.

Titled The Mandalorian, the series will be set seven years after the Battle of Endor in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, and follow “the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic …”

The series starring Pedro Pascal (Narcos) in the title role will have a budget of approximately $100 million for its first 8-episode season, making it one of the most expensive series in recent years. The first episode will premiere on November 12, 2019, alongside the Disney Plus streaming service.

The second live-action Star Wars series announced for the direct-to-consumer Disney Plus streaming service doesn’t have a title yet, but it does have Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actors Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk reprising their roles from the 2016 film.

Luna will once again play rebel spy Cassian Andor, while Tudyk will voice his droid sidekick, K-2SO. The series will explore the characters’ early adventures during the formative years of the rebellion. Filming began in January 2019 and is ongoing

Jason LaVeris/Getty Images

Little is known about the plot of Episode IX, although we do know that its official subtitle is The Rise of Skywalker and that Episode VII – The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams is back behind the camera, concluding the new trilogy he kick-started in 2015. Billy Dee Williams will play Lando Calrissian on the big screen for the first time since The Return of the Jedi, while Carrie Fisher will appear in the film thanks to some cut footage from The Force Awakens. Luke Skywalker will play some kind of a role, as will (surprisingly) the Emperor, who will once again be portrayed by Ian McDiarmid. Naturally, the cast of colorful characters introduced in The Force Awakens and Episode VIII – The Last Jedi will be a major part of the proceedings, too.

Abrams’ return to the franchise wasn’t always the plan, as he took over the director’s chair from Colin Trevorrow when the latter filmmaker exited due to creative differences with the studio. The film got a rewrite under Abrams, and it remains to be seen whether some of the less-traditional themes introduced in 2017’s The Last Jedi will carry over to Episode IX with the more traditional-minded Abrams at the helm.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TBD)

Disney and Lucasfilm surprised just about everyone with the July 2018 announcement that a sixth season of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars was in the works. The Emmy-winning series set between the events of Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith ended its acclaimed run in 2014, and while fans were disappointed to see it go, few expected Disney to revive it a few years later. That’s exactly what the studio is doing, though, with an all-new, 12-episode season set to air on Disney’s streaming service.

The new season will pick up where the fifth broadcast season concluded, and will continue to explore the adventures of Anakin Skywalker and his padawan, Ahsoka Tano, as well as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and a host of Clone Troopers who fight alongside them.

Rian Johnson’s spinoff trilogy (TBD)

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Lucasfilm was so enamored with writer-director Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII – the Last Jedi that the studio tapped him to work on an entirely new trilogy outside the episodic Star Wars franchise. Little is known about the setting — or expected release date — of Johnson’s trilogy at this point, but it’s reported to focus on characters who have little or no connection to the Skywalker bloodline.

Given how polarizing The Last Jedi was, one thing seems certain: A full trilogy steeped in Johnson’s convention-defying take on the Star Wars universe will give audiences plenty to talk about.

The Game of Thrones creators’ series (TBD)

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In February 2018, Lucasfilm announced that Game of Thrones television series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will write and produce yet another series of Star Wars movies set outside the episodic films. There’s no official word on how many films Benioff and Weiss will work on, but these films will be separate from Johnson’s trilogy and positioned within their own corner of the Star Wars universe.

Recent releases

Star Wars: Resistance (October 7, 2018)

Star Wars: Rebels ran on Disney XD for four seasons, earning critical acclaim and fleshing out the universe in a kid-friendly manner. Unsurprisingly, Disney had a new series lined up to follow it. Star Wars: Resistance premiered in October, and it focuses on a young Resistance pilot-slash-spy named Kazuda Xiono, whose job is to keep tabs on the nefarious First Order. The show’s second season will arrive in fall 2019.

Disney is drawing inspiration from anime series for Resistance, which gives it a unique feel within the extended universe. There are several notable names attached as voice actors (Bobby Moynihan, Donald Faison, Jim Rash), as well as several familiar characters from the Star Wars universe involved in the story, including Poe Dameron and the droid BB-8. The plot was inspired by World War II stories from the grandfather of series creator Dave Filoni.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 25, 2018)

The saga’s famous shoot-first smuggler got his own live-action feature in this Star Wars spinoff film that chronicles Han Solo’s early years and his adventures prior to meeting Obi-Wan Kenobi and a whiny farmboy in the Mos Eisley Cantina. The film cast Alden Ehrenreich as a young Han Solo, and explored the origins of Han’s friendship with Chewbacca and Lando Calrissian, with Donald Glover portraying the latter character.

Solo didn’t perform as well at the box office as Disney would have hoped, but we liked it just fine. Given the rather surprising cameo at the end (we won’t spoil it for you here) and some plot strings left untied, we wouldn’t be shocked to see a sequel despite poor financial returns on Solo.

Star Wars: Forces of Destiny (2017)

This animated series premiered in July 2017 and follows many of the female characters from the Star Wars universe — including Rey, Leia Organa, Jyn Erso, and Padmé Amidala, among others — through adventures that will shape their destinies and put them on the paths familiar to their fans. A single season of 16 episodes was released on Disney’s YouTube channel, with several episodes then broadcast on the Disney Channel.

Sixteen more episodes hit YouTube and Disney in 2018, focusing largely on some of Star Wars’ most popular female characters (it earned praise from critics and audiences, and spawned a new toy line). With each episode only running 2 or 3 minutes, Forces of Destiny offers a bite-size sample of the deeper Star Wars universe that doesn’t require a considerable time investment.

Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures (2018-2019)

Lucasfilm launched another online-only animated series to complement Star Wars: Forces of Destiny in 2018. Titled Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures, the new collection of shorts re-create iconic moments from the Star Wars feature films as brief, kid-friendly cartoons.

The program is designed to make young kids Star Wars fans before they’re old enough to see the movies, but the videos are pretty fun for adults, too. New Galaxy of Adventures episodes have been arriving throughout 2019, and there’s no sign that Disney is planning to slow down any time soon.

Rumored Star Wars Stories (TBD)

The Obi-Wan Kenobi television show

Plans for an Obi-Wan Kenobi spinoff of some kind has been one of the most persistent rumors since Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012, but with the Star Wars films taking an official hiatus after Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker, those reports have changed a little. At the moment, the most recent rumors suggest that Disney’s Obi-Wan project will live on as a Disney Plus series, although key pieces of information — like whether or not Ewan McGregor will return to his prequel role, or if the show is actually happening — remain elusive.

Third anthology movie

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The subject of a third Star Wars spinoff movie has been the focus of countless rumors. Initially, Disney wanted to alternate between the episodic films and spinoff “anthology” movies and release a Star Wars film every year, but after Solo failed to meet Disney’s expectations, those plans were put on hold.

Rumors that began in 2015 have pegged bounty hunter Boba Fett as a candidate for his own movie. Reports resurfaced in May 2018 claiming that Lucasfilm was moving forward with the project, and that Logan director James Mangold was reportedly attached. However, plans for that movie were scuttled in October 2018 once cameras were rolling on The Mandalorian series.

Star Wars Detours

Way back in 2012, an animated series — titled Star Wars Detours — was announced at Star Wars Celebration VI, then quickly shelved. The series is a comedic take on the Star Wars universe, created by Robot Chicken‘s Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. According to a Reddit AMA with Green in 2014, the duo produced 39 full episodes and 62 finished scripts, but the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm gummed things up and the show never saw the light of day. In June, though, Lucasfilm filed a trademark for Detours, indicating that the series might be coming out of mothballs after all.

Updated on April 12, 2019: Updated the release date for The Mandalorian and some casting details for the untitled Cassian Andor series. Also added information about the rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show.



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