A shake-up has hit the galaxy far, far away as the studio wrangles with its live-action future.
Next year, Star Wars will officially return to the big screen with Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026). While not confirmed that the movie will replace the fourth season of the Disney+ show, it will lead the live-action movie slate despite Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announcing three other movies in early 2023.
Those three–directed by James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Dave Filoni–are seemingly still in the works, as are films from Patty Jenkins and Shawn Levy, and a new trilogy from Simon Kinberg, but the future is far from stable.
James Mangold’s movie could go into production soon, with the director confirming it will take place 25,000 years before anything Star Wars has ever done before, while Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey Skywalker project just gained another new writer in the form of George Nolfi. The future of Rey is uncertain especially considering Kinberg’s trilogy is expected to be Episode X, Episode XI, and Episode XII of the Skywalker Saga.
Levy’s movie, however, is said to be completely separate from the Skywalker Saga and is set to star Ryan Gosling in the lead role. When it comes to Patty Jenkins, the on-again-off-again Rogue Squadron is apparently back on the schedule but no news yet on when fans may get to see it.
When it comes to TV, Andor Season 2 will drop this year, and Dave Filoni is writing Ahsoka Season 2. The pair of shows will come after the lukewarm response to both of 2024’s offerings: The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew. The former drew The Last Jedi-levels of discourse and was ultimately canceled by Disney, while the latter garnered a better response but low viewership overall.
The turbulence of the live-action slate has seemingly caused a change at Lucasfilm with Rayne Roberts, former development vice president being replaced by Derek Hoffman.
“Derek Hoffman has been named as Lucasfilm’s new vice president of development, TheWrap has learned,” the outlet wrote. “Hoffman will oversee development of live-action projects.” They continued: “He replaces former longtime development exec Rayne Roberts, who left the company at the end of last year. Roberts co-developed The Acolyte with Leslye Headland, where she was credited as a producer.”
The Acolyte became a huge discussion point last year as Leslye Headland’s show challenged Star Wars expectations. While many enjoyed its story and its bold decision to go into uncharted territory, a vocal segment of the “fandom” continued to attack the cast and creators of the series, leaving it struggling to gain momentum.
With a new head of live-action, how will Star Wars chart its course into the future? And, just how will the many movies that are in development play out with fans? Only time will tell. As for Hoffman, Lucasfilm’s bio on the new VP highlights his success with other big franchises.
“Getting his start with The Donners’ Company as a runner, he quickly moved into an assistant role for director Richard Donner and then to associate producer on the feature film Timeline and co-producer on 16 Blocks,” the official Lucasfilm website writes. “Derek next became a development executive and later vice president for the company where he worked on each film in the X-Men franchise, including as associate producer on X-Men: Days of Future Past.”
“Derek ultimately spearheaded the franchise’s move into television serving as co-executive producer on the FX series Legion and as executive producer on FOX’s The Gifted,” the bio continues. “At Lucasfilm, Derek will help lead the team that develops our stories for adaptation in live action.”
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