Lucasfilm/Disney
Lucasfilm, the Disney-owned studio behind the Star Wars franchise, pulled a bit of a news dump this week as they dropped a major update about the franchise in the wake of the results of the 2024 Presidential Election.
On Thursday, news broke that Lucasfilm had tapped writer/director/producer Simon Kinberg to helm a new trilogy of films, rumored to potentially be episodes 10, 11, and 12 of the Skywalker Saga (which they previously claimed would conclude with 2019’s disastrous The Rise of Skywalker).
Kinberg is an interesting choice to helm a new trilogy of Star Wars films considering that he’s a bad one. While the 51-year-old has had some successes as a writer (Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Sherlock Holmes) and a producer (X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Martian, Logan, Deadpool), his track record as film’s main creative force is severely underwhelming.
His two directorial feature films so far are 2019’s Dark Phoenix, undoubtedly one of the worst movies in Fox’s X-Men franchise, and 2022’s The 355, which you haven’t heard of. He’s also got some absolute stinkers as a writer, such as XXX: State of the Union, X-Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four, and his aforementioned duo of directed movies.
Further rumors indicate that not only will Kinberg’s trilogy be a continuation of the Skywalker Saga, but it will also feature Daisy Ridley’s Rey in an Obi-Wan-like role.
Daisy Ridley’s Rey will reportedly be “positioned as the Obi-Wan” of the upcoming ‘STAR WARS’ trilogy.
(Via: @TheInSneider) pic.twitter.com/NrVN8FkobR
— The Hollywood Handle (@HollywoodHandle) November 8, 2024
Given the toxicity of the Star Wars fan base, Rey is one of the more controversial characters in the franchise, with some critics arguing that she’s a “Mary Sue,” and others just simply not liking the idea of a woman as a main character in the franchise.
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, it was announced that Ridley would be starring as the character in a solo film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker and rumored to be titled New Jedi Order. Like virtually all of the projects Lucasfilm has announced in recent years, however, the status of that one is uncertain.