New Star Wars Movie Trilogy Delayed

The new trilogy of Star Wars movies slated to begin in 2022 has been pushed back by a year. Here are the details.

Star Wars: Squadrons Zoom Background
Photo: Electronic Arts

The new Star Wars trilogy originally slated to begin in 2022 has been pushed back by one year due to delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The news, which was first reported by Deadline, should come as absolutely no surprise, as studios have continued to struggle to re-open productions amid the global emergency.

The first film of the trilogy, which was scheduled for Dec. 16, 2022, has now been moved to Dec. 22, 2023, which means a longer wait for Star Wars fans anxious for more movies after The Rise of Skywalker concluded the Skywalker Saga in 2019. The second movie has been pushed back from Dec. 20, 2024 to Dec. 19. 2025. The trilogy closer will now bow on Dec. 17, 2027, instead of Dec. 18, 2026.

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We know little else about these new Star Wars films beyond their release dates. There have been several filmmakers tied to these new movies, which have been positioned to lead a new era of Star Wars storytelling on the big screen. It was originally announced in 2017 that The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was attached to develop and potentially helm a new trilogy of Star Wars movies, but we’ve heard little else about his involvement since.

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Then, in 2019, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were tapped to direct the first film in the trilogy before they bowed out of the project due to another commitment with Netflix. A report at the time suggested that Benioff and Weiss had been interested in telling a Jedi origin story set millennia before The Phantom Menace but the creators and Lucasfilm allegedly didn’t see eye-to-eye on the direction the movie should take. Ultimately, it seems that the project has now been scrapped.

In May, Thor: Ragnarok and The Mandalorian director Taika Waititi was tapped to direct an upcoming Star Wars movie, although the announcement didn’t specify which movie Waititi would be working on at the time. According to Deadline, the director may in fact be set to helm the first film in the trilogy due out in 2023. Of course, this would depend on how things go with Waititi’s other big Disney project, Thor: Love and Thunder, which is currently slated for Feb. 11, 2022. If that movie were to also be delayed, it could make Waititi’s involvement with the first movie of the new Star Wars trilogy a bit more complicated.

Whatever the case, Waititi confirmed to the BBC that he’s begun writing his Star Wars movie but declined to say more about the project. Judging from the secrecy surrounding past Disney Star Wars movies, it’s unlikely we’ll hear much about the new movie’s story until the first trailer is released in a few years.

We’ll keep you updated as we hear more about the new Star Wars trilogy. In the meantime, check out the schedule of all upcoming Star Wars movies and TV series here.

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