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Will Disney Really End The Star Wars Saga After Episode 9?
Lucasfilm’s Star Wars sequel trilogy will wrap up with J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode IX, but does that mean the entire Skywalker Saga will come to an end in 2019? Some fans seem certain the end is nigh, but we’re not so sure.
When Walt Disney Studios acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, George Lucas stepped down as the studio’s president and put Kathleen Kennedy in charge of shepherding the new era of Star Wars. That meant not only producing Star Wars: Episode VII, VIII, and IX, but also a slew of spinoff films that expand various parts of the Saga and flesh out characters’ backstories. Rogue One started this new experiment in 2016 and Solo continues it this year, with outings for Boba Fett and Obi-Wan also in the works.
This has marked out a new and different future for Star Wars, one built on world rather than prior story. There’s talk of Solo launching its own trilogy, and of course The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson is starting his own, entirely disconnected Star Wars trilogy.
But while these non-episodic movies will certainly tide over Star Wars fans (and studio executives) for many years, eventually the mainline Star Wars Saga will return, whether the Skywalkers will be a part of them or not.
The specifics are vague and contradictory, but it’s generally accepted that George Lucas initially came up with the idea for a nine-part Star Wars Saga – in addition to his prime trilogy, there was a prequel trilogy focusing on Anakin’s turn to the dark side, Palpatine’s rise to power, and the Jedi’s downfall, and a sequel trilogy passed the torch to a new generation – while he was developing the story for what would eventually become The Empire Strikes Back. However, that was Lucas‘ plan. It’s clear that Lucasfilm isn’t following Lucas’ outline to a T, but rather forging their own path… for the most part.
The studio reportedly threw out Lucas’ story treatments for Episode VII, VIII, and IX, and they started from scratch when Abrams boarded The Force Awakens. However, while Lucasfilm is going about developing their own story on their own terms – even going as far as to challenge what viewers think makes an ideal Star Wars movie – they are still roughly following Lucas’ general premise to conclude the Skywalker Saga with Episode IX. That’s evident by not only Han Solo’s death, but also Luke Skywalker’s demise and Ben Solo’s (Kylo Ren) establishment as the First Order’s new Supreme Leader (all broad Lucas concepts). Is the same true for ending at 9?
After all, Episode IX will be an end in some ways; it will likely see the end of the Skywalker lineage, with the death of Carrie Fisher seeing Leia written out and odds-on for Kylo Ren – the only member of the family in the new generation – to die. Since Star Wars has always been about the tug between the dark and the light centered on this clan, many expect this to mean a complete stop the Episode movies, allowing the aforementioned spinoffs to become the “new Star Wars“. Indeed, before Colin Trevorrow exited Episode IX, he said that the film would provide an “emotionally resonant conclusion” to the story, thus indicating plans to end the Skywalker Saga in 2019. But is that too short-sighted?
Star Wars is the biggest IP in film history. In fact, it’s the only franchise ever to hold the record the highest-grossing film of all-time at the domestic box office twice. The original film became the first installment to achieve that milestone in 1977 with $307.2 million, though it was later beaten by Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. The record kept being toppled until James Cameron’s 2009 film, Avatar, set the bar with a whopping $760.5 million. Anticipation for J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, however, allowed the film to become the second installment in the franchise to blast past the Na’vi with an astonishing $965.4 million – and that’s a record that Hollywood will be hard-pressed to top.
Even though Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi isn’t expected to break those sort of records, it’s still earning enough for it to crack the top 10 highest-grossing films of all-time at the worldwide box office – and that’s only after one month of release. It still has quite a ways to go before it leaves theaters, and it could end up in the top 5 highest-grossing movies ever. While Rogue One also hit a billion, it’s established the anthologies as incrementally smaller; the real appeal of Star Wars nevertheless lies in the main Skywalker story, and it would be foolish to simply cut it off.
In November 2017, Kathleen Kennedy revealed that they’re already planning the next decade of Star Wars beyond Episode IX, specifically with regard to new stories involving the sequel trilogy’s heroes: Rey, Finn, Poe, and BB-8. She didn’t mention if the new stories would be anthologies or Saga films, but it makes clear some form of Episode X-continuation is on the cards. This chimes with what Kennedy said at Star Wars Celebration Orlando, with the producer making clear there’s room for the Skywalker Saga to continue beyond Episode IX depending on the story; while there’s no definitive plan for the Saga to go on past Abrams’ film, it’s clear that Lucasfilm doesn’t want to let go of their new heroes just yet. And after The Last Jedi took pointed steps beyond the Skywalkers, it’s not hard to imagine them crafting a new form of Saga storytelling
The way Star Wars movies are released has changed a lot in recent years. George Lucas took his time developing the franchise: the original trilogy came at a rate of one every three years, and then it wasn’t until 1999 – 16 years after Return of the Jedi – that the first installment in the prequel trilogy hit screens. But now, under Walt Disney Studios’ oversight, Lucasfilm is releasing one movie a year, with core episodes every two.
Based on that schedule, Star Wars Episode X could in theory drop as soon as December 2021. However, that assumes short-term acceleration. Lucasfilm is thinking over a decade ahead, and even if Episode X is already on their minds, they’re likely to want another gap between the trilogies to allow actors to age up and create a similar audience hunger to what allowed The Force Awakens to be such a hit. In that case, it’s unlikely a fourth trilogy would start until the late 2020s, after Johnson’s series is over, perhaps timed for the franchise’s 50th anniversary in 2027.
That may seem a long way off – it’s eight years after Episode IX hits theaters – but that’s exactly the point. To say Star Wars Episode IX is the true end of the Skywalker Saga is short-sighted, regardless of what happens to Kylo Ren.
