Star Wars Confirms Future Sequel Trilogy Era Movie Plans

Speaking to Empire over the weekend, Kennedy revealed when on the in-universe Star Wars timeline these upcoming movies will likely take place. Spoiler: Waititi, Jenkins, and Feige’s films could be set around and beyond the Sequel Trilogy.

“We’re moving further beyond the existing sequels as we look to our movie space,” she told Empire. “The sequel era] is what we talk a lot about in terms of where we’re going with our movies, and just how far out from that we’ll go. That’s very much the space we’re concentrating on.”

Kennedy reiterated this to Total Film, saying that there was “no hesitancy” to explore past the Skywalker Saga: “We need to create a whole new saga. That takes a lot. There’s a lot of conversation around that.”

The original announcement for Rogue Squadron teased that the movie would “move the saga into the future era of the galaxy,” implying even back then that Lucasfilm was ready to tell stories set after The Rise of Skywalker, but here Kennedy seems to be suggesting that this is the plan for all of the films in development. There’s precedent for Star Wars exploring eras far beyond its original Skywalker Saga characters, of course. The now non-canon Legends continuity stretched to over a hundred years after the Original Trilogy, introducing the descendants of both Luke and Leia as well as all new characters, Sith villains, and galactic conflicts.

But will Disney take that big a risk with its own Star Wars canon? Could setting a film so far beyond any recognizable characters alienate movie audiences who just want more of the heroes and villains they know and love? Lucasfilm is currently testing the waters with The High Republic, a line of books and comics set 200 years before The Phantom Menace when the Skywalkers and Palpatines of the galaxy weren’t even around yet (as far as we know). While several High Republic novels have topped best-seller lists, suggesting there is an appetite for Star Wars to break away from the familiar, the real test will be The Acolyte, an upcoming Disney+ series set in the High Republic era — but only 100 years before the films, meaning the studio will likely still be able to include a few cameos in there. A 700-year-old Master Yoda has already appeared in The High Republic comics, for example.

If the current era of cameo-heavy Disney+ shows is any indication, it’s more likely these post-Sequel movies would be set just far enough away from Resistance and First Order drama to move past that trilogy’s baggage, but still close enough that the door would be open to fan-favorite characters. Would Lucasfilm really make a post-Episode IX Rogue Squadron film that doesn’t at least feature a cameo from Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron? Seems hard to believe.

Star Wars Confirms Future Sequel Trilogy Era Movie Plans