In a Bloomberg Television interview, Walt Disney Company Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger stated the Star Wars films will go on hiatus after the release of Episode IX.
The Skywalker saga is set to conclude with the release of Star Wars: Episode IX, over four decades after the epic franchise kicked off with the first installment in 1977. However, Walt Disney Company Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger assured fans Lucasfilm is still developing future feature film projects for the franchise with new characters:
“We have not announced any specific plans for movies thereafter. There are movies in development, but we have not announced them.”
However, the Disney chief noted the Star Wars film franchise will take a break after the release of Episode IX before new projects hit theaters:
“We will take a pause, some time, and reset. Because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Stars Wars movies, but there will be a bit of a hiatus.”
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be released in theaters on December 19, 2019. Directed by J. J. Abrams, the film stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Ian McDiarmid, and Billy Dee Williams. Carrie Fisher will appear as General Leia Organa through the use of previously unreleased footage shot for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Disney’s television plans for the Star Wars franchise include a Cassian Andor series set before the events of Rogue One and Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian:
After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.
The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Carl Weathers, Omid Abtahi, Werner Herzog, and Nick Nolte. The series was written by Jon Favreau, who also serves as an executive producer alongside Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson. Karen Gilchrist is also on board as a co-executive producer.
Dave Filoni will direct the first episode of the series and additional episodes will be helmed by Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi, Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard, Dope director Rick Famuyiwa, and Jessica Jones episode director Deborah Chow.
The Mandalorian will be available exclusively on Disney+ on November 12, 2019.
Source: Bloomberg Television
