Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is currently out in cinemas and Variety was able to speak with Disney CEO Bob Iger on the film’s red carpet asking him directly about the possibility of returning to trilogies in the future.
Something that Iger doesn’t entirely rule out.
You can watch that exchange below.
Disney CEO Bob Iger hasn't counted out future #StarWars trilogies https://t.co/XHVm99zIgV pic.twitter.com/3uvRsIjPwz
— Variety (@Variety) December 17, 2019
We currently have a better idea of what is happening on the television side of live-action Star Wars for the not so distant future compared to the feature films.
The Mandalorian’s season finale airing on December 27th along with a second season greenlit.
Lucasfilm is also working on a Kenobi series directed by The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow and prequel actor Ewan McGregor reprising the role of Ben Kenobi (the project was originally developed as a feature film) with filming set to begin in the summer of 2020 (shooting locales said to include both England and California).
A Cassian Andor series starring Diego Luna and Alan Tudyk is also expected to begin shooting in the summer of 2020.
More Disney+ shows are expected to be announced in the future.
On the film side, we know that Rian Johnson is still officially developing a brand new Star Wars trilogy (Kathleen Kennedy confirms he’s still involved) and Kevin Feige is attached to produce a separate film as well (Feige suggesting it would also be something fresh/new).
There was also a rumbling earlier in the year from BuzzFeed that screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Altered Carbon, Avatar, Alita: Battle Angel, Ghost In The Shell) was developing a potential trilogy of films set during the Old Republic (Kennedy confirmed to MTVNews they indeed have been talking about something concerning the era).
However, Lucasfilm nor Disney has confirmed that this Old Republic project even exists. We’re still hopeful that the reporting was accurate as the time period would allow the studio much more wiggle-room for new original stories and characters to explore that aren’t beholden to existing canon or source material.
Whatever the next Star Wars movie will be it currently has a release date of December 16th, 2022.
Also, Bob Iger spoke with Time as he was named their Businessperson of 2019 and teased he could be interested in purchasing the James Bond franchise when asked about a list of potential IPs, which included Agent 007.
IGER: “We’re not looking to buy anything right now. But I’ve always been a huge James Bond fan.”
After the purchase of 21 Century Fox costing $71.3 billion and the expensive launch of their streaming service Disney+ (along with the money spent on creating original programming), they’re not exactly flush with cash at the moment to be spending billions on buying-out franchise IPs like Bond.
You might remember that current James Bond actor Daniel Craig had a cameo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens playing a Stormtrooper on the Starkiller Base.
The Bond franchise shares studio space at Pinewood Studios UK with various Disney productions. An example, during the filming of No Time To Die, Disney was shooting Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker reshoots along with productions of Marvel Studios films Black Widow and Eternals.
The current distribution deal with EON/MGM (Bond rights holders) is strictly for No Time To Die and they’ll be seeking a new distribution partner for the next era of the Bond franchise as Daniel Craig isn’t expected to reprise the role in Bond 26 (reportedly being penned by screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge).
In No Time To Die, Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
No Time To Die will be released on April 8th, 2020.
SOURCE: VARIETY & TIME
