Star Wars, Lucasfilm backs away from Spin-off movies
By J. Wiley
Reports are coming in that Lucasfilm has decided to move away from the Star Wars “Story” anthology films.
After the recent box office downer of Solo: A Star Wars Story the company has seen fit to put the focus squarely on the remaining Saga films and new trilogies like that of Rian Johnson.
The news comes to us from Collider and is somewhat of a drastic reversal considering the recent murmurings of as many as nine films in the making. Both the James Mangold-helmed Boba Fett and Ewan Mcgregor lead Obi-Wan films will be the most immediate causalities of this decision.
As I most recently posited, a stronger and clearer focus on crafting Saga style films may be in the best interest of Lucasfilm. My colleague Jason Burke elaborated further on the seeming identity crisis of Lucasfilm and the diminishing returns that the “Star Wars Story” anthology films incur.
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While I personally would have enjoyed seeing McGregor return to the screen as Obi-Wan Kenobi, a role many consider to be a shining light in the Prequel Trilogy, I cannot help but feel that this is the correct choice.
Fans needn’t despair the decision either. Star Wars is as epic a franchise as there has ever been, spanning over generations and multiple forms of media. It is also still a monumental financial draw – recent events notwithstanding.
On the small screen, we will be getting the Jon Favreau live action and Dave Filoni Star Wars Resistance animated series.
Beyond Rian Johnson, Lucasfilm still has David Benioff and D.B. Weiss waiting in the wings to deliver an as yet unconfirmed number of films.
Next: Episode IX Rey, Kylo Ren rumors debunked and explored
And lest we forget December of 2019, we will be getting the J.J. Abrams-directed Episode IX. With the clearing of the slate this move represents, Lucasfilm can ensure maximal effort is given to sticking the landing of the Sequel Trilogy. There is every reason to anticipate much more fun in the galaxy far, far away.