Disney announced through the official Star Wars website on Thursday that they have closed a deal with director Rian Johnson (Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi) to develop a new Star Wars trilogy.
The new trilogy will be “separate from the episodic Skywalker saga” and focus on brand new characters, lore, and locations.
Rian Johnson will write and direct the first film. Ram Begman, who Johnson worked with on Brick, Looper, and The Last Jedi, is set to produce.
Along with the new trilogy, they are also working on a live-action “Star Wars” TV series to run on their upcoming entertainment streaming service. It is expected to launch in 2019.
“We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi. He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.” – Kathleen Kennedy
The information comes via Disney CEO Bob Iger, who also announced TV series based on Pixar’s “Monsters Inc.,” the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical,” and an original Marvel series.
You can read the entirety of the announcement below:
For director Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was just the beginning of his journey in a galaxy far, far away.
Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce.
As writer-director of The Last Jedi, Johnson conceived and realized a powerful film of which Lucasfilm and Disney are immensely proud. In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.
“We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.”
“We had the time of our lives collaborating with Lucasfilm and Disney on The Last Jedi,” Johnson and Bergman said in a joint statement. “Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology and we feel very lucky to have contributed to it. We can’t wait to continue with this new series of films.”
Johnson’s upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives in U.S. theaters on Dec. 15, 2017.
No release dates have been set for the new films, and no porgs were available for comment.
