The future of “Star Wars” is now in sharp focus: Daisy Ridley’s Rey will be the central focus of the first “Star Wars” movie since 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced at a Star Wars celebration in London. On Friday. Sharmeen Obaid-Sinai (“Ms. Marvel”) will direct from a script by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”). The film follows the events of “Rise of Skywalker” and will focus on Rey as she creates a new Jedi Order.
The project marks several major milestones for the franchise: Obaid-Sinai is the first woman to direct a “Star Wars” film and the first person of color. The Pakistani filmmaker has won two Academy Awards for documentary shorts, for “Saving Face” in 2011 and “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” in 2015, and most recently for “Ms. Marvel for Disney+.”
Getting to this point is more gratifying for Lucasfilm than successfully navigating an asteroid field. Knight began writing the film after original screenwriters Damon Lindelof (HBO’s “Watchmen”) and Justin Britt-Gibson (“Expectation”) left the project in February — the latest example of high-profile creative exits from “Star Wars.” The feature project months (or even years) after their involvement was first reported.
In December 2020, Kennedy announced that “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins would helm the first post-“Rise of Skywalker” feature titled “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.” It was scheduled to open in December 2023, but after years of zero progress on the project, Disney pulled the film from its schedule in September. In March, Variety Lucasfilm said it was not in active development.
A similar fate befell the untitled “Star Wars” movie being produced by Kevin Feige, head of Lucasfilm’s corporate sibling Marvel Studios. News of Feige’s involvement surfaced in September 2019, and the project appeared to be in the works as recently as May 2022. But sources said Variety Lucasfilm has shelved the project, so it is no longer in active development.
Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”) is also developing a “Star Wars” feature that he will direct and star in, and Shawn Levy is still attached to direct Marvel’s “Deadpool 3” and a “Star Wars” movie following his work. Netflix limited series “All the Light We Can’t See.”
