Why A New Star Wars Movie Is Taking Disney So Long

As a "crazy old man" (in the words of Owen Lars) once put it, the truths that we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. If you're the type of "Star Wars" fan who engages with each and every corner of the franchise, you've likely been a bit overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of new titles set in a galaxy far, far away since 2019. On the other hand, if the movies are the only part of "Star Wars" you engage with, you've probably been tapping your foot impatiently in the five years since Sheev Palpatine somehow returned and was once again defeated, bringing the Skywalker Saga to a close. It's a far cry from what Disney promised when it announced plans to unveil a new "Star Wars" film every year back in 2015.

The absence of "Star Wars" on the big screen certainly isn't for lack of trying. Over the last decade, Lucasfilm has commissioned more "Star Wars" films than Yoda can shake his stick at, most of which have since been outright abandoned or indefinitely delayed. Even many of the ones that are actively moving forward at the time of writing appear in danger of collapsing at a moment's notice. At this juncture, it's only really safe to say "The Mandalorian & Grogu" will be the movie that finally ends the drought upon its arrival in 2026, seven years after the debut of "Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker." That will be the longest break between "Star Wars" theatrical films since 1999, tied only with the seven year period between "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" in 2008 and "Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens" in 2015.

It begs the question: How did we get to a place where, after seven years, the best idea the Mouse House can come up with for how to keep one of the most popular properties in box office history going in theaters is by (checks notes) making a movie spinoff of a TV show? The answer will require a bit of unpacking.

George Lucas was flying by the seat of his pants when he made the original and prequel "Star Wars" trilogies, but he was also the main guiding creative on all six films. It's why those movies never feel in conflict with one another; even when Darth Vader became Luke Skywalker's father and Leia Organa his sister, Lucas and his crew found a way to make it work for the story ... and the stuff that didn't work (namely, that awkward Luke-Leia kiss) mostly became something for "Star Wars" fans to chuckle at. Frustratingly, however, Disney and Lucasfilm neglected to form a rough map — one that still left plenty of room for sudden deviations — for where their sequel trilogy might go the way Lucas had on the original trilogy, much less determine how the trilogy's rollout would work in conjunction with other "Star Wars" films.

Instead, the studios panicked at the first sign of trouble (namely, the polarizing response to Rian Johnson's "Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi," coupled with "Solo: A Star Wars Story" misfiring at the box office), to the degree that they abandoned their movie-a-year plan entirely after "The Rise of Skywalker." Was that the right move? Absolutely. What they shouldn't have done, though, is retreat from taking artistic risks the way they have starting with "The Rise of Skywalker," a film that blatantly attempts to walk back the bolder storytelling decisions made in "The Last Jedi." Since then, Disney and Lucasfilm have become so fixated on making "Star Wars" movies that will appeal to everyone they've become wracked with indecision. It's why the only film that feels like a sure thing right now, "The Mandalorian & Grogu," also just-so-happens to be the safest box office bet (maybe).

To put it another way: You know that scene in "The Good Place" where Chidi (William Jackson Harper) is struggling to pick a muffin to buy and tells the vendor, "Okay, I've made my decision. I want to ... start crying?" That's basically how I picture Disney and Lucasfilm executives every time they meet to talk about green-lighting the next "Star Wars" film.

The recent news that Simon Kinberg has been hired to develop a new "Star Wars" film trilogy has understandably raised some red flags for the folks who are only really familiar with his, shall we say, spotty output working on 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" movies. But it's also important to bear in mind that Simon Kinberg the writer-director (who gave us duds like "Dark Phoenix" and "The 355") has a very different track record than Simon Kinberg the writer-producer (who gave us "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past"). It's the latter, after all, who co-created the Disney XD animated series "Star Wars Rebels," which is frankly one of the best "Star Wars" things ever.

Curiously, this is actually the second time Kinberg has found himself in this position. According to Variety, he, legendary "Star Wars" writer Lawrence Kasdan, and Oscar-winning "Toy Story 3" scribe Michael Arndt were recruited to serve as the original "brain trust" on the sequel trilogy before Arndt's script for what would become "The Force Awakens" was scrapped (along with his and the others' ideas for the rest of the trilogy). Kinberg's working relationship with "Rebels" co-creators Carrie Beck and Dave Filoni would also later lead to him being tapped to write James Mangold's Boba Fett movie before it too was abandoned mere months after it was announced.

What's interesting about Kinberg is that he has a reputation for, to quote Variety, knowing "how to talk to film executives about franchise filmmaking in a way that allays their concerns about creative decisions affecting the costly bottom line for these kinds of projects." At the same time, he's a comparatively artist-friendly individual who's adept at helping filmmakers navigate the treacherous studio system, which explains how he's ended up working with directors like Neill Blomkamp, Kenneth Branagh, and Ridley Scott. Even back when Kinberg and Mangold were developing their Boba Fett film together, it appears the former gave the latter a fair amount of freedom to pursue his vision (so much so Mangold later mused that he was "probably scaring the s*** out of everyone" with what he'd been planning).

Baffling as it may seem to argue the guy who wrote "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "X-Men: Apocalypse" could be the key to getting "Star Wars" out of its staying pattern on the movie side, it's not necessarily a terrible idea. Kinberg may well be the perfect candidate to help organize Lucasfilm's "Star Wars" film slate, which currently has several filmmakers developing their own distinct takes on the property at the same time without, per se, knowing what other directors are working on. In point of fact, The Hollywood Reporter's sources allege that "Some Lucasfilm directors are aware of what others are working on while others are not." It's given rise to a chaotic situation where Disney and Lucasfilm have somehow managed to be over-controlling of the franchise without actually knowing what they even want to do with the brand.

A separate pierce by THR titled "Is Disney Bad at Star Wars?" has expressed a similar sentiment, noting:

"It's unclear if 'Star Wars' requires more order or less — more Empire-like corporate oversight or more Rebellion-like creative chaos. But it's long seemed like there's somehow too much of both, which has resulted in a master plan that's constantly being rewritten, and content that sometimes feels undercooked and clunky."

We've seen examples of this on both the film and television sides of "Star Wars." Shows like "The Acolyte" were swiftly canceled when they failed to become an insta-success and even long-developing movies like "Obi-Wan Kenobi" were hastily configured as series as plans for the property shifted. Let's also not forget that "Solo," one of the projects that helped get Disney and Lucasfilm in this quagmire, might've even become a hit had the studios stuck to their guns and let original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller do their thing rather than replacing them mid-production (causing the film's budget to essentially double in the process). At this stage, it feels like what "Star Wars" really needs is a clearer idea of where it's headed and how its various pieces fit into that puzzle. Kinberg isn't our only hope, thankfully, but he might just be suited for that specific task.

"The Mandalorian & Grogu" is scheduled to open in theaters on May 22, 2026.