Episode IX won’t be the last Star Wars movie we see, but apparently not even Lucasfilm knows what the next spinoff will be just yet.
After the Han Solo film next year and Episode IX, Star Wars has just one more movie announced right now. In the vein of Han Solo and Rogue One, it’ll be part of the greater anthology of movies in the franchise. Here’s the thing: we still don’t know what that third spinoff will be.
Let’s see what sort of possibilities we can identify. With Rogue One and Han Solo, Lucasfilm has identified perhaps the two best avenues for these ongoing movies. What we’ll dub the Han method is to take a major, presumably non-Skywalker character. They then get a film that tells us more about them. Our best guess for a Han method 2020 film would likely be something about Obi-Wan Kenobi, because reports keep popping up that there is totally a plan for that. Additionally, Ewan McGregor isn’t getting any younger. (Not that he looks old, but the point remains.)
Before you say it, it is probably not the Boba Fett movie, either, since that seems to have been pretty much set aside for two years now, according to IGN.
The Rogue One method, meanwhile, appears to be expanding upon a story detail already mentioned. Then, the movie built up new characters around that. Because of that nature, it’s harder to guess. But something that may be of interest is a Sith film. Perhaps we could even see the “tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise,” to quote Revenge of the Sith. With Rogue One, Star Wars let itself get a little darker again. In the hands of a good director, a villainous story may be just what the franchise needs to continue expanding.
Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, doesn’t either. Here’s what she had to say to Vanity Fair (with our hats also being tipped to io9) when asked about that 2020 movie being one of the anthology films.
"“Yes. We haven’t identified it yet, but yes. We have a couple of things right now that we’re circling, and we’ll make a decision between the two pretty shortly. It’s probably for 2020, and we will make a decision by June.”"
In case you haven’t looked at a calendar recently, June is next month. Of course, we don’t expect that Lucasfilm and Disney will actually announce what they’re doing to the world right away. Remember, we didn’t even know that Star Wars: The Last Jedi was called The Last Jedi until about four months ago.
Next: Princess Leia's 20 bravest moments
Perhaps we’re wrong, though, and we’ll learn more about the 2020 film even before Episode IX. It could happen, right?