Just when it seemed like the main Star Wars film saga would end with 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, it turns out there are more stories to tell from the intergalactic galaxy far, far away. It appears that with each entry in George Lucas' visionary series, there’s another character’s story to explore or more of an expansion of the events the original trilogy introduced us to. The future Star Wars movie plans were revealed at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, and Indiana Jones 5’s James Mangold will be helming one of them. The Logan director recently explained how his Star Wars movie came to be.
Originally back in 2018, James Mangold was going to join the Star Wars film universe with a possible Boba Fett movie. However, he shot down those rumors of the Bounty Hunter-focused project as he wanted to focus on the biographical sports drama Ford Vs. Ferrari. While a Boba Fett movie might never happen, Mangold has decided to take a step back into the Star Wars saga by telling Gizmodo that he plans on going farther back into the history of the galactic empire before Jedis even came into being.
So when I mentioned to Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president] the idea that I had about going backward—really far backward—I was surprised that it excited her and the other wonderful people she works with at Lucasfilm.
James Mangold’s upcoming Star Wars movie will be called Dawn of the Jedi, taking place during a time before Jedis existed. This upcoming Star Wars movie will be about the first people to ever use and feel the Force. This can be an intriguing concept since we’re used to seeing Padawan learners like Luke, Anakin, Rey, and others learn about the idea of the Force; but how did a generation of masters learn about this energy field that encompasses everything in the galaxy? Just when you think you know all of the answers to everything having to do with this sci-fi franchise, award-winning filmmakers like James Mangold are willing to fill in the gaps.
I personally think it was a smart move for the Logan director to put his Boba Fett movie on hold to give Star Wars fans something more original to the science-fiction saga. After all, a character origin story like Solo: A Star Wars Story was a box office failure and viewed as the lowest-grossing Star Wars movie. By wanting to delve deep into Star Wars' roots, Mangold decided to trust his instincts and continue to sell his story to the Lucasfilm president. As he shared:
For me, it’s about, I want to be part of the saga, but I also don’t want to be holding so much lore in the air that you can hardly tell a story. And what I really wanted to do, what I told her, was just can we make a kind of the Ten Commandments of the Force, you know? A kind of origin story of how the Force came to be known, understood, wielded, and harnessed.
Dawn of the Jedi will be part of a trilogy of Star Wars movies with one of them being Rey returning to the franchise with her own movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Dave Filoni ending the Mando-vese with an upcoming film. Clearly, Kathleen Kennedy was sold on Dawn of the Jedi as her interest in new Star Wars movies came from this sci-fi space opera being a continual story. As you think about how massive this George Lucas-stemmed series turned out to be with its plethora of characters and timeline of events, there’s always a new angle to tell. Kennedy says going forward, the franchise’s film strategy will take some cues from the James Bond movies in releasing a new Star Wars film every three to four years. This way, there will be no pressure to release a new movie from this trilogy every year as the story unfolds gradually.
James Mangold will be going farther into the Star Wars saga than any other filmmaker has, taking us back to day one of when the Force came to be. You better believe the Force will be strong in a number of fans as this upcoming movie will finally answer the burning questions surrounding this mysterious, metaphysical power.
