By: Dominic Jones
Yesterday it was reported that Lucasfilm was putting the whole idea of doing stand alone films, otherwise known as the A Star Wars Story series, on hold. This meant that the rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett films that Stephen Daldry and James Mangold, respectively, were rumored to be working on were being shelved. This may not be the case, according to two follow up reports that came out today, one from ABC's Clayton Sandell and one from Jason Ward over at MakingStarWars.net.
Sandell and ABC reached out to Lucasfilm sources for comment on the rumors that the A Star Wars Story series was being put on hold. The company told them the reports are "inaccurate". Sandell adds,
"Instead, Lucasfilm told ABC News there are still "multiple" Star Wars
films currently in development that have not been officially announced.
Those projects are moving forward separate from an already-announced
"Star Wars" trilogy being overseen by "The Last Jedi" director Rian
Johnson and another series of movies from "Game of Thrones" producers
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss."
Seeing as ABC and Lucasfilm are both owned by Disney, this may be as close to an official statement as we get about all of this. While this doesn't explicitly confirm that the rumored Boba Fett and Obi-Wan movies are happening, it does state that Lucasfilm is still looking to make stand alone adventures, like Rogue One and Solo, outside of their larger series of films after Episode IX.
As for what may have led to these rumors over the past few days, we turn to MakingStarWars.net for a potential explanation. Ward reports that there has been a Star Wars movie shelved in the last couple of weeks, but it's not the rumored Kenobi or Fett movies. Instead it was a film that would have centered around the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine. According to Ward,
"Crew members of the previous Star Wars film said
they believed the other movie was about the spaceport Luke Skywalker
goes into the original film. In other words, my sources are saying this
movie we never even heard about was canned or postponed and it does not
mean the Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett films are doomed."
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| You never heard of the Mos Eisley movie? It's the film that was shelved without ever being announced. |
He also reports that when pre-production was stopped on the Mos Eisley movie led to rumors circulating amongst the Star Wars team at Pinewood that this was bad news for the Kenobi and Fett movies. However, all indications are that this decision is specific to the Mos Eisley film and does not impact any other A Star Wars Story films that may be in production.
This report is a classic good news/bad news scenario. The good news is that it appears Lucasfilm is not completely abandoning the idea of stand alone films all together and the hopes of fans wanting to see Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi get their own films are not completely crushed (as they seemed to be yesterday). On the other hand, the idea of a movie set around the Mos Eisley Cantina is a tantalizing one! The Cantina is a favourite location and scene for many fans, and the potential for interesting stories there about its denizens is very enticing. Even though the project is on hold, I hope Lucasfilm revisits the idea at some point.
Ward also drops an interesting tidbit about the Rian Johnson trilogy and the series of films Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are working on (both of which were officially announced and were never in doubt in any of the rumors over the past few days). He states that,
"By most accounts the next trilogy will be from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, which
will be a little more grown up. Followed by Rian Johnson’s trilogy
which is said to be a little more all ages in terms of tonal quality, by
the sound of things."
The idea that Benioff and Weiss's films will be "a little more grown up" is no surprise, they are coming from HBO after all! While I doubt Lucasfilm would want them to go full Game of Thrones on Star Wars, something that's tonally more similar to Rogue One or Revenge of the Sith does sound intriguing.
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| Ah 2015, such a simple time.... |
It's still not clear how the post-Episode IX landscape for Star Wars all fits together. The Johnson trilogy and the Benioff & Weiss series are definitely happening, but we don't know when. Will one of them be released in 2020? Or should we expect to see a Star Wars Story film then? And was that supposed the Mos Eisley film? Or the Kenobi film (as was reported last month)? And where does Mangold's Boba Fett film fit in all of this? Sooner or later Lucasfilm is going to have to start announcing release dates for some of these films. But, I can't say I'm surprised their being a little gun shy about making big announcements after all the director (and release date) changes they've had to make in the last year.
And for those of us lamenting the loss of a Mos Eisley Cantina film, at least we'll always have this cut-for-time Saturday Night Live sketch starring Charles Barkley (with an introduction by Episode IX director JJ Abrams),
As always this is just a rumor until confirmed or denied by Lucasfilm or Disney.
Sources: MakingStarWars.net, ABC
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