Rumor: Lucasfilm Registers New Production Company Codename

By: Dominic Jones

Lucasfilm has registered the Production Company BARKING LION PRODUCTIONS (UK) LIMITED back on July 23rd, according to new reports from Fantha Tracks and The Bespin Bulletin. The name is believed to be a reference to the London neighborhood Barking & Dagenham, which is to be home to a new production studio where, according to MakingStarWars.net, Star Wars productions based in the United Kingdom will be based out of going forward, starting with the Cassian Andor series from Disney+. 

No word on what project "Barking Lion" is believed to be a codename for.  With the rumors circulating this week about the long rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi project finally getting off the ground (this time in the form of a Disney+ series), the obvious guess is that it could be for that.  Other Star Wars projects it could be include the Rian Johnson trilogy, or the trilogy from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (though it was previously reported that the production company codename for that project is E&E Industries).

There's also the possibility that this production company could be for a Lucasfilm project that is unrelated to Star Wars, such as the fifth Indiana Jones movies (which is slated to be released on July 9th, 2021) or the adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone that Lucasfilm is producing from director Rick Famuyiwa (who is also directing episodes of The Mandalorian).

We should make it clear that these are not the code name for the projects themselves, but rather for the production company making the film.  Lucasfilm and Disney have done this for all previous films, with the reasoning being to hide what they are working on, so they can keep press and fans away, and to avoid having production equipment prices raised on them.  Previous examples include Foodles Productions (UK)  Limited for The Force Awakens and Carbonado Industries (UK) Limited for Episode IX.  Fantha Tracks has complete list of the all the production company codenames for all the Star Wars productions since 2015 here.

Sources: Fantha Tracks, Bespin Bulletin

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