Following the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was marketed as the finale to the saga, and the promise of several Star Wars based television series on Disney+, the franchise has been left in a strange place. Was The Rise of Skywalker truly the last of the episodic films? Is the series now going to focus purely on spin-off shows and comic books? Should Star Wars continue at the risk of becoming redundant? And, most importantly, what’s next?
Movies
After the conclusion of the “Skywalker Saga” in The Rise of Skywalker, how will the future of the Star Wars movies progress? At the moment, the answer is unclear. With rumors that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will produce a new trilogy, and after Star Wars: The Last Jedi director has promised a “new story to tell in the Star Wars universe” on Twitter, it’s clear that Disney has no plans to halt the franchise.
Television
After the breakout success of The Mandalorian on Disney+, the soon to premiere season two of The Mandalorian, the highly praised return of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the in-production line of live-action spin-offs, Star Wars has laid the groundwork for content for years to come. Star Wars has, in the past, had an adverse relationship with television, through ownership transfers and constant budgetary issues, creators like Star Wars: Rebels producer Dave Filoni and Star Wars: Clone Wars director Genndy Tartakovsky have faced an uphill battle in trying to tell stories set on the outskirts of the main nonology.
See our review of The Mandalorian here.
Video Games
The Star Wars franchise has seen great success in the video game market, with the release of Star Wars Battlefront II in 2017 and the action-adventure hit, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in November 2019. This year will see the release of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and the secretive Project Luminous, a game with a story supposedly set three to four hundred years before the events of A New Hope.
Overview
Despite Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker being marketed as the end of the story that started in 1977 with A New Hope, Disney has shown a clear desire to continue expanding the universe. At the moment, it appears as if Star Wars will exist as long as fans continue to show interest; and that, it seems, is a fate that followers of the series are happy with.
