Lucasfilm has tapped director Jon Watts to helm the first installment of a new Star Wars trilogy, continuing the long-running Skywalker Saga. The film is being written by Simon Kinberg.
Simon Kinberg has reportedly been developing the new trilogy since 2018. He previously co-created the animated series Star Wars Rebels and has also written X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Amazon Prime’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Daisy Ridley is reportedly being eyed to reprise her role as Rey for the project, continuing her arc from the most recent trilogy.
The Skywalker Saga last concluded with the sequel trilogy made up of The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019), all centered on Ridley’s Rey. Since then, the Star Wars universe has expanded largely through streaming series and standalone films set elsewhere in the galaxy, without directly continuing the core Skywalker storyline, until now.
The announcement also revives questions about Adam Driver’s future in the franchise. In October 2025, Driver revealed he had spent years developing a separate Star Wars film with director Steven Soderbergh, a project that appears to have since been shelved. When later asked by Deadline about Driver’s status in the franchise, Lucasfilm co-head Dave Filoni simply said, “You won’t find it here.”
Jon Watts is best known for directing the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man trilogy for Marvel Studios: Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home. This marks a return to the Star Wars universe for Watts, who previously co-created the Disney+ series Skeleton Crew in 2024. He also directed the 2024 Apple film Wolfs, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt.
Despite the reports, the project has reportedly not yet received a formal greenlight from Disney, and Lucasfilm has not issued any official comment on Watts’ involvement. Former Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy did confirm during her exit interview with Deadline in January 2026 that Kinberg was actively working on the new trilogy, offering the clearest prior indication that the project was moving forward.
The news comes as Lucasfilm is deep in post-production on its next theatrical release, Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and set for release on May 28, 2027. That film, which is separate from the Skywalker Saga and centers mostly on new characters, will arrive first, with the Watts-Kinberg project expected to follow. Some reports have pointed out that a 2027 release for the new trilogy’s first film would coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original 1977 Star Wars film.
With Jon Watts now attached and Simon Kinberg’s script already years in development, the long-teased continuation of the Skywalker Saga finally appears to be taking shape, even as Disney has yet to make it official.