Disney’s annual shareholders presentation (booked as an online event) was bound to produce at least a couple of announcements related to its future Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars projects. However, few were prepared for the absolute news hurricane that the company sent out yesterday with over 50 productions already scheduled up to 2025, including at least 12 in the Star Wars universe.
It bears clarifying that a lot of these announcements were actually updates rather than completely fresh news previously unknown to the public. But with more to come from The Mandalorian and Rogue Squadron, as well as confirmation of rumors surrounding Ahsoka, Andor, The New Batch and Lando; plus some new surprises with the likes of Star Wars Vision, A Droid Story, The Acolyte and Rangers of the New Republic; Disney is making sure Star Wars never goes through a dry spell again.
Among the known projects were Obi-Wan Kenobi, now featuring Hayden Christensen returning as Darth Vader; and the fact that Taika Waititi will be the man taking over the mainline Star Wars saga in the future. Though no clear dates were given for when Waititi will get down to work, the rest of Disney’s plans provide a speculative timeline for when a new trilogy could kick off.
Since Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron is pinpointed for Christmas 2023, and Waititi is currently working with Disney on Thor: Love and Thunder (scheduled for early 2022), the New Zealander could be set to start focusing mainly on Star Wars sometime after he’s done with Thor. This would place his Star Wars film in the December 19, 2025 slot Disney has set apart, especially when considering Waititi will assume co-writing duties for the project alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns.
Even if Disney’s overall approach for Star Wars seems to have left behind former CEO Bob Iger’s statement from 2019 that their Star Wars efforts were "a little too much, too fast," the company’s main intent to book top-notch talent is clear, regardless of them having to wait for it. In Jenkins and Waititi Disney has captured two of the current biggest directing names within and outside the superhero film genre, who will surely have no problem bringing over their vision to a galaxy far away.
Waititi’s is one of the busiest directors in Hollywood, one not known to skip a beat in-between projects. Whether it’s with savvy advertising or Oscar-winning films, Disney’s may have struck gold in its working relationship with Waititi, so five years isn’t that long a wait if it means getting right a new Star Wars story from the very start.