MOVIE NEWS – The future of Star Wars is slowly becoming clearer: the next great film saga will take place after Episode IX, with Andor serving as its guiding light. Simon Kinberg isn’t giving away much about his role… other than admitting he’s living the kind of dream every Star Wars fan wishes they could.

After years of Star Wars being absent from theaters and focusing instead on television projects that received mixed reactions, the franchise finally seems ready to reclaim the big screen. One film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, was already completed months ago, while another, Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, Mia Goth, and Matt Smith, could begin filming later this year. Yet Lucasfilm has even bigger plans, including a new saga shrouded in mystery—though one thing about it is already certain.

This saga will be a trilogy, written and executive produced by Simon Kinberg (whose credits include X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Apple TV+’s Invasion). Set after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, it’s still unclear whether it will be numbered as part of the mainline or stand alone as something new. Kinberg himself revealed that he’s drawing heavy inspiration from Star Wars’ most successful recent television work—not just Dave Filoni’s projects, but also Tony Gilroy’s acclaimed Disney+ series Andor. “I was super inspired and in some ways blown away by what Tony Gilroy did with Andor. I thought it was some of the best science fiction storytelling you could do in any franchise,” Kinberg told Nerdtropolis.

Much More Than a Dream Come True

What truly drives Kinberg, however, is a lifelong passion for Star Wars: “Star Wars was the most important thing to me as a kid. There are pictures of me all through my childhood wearing Star Wars t-shirts and sweatshirts. (…) When I was in the hospital with pneumonia, I woke up to find a Lego Millennium Falcon placed on my chest by my parents to make me believe everything would be okay. It has always been the most important thing in my life,” he recalled. “This isn’t even a dream come true—I couldn’t have dreamed this. Just being told there would be more movies would have been enough. To be allowed on the set of any of them was already a dream. My enthusiasm only grows the more I work on it.”

Despite skepticism from fans over his recent track record with the X-Men films, Kinberg already contributed to Star Wars: Rebels and has proven his genuine love for the galaxy far, far away. Exactly which characters will return or what story will take center stage remains a mystery, but one thing is clear: the future of Star Wars on the big screen will depend heavily on what this new trilogy delivers.

Source: GameStar