If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Star Wars upcoming TV and movies: Ahsoka is just the beginning, what's coming next to a galaxy far, far away?

Thrillers, coming-of-age adventure, and more: what’s next for Star Wars on screen

Star Wars: Ahsoka
Image credit: Lucasfilm

We’re midway through the first season of Star Wars: Ahsoka, with the show unfolding its mysteries and building a new set of threats for the New Republic to deal with in the years ahead, courtesy of the man who’s stepped into George Lucas’s shoes as the guardian of the franchise, Dave Filoni.

And what a few years ahead it’s going to be! Filoni is already at work on a big screen Star Wars story that will continue plot threads from this show, as well as The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett — it’s one of three different movies in the works at Lucasfilm expanding the mythology of Star Wars beyond the Skywalker Saga, as announced as this year’s Star Wars Celebration. And that’s not all; there’s also movement on the small screen, with Donald Glover’s Lando show getting back on track, years after its announcement. For a property set a long time ago, the future of Star Wars looks pretty great. Here’s what you can expect.

Important Note: Everything Star Wars —all the movies and TV shows — are now available to watch on Disney+.

Since its debut in 1977, Star Wars has captured the imagination of viewers incorporating everything from sci-fi and fantasy to old-school westerns. It’s kept a tight hold ever since, with special effects and elaborate costumes transporting fans to a whole new galaxy while engaging character-driven stories helped ground the events for mainstream audiences to enjoy for generations by this point in time.

The original trilogy of movies — Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983) — quickly became a cultural phenomenon spawning novels, comics, cartoons and more. Even today, it still holds a significant influence in entertainment.

Decades later, following a continual expansion of the franchise that included a prequel movie trilogy, multiple animated TV spin-offs, and more novels and comic books than many could have imagined, Disney purchased the franchise, and indeed all of Lucasfilm, from creator George Lucas. Very quickly, Disney reset the expanded Star Wars universe. Out of the stories prior to the acquisition, only Lucas' six films and the animated The Clone Wars were to be considered canon. Everything else was considered apocryphal, and rebranded ‘Legends’ to reflect that status. With an almost blank slate, Disney could mold and guide the brand as they saw fit.

Under Disney's stewardship, Star Wars continues to be a juggernaut. The Sequel Trilogy, consisting of The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker, served as a good transitional step to usher in this new era, with the legacy characters of yore passing the baton to a new generation of heroes. In addition, standalone films such as Rogue One and Solo, explored new corners of the world while retaining a link to the familiar.

With the launch of Disney's streaming platform Disney+ in 2019, the Star Wars universe has grown at an even faster rate. Three seasons of The Mandalorian and its spin-off, The Book of Boba Fett have offered a look at life after the Empire's defeat in the period between the original and sequel trilogies, while Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor have filled in the time between the prequel and original trilogies in a similar manner. There have been animated series as well, with the final season of The Clone Wars, along with The Bad Batch, which follows an elite squad of genetically modified clone troopers almost immediately after 2005's Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

In fact, it's highly recommended you read up (or refresh your memory) on the recent The Mandalorian season 3 finale and Bad Batch season 2 finale as they both tie in many elements of Star Wars history - and is setting the stage for what comes next.

Marvel Studios has proven that you can leverage the mediums of film and television to generate content that connects with its audience and develop a rich viewing experience, and Star Wars is following the same blueprint with various projects in both movies and television lined up for the future. Here's your guide as to what's coming up, and when.

Upcoming Star Wars schedule

Ahsoka
Image credit: Lucasfilm

If you're looking for a quick rundown of everything with a date (or at least a year), we have that for you here:

Release Date Project Type Platform
2023* Skeleton Crew Live-action series Disney+
2024 The Acolyte season 1 Live-action series Disney+
August 2024 Andor season 2 Live-action series Disney+
May 22, 2026 Untitled Star Wars movie Movie Theatrical
December 18, 2026 Untitled Star Wars movie Movie Theatrical
December 17, 2027 Untitled Star Wars movie Movie Theatrical

* It's unclear whether or not Skeleton Crew is going to be pushed to early 2024 at time of writing.

And here is all that, and more, in detail.

Upcoming Star Wars movies

Star Wars Celebration 2023 Europe
Image credit: ReedPop
  • Untitled James Mangold project
  • Untitled Dave Filoni project
  • Untitled Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy project

From a theatrical standpoint, the Star Wars franchise has been very quiet for the past few years. The most recent movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, came out in December of 2019 and concluded both the Sequel trilogy and the larger 'Skywalker Saga' as a whole. Part of the reason for delays is a change in strategy following the tepid response to both that movie and 2018's troubled Solo: A Star Wars Story, with the resulting pivot combining with the pandemic and other factors to delay progress on planned films.

There are, however, new films on the way. Revealed at the Star Wars Celebration 2023 were details of not one, but three upcoming movies that will expand the Star Wars Universe. The movies will be set in three distinct eras, with James Mangold directing a film about the very first Jedi, Dave Filoni directing a Mandalorian spinoff, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directing a film about a new Jedi Order set after events in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. Here's what we know about the officially announced upcoming Star Wars movies:

Untitled James Mangold project

Although some have assumed that Mangold’s movie will be titled “Dawn of the Jedi” — after its placement on the new Star Wars timeline unveiled at Star Wars Celebration Europe, no official title has been given to the feature, nor have any stars been attached. What is known is that it’s set 25,000 years before anything we’ve seen before, and that it will introduce the first Jedi, and investigate the origins of the Force itself. As Mangold said on stage at Star Wars Celebration Europe, “Where did the Force come from? When did we discover it? When did we know how to use it?” Those questions, and likely many more, will be raised and hopefully answered by this feature.

Untitled Dave Filoni project

If Mangold’s movie is shrouded in mystery, the same can be said — to an even greater degree — for Dave Filoni’s film. What we know is that it is, in theory, a spin-off from the Disney+ shows that he’s involved in, and a major event in the New Republic era of the Star Wars timeline… and beyond that, little else. Filoni teased in comments to Collider that the story will connect events in the Ahsoka series to events in the Mandalorian, and perhaps more, saying, “Things aren’t that great when we begin The Force Awakens.” So… will this be where we finally get to see the origins and rise of the First Order…?

Untitled Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy project

Set 15 years after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the movie from the Emmy-winning director will feature the Sequel Trilogy’s Rey in a lead role, with Daisy Ridley reprising the role. "I am so, so thrilled to be at the Celebration with all of you in London," Ridley told fans after being introduced at the Celebration, "I am very thrilled to be continuing this journey."

Fans have known about the Obaid-Chinoy project since October 2022, when it was reported that the Ms. Marvel director would be helming a new Star Wars feature, written by Lost and Watchmen’s Damon Lindelof. What would later be revealed was that Lindelof was just one of a team of writers attached to the project, co-writing the screenplay with newcomer Justin Britt-Gibson, and that the project was the first fruits of a writers room approach that had started in July 2022 and included Station Eleven creator Patrick Somerville, Willow writer Rayna McClendon, and Briarpatch creator Andy Greenwald, as well as Dave Filoni. In late March, Lindelof departed the project, and was replaced by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.

Note: None of these feature projects have release dates (or even titles) attached as of writing, but Disney has scheduled three untitled Star Wars feature films for theatrical release on May 22 2016, December 18 2026, and December 17 2027. It's unclear if those movies will be the three above projects, but common sense would suggest so. Now, to guess which movie fits which date...

Beyond the three officially announced projects, there are a number of Star Wars movies that have been reported on externally, or teased by Lucasfilm, that are seemingly still ongoing concerns.

  • Untitled Rian Johnson trilogy
  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
  • Untitled Taika Waititi project
  • Untitled Shawn Levy project

Untitled Rian Johnson trilogy

Rian Johnson
Image credit: Netflix

A month before The Last Jedi hit theaters, it was announced that the movie’s writer/director Rian Johnson would be creating his own Star Wars trilogy, entirely separate from the Skywalker Saga and involving all-new characters from a different corner of the galaxy that has never been explored. Johnson himself would write and direct the first installment, and his frequent collaborator, Ram Bergman, would produce. However, these films are currently on the back burner with Johnson busy developing the Knives Out movies for Netflix and working on his Peacock series Poker Face. That doesn’t mean that he’s lost interest in Star Wars, however; in an October 2022 interview, he said that it’s “entirely a matter of scheduling,” adding that he “hopes” that the trilogy will come to fruition at some point.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

In 2019, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told MTV News that the studio was "developing something" in the movie sphere to do with the Knights of the Old Republic video game. Soon afterwards, it was reported that Avatar screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis was working on the project which was the first in a potential trilogy of features. There has been no mention of the project since then, and Lucasfilm has never officially acknowledged that it was in development. Kalogridis has since created the Netflix series Altered Carbon, as well as written a screenplay for Gal Gadot's mooted Cleopatra movie.

Untitled Taika Waititi project

Taika Waititi
Image credit: HBO

During the 2020 Disney Investor Day presentation, Kathleen Kennedy mentioned that a Star Wars film from Taika Waititi that was in development. Though practically all information about the project remains unknown, in a May 2022 article in Vanity Fair, Kennedy revealed that screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns (Last Night in Soho, 1917) was assisting Waititi on the script. Midway through 2022, he admitted that he was “still trying to figure our what the story is,” although the Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision newsletter claimed a month later that he was looking at an early 2023 start for production. The current status of the project is unknown. This won’t be Waititi's first foray into Star Wars, as he directed Chapter 8: Redemption of The Mandalorian and voiced IG-11, the assassin droid.

Untitled Shawn Levy project

In November 2022, it was revealed that Free Guy and Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy was in talks to develop a Star Wars movie of his own. A month later, he told Collider, “I have this golden ticket into a galaxy far away, and I'm going to devote myself to developing a screenplay that gives me the privilege of making this movie. I don't attach to things because it looks good in a trade announcement. I attach to things that I intend to make.” He did, however, acknowledge that the project would be some time away, as Deadpool 3 remains his sole focus right now. (That movie is scheduled for a November 2024 release.)


Upcoming Star Wars TV shows

Star Wars has been pretty consistent providing content for Disney+. When the streaming service launched, The Mandalorian was an instant success. Since then, the following new and returning series have visited different areas of the universe and brought back familiar faces while introducing new characters into the fold. Even some of the originally planned standalone anthology films, such as Boba Fett, received new life on television. The recent success only guarantees further expansion with a full slate of shows planned for the future. These streaming shows can be a nice way to tide you over until Star Wars returns to the big screen.

Skeleton Crew

Star Wars imagery
Image credit: Lucasfilm

Set during the post-reconstruction era following the events of Return of the Jedi in the same timeline as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, the new series has been created by Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts and screenwriter and producer Christopher Ford. At Star Wars Celebration in 2022, Watts described the show as “the story of a group of kids, about 10 years old, from a tiny little planet who accidentally get lost in the Star Wars galaxy. It's a story of their journey, and finding a way home." Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, and Kathleen Kennedy are also attached to the project as producers, with Jude Law the only announced cast member to date. The show wrapped production in January 2023, and has been expected to debut on Disney+ in late 2023 or early 2024.

The Acolyte

Acolyte Key Art
Image credit: Lucasfilm

Leslye Headland, co-creator of Netflix’s Russian Doll, is developing her own project which takes place 100 years before The Phantom Menace, and is described as a mystery thriller set during a booming and tranquil time of the galaxy. Headland has talked about wanting to examine the political, personal, and spiritual things that came up during the time period, as well as being curious just how a Sith lord could infiltrate the Senate without any Jedi detecting him. Running eight episodes, the show will star Amanda Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, and Dafne Keen, and is currently in production. The series will premiere some time in 2024.

Andor Season 2

Star Wars imagery
Image credit: Lucasfilm

The first season of Tony Gilroy’s critically acclaimed series focused on one year in the life of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), as he went from a cynical loner to a member of the Rebellion, thanks to the dual influences of Luthen (Stellan Skarsgård) and his adoptive mother, Maarva (Fiona Shaw); the second and final season will focus on a number of years as events ramp up to what audiences have already seen in 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The second season is still shooting at time of writing, with an anticipated release date of August 2024.

The Bad Batch Season 3

Bad Batch Season 3
Image credit: Lucasfilm

Announced at the end of the Bad Batch panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, The Bad Batch will be returning for a third and final season at some point, concluding the story of Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, and Omega as the Empire's plans for the former Clone Troopers - and clones in general - are revealed and confronted. The final season is currently in production with new release date announced.

The Mandalorian Season 4

Star Wars Mandalorian Key Art
Image credit: Lucasfilm

The third season has just concluded on Disney+, but show writer and creator Jon Favreau told CinemaBlend in an interview in 2022 that he was already writing the fourth season of the Disney+ show. No further details are known.

A Droid Story

The Star Wars franchise is also branching out into animation features beginning with A Droid Story, which will be developed by Lucasfilm Animation and Industrial Light & Magic and will premiere on Disney+. According to the official Star Wars Twitter account, the tale revolves around a new hero who sets out on a quest guided by legacy characters R2-D2 and C-3PO. No release date has been set.

Lando

Star Wars imagery
Image credit: Lucasfilm

Lando Calrissian is undoubtedly one of the most charismatic scoundrels in the entire Star Wars universe, so it would make sense to create a show centered on the beloved former owner of the Millennium Falcon. Justin Simien, the brilliant mind behind Dear White People, was developing the event series, but he's since been replaced by Donald and Stephen Glover, who'll now write the show in addition to Donald starring in it. The two have reportedly been working on the project for months in secret, with the deal having closed far in advance of the WGA strike; no release date has been announced for the show.


If all of the above has made you want to revisit a galaxy far, far away, good news: we have a watch order to help you revisit all of Star Wars in both release order and chronologically.

Topics in this article

Follow topics and we'll email you when we publish something new about them.  Manage your notification settings.

About the Author
Gary Catig avatar

Gary Catig

Contributing writer

Comments
Popverse logo

Around here we know a collection is never really complete

We've got the best products and exclusives in gaming, anime, comics, and more, all in one place.

Shop the Haul and see what you’re missing
Popverse Merch