The last decade has been a troubled one for Star Wars. As Disney CEO Bob Iger noted in his autobiography, The Ride of a Lifetime, Lucasfilm didn’t really have a development pipeline when the House of Mouse bought the studio from Disney in 2012. That perhaps explains, in part, why Lucasfilm struggled so much to develop one; the next few years were full of tales of behind-the-scenes drama, with countless canceled Star Wars movies – and the ones that actually released often coming out despite deep problems.
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Speaking in May 2025, Tony Gilroy – who took over from Gareth Edwards as director of Rogue One, easily Disney’s best Star Wars movie – described the original version as “a corpse on the table.” Matters were even worse for Solo, with Phil Lord and Chris Miller ousted late in production because Lucasfilm bosses didn’t agree with their vision; Ron Howard’s expensive reshoots almost doubled Solo‘s costs, and the film failed to make a profit. Lucasfilm stepped away from the big screen after 2019’s chaotic (and ill-received) Rise of Skywalker, but now finally seem to have figured things out.
Lucasfilm Has Completed Two Star Wars Movies Without Any Drama
In 2023, there were reports that Disney had told Lucasfilm to “ramp up” production of Star Wars movies. It didn’t take long to realize those reports were accurate, because Star Wars Celebration 2023 focused more on big picture announcements than TV series; we’re now at the stage where only one live-action Star Wars TV show is even known to be in development. Instead, since then, Lucasfilm has successfully completed drama-free filming of not one but two new Star Wars movies. Ironically, neither film was announced at that Celebration event.
First came Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, spinning out of the hit Disney+ TV show. It was officially announced in January 2024, with reports Lucasfilm had changed direction during the writers’ strikes, and many still speculate it’s been heavily adapted from unused scripts from The Mandalorian Season 4. Principal photography began just five months later, in June of that year. and had wrapped by December. Favreau is one of the most trusted filmmakers in Hollywood, and he has a good relationship with Lucasfilm, explaining why this was drama-free.
Next came Star Wars: Starfighter, helmed by director Shawn Levy, who’s largely viewed as another safe pair of hands. He entered talks with Lucasfilm in November 2022, and the title was officially announced at Star Wars Celebration 2025. It began filming in August this year, and Levy has now confirmed Starfighter has wrapped production. That leaves the mysterious project plenty of time to meet its May 28, 2027, release date. It also means Lucasfilm has now officially completed two new Star Wars films without any known problems.
Lucasfilm Has Learned to Trust Filmmakers
There’s a clear implication; Lucasfilm has finally figured out how to trust its filmmakers. Now, to be fair, both Jon Favreau and Shawn Levy aren’t exactly radical choices; the two directors have good prior working relationships with Lucasfilm (Favreau through The Mandalorian, Levy through Star Wars Rebels). There was no doubt a good degree of post-production for The Mandalorian and Grogu, including recording of star Pedro Pascal’s lines, and there’ll surely be some for Starfighter. Still, these production timescales are absolutely tremendous news.
We appear to be moving to the idea of Star Wars as something of an annual cinematic event, with one movie in production each year, and then over a year left for post-production. That’s a very smart pipeline, and it should prove effective. We don’t know how The Mandalorian and Grogu will perform, but Starfighter is being positioned as a core part of Star Wars’ 50th anniversary celebrations, so there will hopefully be a massive marketing buildup. That film feels almost like a relaunch moment for the entire franchise, which is truly exciting. Beyond Starfighter… who knows what the future now has in store?
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Image courtesy of Universal Pictures.
