Star Wars’ Most Exciting New Movie Just Took Another Hit

Star Wars is plotting its way back to the big screen, but the most interesting movie on Lucasfilm’s docket doesn’t look like it’s happening anytime soon. It’s been six years since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker released, marking not only the end of the Skywalker Saga, but the last movie in the franchise to hit theaters as things stand. That will finally change in May 2026, with the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu, before the Ryan Gosling-starring Starfighter arrives one year later. There are also still plans for Rey’s New Jedi Order movie, featuring Daisy Ridley’s return, and several others in various stages of development.

One of those is James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi movie, which is set to explore the origins of the Jedi and perhaps even the Force itself, taking place around 25,000 years before the timeline of Star Wars Episodes 1-9. However, while the movie was announced at Star Wars Celebration back in 2023, there has been little firm progress on it since then. Mangold first worked on Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, and now he and Timothée Chalamet are reuniting to pitch a motocross heist movie [via Deadline].

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Although the package for the movie is still in its early stages, it’s already generating a lot of buzz – and seems further along than Dawn of the Jedi, given it has a star in place. Mangold already paused to write, direct, and then hit the awards circuit for A Complete Unknown, and there’s a chance this movie could further impede his Star Wars project. Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy confirmed Dawn of the Jedi is still happening at Celebration Japan in April, but didn’t offer any other updates on or timeline for the movie.

Dawn of the Jedi – or whatever it ends up officially being called – is a crucial release for Star Wars, because it’s unlikely anything else we’ve seen from the franchise. New Jedi Order and Starfighter are going a few years into the future beyond The Rise of Skywalker, but going back 25,000 years is the most radical departure from the norm in the saga’s live-action history, comparable only to something like The Knights of the Old Republic video games.

So much is unexplored about the era of Mangold’s movie that there’s a chance to do, well, just about anything he wants. It’s a movie that could completely alter our view of the Jedi Order and our understanding of the Force. More than that, it can change our perception of what a Star Wars movie is, because it could – and should – be so different from anything else, presenting the galaxy far, far away in a whole new light. Or perhaps exploring a new galaxy entirely.

This is what Star Wars needs. For too long, it’s been obsessed with sticking close to the characters, timeline, and iconography of the Skywalker Saga, and even the planned releases that break free of those confines aren’t doing so by much. Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi is the one that can do that – not to mention, he is simply a great filmmaker – and so hopefully it will still happen, and sooner rather than later. We’ve seen too many Star Wars movies stuck in development hell or shelved altogether after being announced, but Lucasfilm can’t afford for this to be one of them.

The Mandalorian and Grogu will hit theaters on May 22, 2026. Star Wars: Starfighter will be released on May 28, 2027. No other Star Wars movies have release dates.