Star Wars: Disney CEO Admits the Number of Projects Being Developed Is "Smaller Than You Think"

The Skywalker Saga comes to an end this week with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the eagerly-anticipated film isn't going to be the last Star Was story. There's also Star Wars: The Mandalorian on Disney+, two more series for the streaming platform that will focus on Obi Wan Kenobi and Cassian Andor are in the works and there are more movies as well with Rian Johnson and Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige both developing films. Various other projects have been rumored as well, but according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, the actual number of Star Wars projects in the works might just be smaller than you think.

Speaking with Variety at the premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Iger didn't give a specific number of future Star Wars projects in the works, but suggested the number is smaller than you think -- and they're choosing carefully.

"Probably smaller than you think because what we do is, we look to pick a few and see how they gestate," Iger said. "In some cases, bring them out and see how the audience reacts and then react accordingly. It's not as many as I think most people think. I think the number is endless, but we're gonna be careful, the next one is really important."

Iger is correct in that the next Star Wars project is really important. With The Rise of Skywalker being the end of an era of sorts, whatever comes next will in a real way guide the direction of the franchise for the future. That means that criticism is inevitable, especially given how passionate Star Wars fans are. But according to Iger, they dont' overreact to fan criticisms, even when they are especially vitriolic.

"We don't overreact, we respect fans of Star Wars, that's really important to us, to Lucasfilm, to the franchise," Iger revealed. "But we do the best job we can, we think we had a very hard job in bringing this forward, [Star Wars:] The Force Awakens, satisfying the traditional fans and touching on themes and characters and places they were familiar with, but introducing the new places, new stories, new characters. And I think over the three that we've produced, those three, we've done a really good job of threading that needle, walking that fine line."

He added, "We know we're never going to please everybody all the time, and we see that with Disney films, with Marvel films. So I don't mean to suggest that I'm dismissive of it because we respect our fans, but we don't overreact either."

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters December 20th.