Star Wars: The Mandalorian Creator Teases Lucasfilm Working on Projects Set After Sequel Trilogy

In the years since the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and the conclusion of the sequel trilogy, a majority of stories in the galaxy far, far away have taken place during established periods of time for the franchise, but The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau recently teased how Lucasfilm is toying with stories to tell beyond the known timeline of the saga. While The High Republic era of stories was launched in recent years, unfolding more than a century before the events of the live-action stories, there have yet to be any significant glimpses of what the galaxy was like following the destruction of Palpatine's Final Order. 

While speaking with Moovy TV about developing series like The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Ahsoka and navigating important, established events set between trilogies, Favreau detailed, "Also what happens after the sequel trilogy. Because the sequel trilogy only takes place over the course of a few years. And it's a big thing on the screen, and it's very eventful, but it is a relatively brief moment in history over the course of the thousands of years that Star Wars takes place, and so what happens after it is interesting, too, and I know that there's some discussion, exploration going on about what happens after it. I think that there are certain markers that we have -- it's almost like studying ancient history, where you kind of know a few things that happen, but there's a lot of murkiness in between, and we just don't have archaeological evidence in the real world to know exactly what happened, so we kind of connect the dots."

Before getting involved with Lucasfilm, Favreau delivered the first entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Iron Man in 2008, which helped set up how that whole franchise would unfold. Between his successes with Marvel Studios and now with Lucasfilm, it's clear he has a talent for orchestrating a sprawling franchise that delivers interwoven storylines. The filmmaker also noted how, not only does he collaborate with the studio when it comes to developing stories, but that he and Lucasfilm listen to what fans are most hoping to see explored in the future, even if that means reviving elements of forgotten corners of the saga.

"It's interesting because, what's come before, and then, in our time period, there's also been Extended Universe fiction. There's characters that have been slowly introduced in [Star Wars:] The Clone Wars, like Thrawn," the filmmaker detailed. "There's a lot of stuff that's in canon, like canon proper, but I think there's different tiers of things. We really look to fans to see what they embrace, too. So it's not a science."

Back in 2021, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy similarly gave an update about telling stories beyond the timeline of the sequel trilogy, potentially even hinting that those characters could return.

"Certainly, those are not characters we're going to forget. They will live on, and those are conversations that are going on with the creative team as well," Kennedy revealed to Empire Magazine.

Stay tuned for details on the future of the Star Wars franchise.

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