Star Wars: Lucasfilm President Details How New Jedi Order and Dawn of the Jedi Films Are Linked
At this year's Star Wars Celebration, three movies were announced by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, with one film jumping forward in the saga's timeline to see Rey Skywalker develop a New Jedi Order, while another film went much further into the past to explore the Dawn of the Jedi. Despite the narratives of these films being separated by thousands of years, Kennedy recently recalled that both films will mark new beginnings for what it means to be a Jedi. A third film is also on the way, which will be directed by Dave Filoni and will unfold at the time of The New Republic.
"That's come up a lot, from the moment I stepped in and George [Lucas] brought me into the company, there's been a lot of interest in that," Kennedy detailed to GamesRadar+ about the origins of the Force. "It was something that [director] Jim [Mangold] immediately sparked to, and I think it's a really nice complement to what we're doing with moving into the future with Rey, and then understanding a bit more of where this all came from."
She added, "Because it will be at the heart of creating the New Jedi Order, so to get a real sense of where that might have began with the Dawn of the Jedi could be pretty cool."
With the original trilogy of Star Wars films, Lucas intentionally wanted to honor the spirit of adventure serials, which included kicking off the series at Episode IV as opposed to at the very beginning of the Skywalker Saga. Kennedy pointed out how, after having told the complete story of those characters, the upcoming New Jedi Order film will finally allow for a fresh start.
"I think what's always great about Star Wars is it's a big galaxy, and we're coming off what was a major war with the First Order," Kennedy expressed. "And now, Rey has made a promise to Luke and that's really the core of where we're going and what this story will be. And I think it offers just tremendous opportunity to introduce new characters and start with something fresh, because we culminated with what George was creating, and now we take all of that and move it to the next chapter."
There are two Star Wars films with release dates in 2026, but Lucasfilm hasn't confirmed which of the announced films will be debuting on those dates
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