Damon Lindelof is working on a new Star Wars movie set after the Rise of Skywalker

Currently, Star Wars: Andor is playing on Disney+. A prequel to Rogue One, which was itself a prequel to the original trilogy.

I am thoroughly enjoying Andor. Going from “why are they making this about that guy” to something that wipes away, for me, the mess and disappointment of The Book of Boba Fett and the Kenobi show really surprised me. If you enjoyed those two shows then that’s great. They just didn’t hit the spot for me, although there were a few moments in both that I did like.

Andor shows the beginning of the Rebellion and the machinations of the Empire. We see many different sides of the galaxy far, far away as well as some familiar planets and faces.
A lot of thought has obviously gone into the story and characters with some very deep cuts to Star Wars lore often mentioned in passing during the various conversations. Also references to characters and events from the animated shows – Clone Wars and Rebels – both of which I hugely enjoyed.

The show has been planned out and written extremely well – a definite counterpoint to the Disney Trilogy of The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. They all made a lot of money and I know some people enjoyed them all and that is totally fine, but for me they were a series of diminishing returns that were poorly planned out as a trilogy.

Therefore, when I heard the news of a new Star Wars film in development that was set after The Rise of Skywalker and could feature some of the characters from the latest trilogy, I must admit to not being particularly excited about the news.

However, as with all things, it could end up being really good. It is still early days so it would be foolish of me to write it off without actually seeing the finished product, but forgive me if I come across as sounding jaded and unexcited about the new film.

So let us take a look at the new untitled project.

As you would expect, there are no details on the film’s plot, but we do have some information on the writing team and filmmakers.

Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers, Watchmen) is writing the new script with Justin Britt-Gibson, with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy onboard to direct it. Obaid-Chinoy has previously directed 2 episodes of the Ms. Marvel TV show, 5 episodes of Fundamental.: Gender Justice. No Exceptions, and a number of short films.

THR reports that this all began coming together after this year’s Star Wars Celebration. The writing room held a two-week session in July and at the table were Patrick Somerville (The Leftovers, Station Eleven), Rayna McClendon, a consulting producer on Lucasfilm’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and writer on the Willow series; and Andy Greenwald who created of Briarpatch.

Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Mandalorian) may have also been present. I really hope he was.

The new film is initially being planned as a standalone story set after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It could also feature some of the characters from the most recent Star Wars trilogy. With LucasFilm’s recent track record, and knowing that Damon Lindelof loves his mystery boxes, I am sure there will be many unanswered questions that could lead into another film. I just hope they actually have it all planned out if that is the case.

Will this film actually see the light of day or will it fall into the abyss with Rian Johnson’s Star Wars trilogy and the Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron film?

What would you like to see in the new Star Wars film?