Star Wars: The Force Awakens is yet to be released. Despite that, Lucasfilm and Disney already announced two new Star Wars movies.
It is official – Star Wars: Episode VIII is in the works! Earlier this week, Lucasfilm and Disney, the two companies behind the franchise, announced that the Star Wars saga will continue after the upcoming The Force Awakens movie. Moreover, they even set a specific date on which the next part of the series will arrive in theatres – May 26, 2017. That is exactly 4 decades and a day after the release of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
The eighth Star Wars film will not be directed by J. J. Abrams, who is currently working on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Instead, the production will be directed and written by Rian Johnson, known for his work on Looper.
The next film from the saga does not have a title at this point. However, what is clear about it is that the storyline will be a continuation of J. J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens.
And that is now all! Disney and Lucasfilm have also agreed to produce the very first stand-alone spinoff films based on Star Wars. The first of them will be called Star Wars: Rogue One and the work on it will kick off in the summer of 2015. The movie will star Felicity Jones, who was nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Actress for her performance in The Theory of Everything.
The Star Wars spin-off will be written by John Knoll, who has worked on Industrial Light + Magic. Also, the film will be directed by Chris Weitz. The launch date of the production is scheduled for December 16, 2016.
This means that three new Star Wars films will hit the theaters between 2015 and 2017! The first of them, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will arrive on December 18, 2015.
