While many fans were thrilled with yesterday’s news that Lucasfilm had hired Game of Thrones duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to develop a new series of Star Wars movies, just as many were frustrated by it. Despite employing several women in key creative and executive roles, the studio, under president Kathleen Kennedy, has yet to hire a single woman or person of color to direct a Star Wars movie. Not one. According to a wacky new rumor, that’s not exactly true.
The Star Wars saga might end with Episode IX, coming out in 2019, but Lucasfilm has already been hard at work expanding the universe and planning for more Star Wars and Star Wars-adjacent movies far, far into the future. We’ve already gotten Rogue One, which occurred, chronologically, somewhere between the prequels and the original trilogy, and focused on a group of small characters who turned the tide of the war whose names we might never had known. Then, we’ll get the Han Solo spinoff, something of a prequel in its own right, in summer 2018. But what’s next after that? Kathleen Kennedy says we’ll know in about a month.
While fans from around the world have gathered to share their love of Star Wars at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, there has been one sobering element to the festivities. The loss of Carrie Fisher has been felt at every level of the convention, from Thursday’s bittersweet memorial video put together by Lucasfilm to the sadness felt while Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson shared his behind-the-scenes footage from the set. And since this is a convention of all things Star Wars, fans have also speculated about the role the actress might play in the next film. Is there a place for Fisher in Star Wars: Episode 9?