‘We’re in a Completely Different Era of Star Wars Now’ — Lucasfilm Boss Dave Filoni Says The Mandalorian and Grogu Doesn’t Carry the Burden Episode VII Did

With The Mandalorian And Grogu almost upon us, Star Wars fans are set for the first mainline film in the franchise since Episode IX, The Rise of Skywalker, came out in December 2019. It’s a long time coming, and launches into a different world… maybe even a different galaxy compared to the previous set of films. But it also launches without the weight of expectation that comes with introducing a new Star Wars trilogy — and that’s to its benefit, Lucasfilm co-CEO Dave Filoni has said.

The Mandalorian And Grogu, due out on May 22, is one of only two Star Wars movies with confirmed release dates (Ryan Gosling’s Star Wars: Starfighter arrives on May 28, 2027). While there is a long list of Star Wars movies announced, there is significant doubt that many of them, if any, will actually be released.

Even the Dave Filoni New Republic team-up movie that was announced is uncertain. Outgoing Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy made no mention of the Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Boba Fett crossover film when revealing her exit in January, though it’s likely her successor, Filoni himself, will be the one to give an update on this as its fate likely rests on the performance of The Mandalorian and Grogu this year.

Either way, The Mandalorian And Grogu feels like the start of a new era of Star Wars, and that’s how Filoni himself made it sound in a recent interview with Empire. “Episode VII was a completely different entity,” he said. “I had dreams of Episode VII since I came out of Return Of The Jedi. You were like, ‘After VI comes VII! Where’s VII?’ We’re in a completely different era of Star Wars now.”

As such, The Mandalorian And Grogu is free to be, simply, “a big celebration” of its two main characters, rather than have to contend with introducing a new trilogy of Star Wars movies. Star Wars: Starfighter, from the sounds of things, will enjoy similar freedom when it comes out next year.

Related, Kathleen Kennedy also failed to mention the previously-announced standalone movie set to feature Rey Skywalker in her exit interview. The project, revealed by Kennedy with fanfare at Star Wars Celebration 2023, was planned to feature the return of Daisy Ridley as Rey Skywalker, and reveal how the character starts a new era of the Jedi Order.

Kennedy announced the project on-stage alongside Ridley and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who was confirmed to be helming the project. But in the years since — as with so many other Star Wars movies — little more has been said.

“We’re pretty far along,” Kennedy said of the slate of Star Wars films announced back in 2023. “These are things, as you can imagine, certainly looking at what Dave [Filoni]’s been doing with Ahsoka, that’ll be at least six, seven years building to what it is we’re going to be doing in a movie. As [for the project being made by] Sharmeen, we’ve been working on that for a couple years already.”

Discussing the standalone Rey movie’s plot in more detail, Kennedy described it as set 15 years after Rise of Skywalker. “We’re post-war, post-First Order, and the Jedi are in disarray, and there’s a lot of discussion around who are the Jedi, what are they doing, what’s the state of the galaxy?” Kennedy teased. “[Rey is] attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order based on the books, based on what she promised Luke.”

Of course, this isn’t the only project expected to feature Rey in the future. Lucasfilm is also incubating a new trilogy of movies from Simon Kinberg, the director behind the widely-panned X-Men movie Dark Phoenix and 2022 spy action flop The 355.

“[Kinberg] wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there,” Kennedy told Deadline. “We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it’s a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in March.”

Once again, Kennedy referred to Kinberg’s project as a “trilogy,” though it still seems far, far away.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.