With the internet all abuzz with the latest trailer for Star Wars Episode 9 , revealed to be titled The Rise Of Skywalker , one bit of Star Wars news went unnoticed. Disney CEO Bob Iger spoke to Bloomberg about the company’s business plans and mentioned that the Star Wars movie franchise will be taking a break after this newest release.
Star Wars movies experienced a resurgence when Lucasfilm was bought and the properties were sold to Disney in 2012, per USA Today . The newest phase of the Star Wars franchise was marked by The Force Awakens that brought back old characters, while also introducing new ones into the franchise. Now Lucasfilm, under the banner of Disney, has been churning out a lot of Star Wars content for the last few years.
Besides the two films considered part of the original trilogy, The Force Awakens , and The Last Jedi , Disney has also produced two prequels, Rogue One and Solo , with varying degrees of success. While Rogue One was considered critically well received, per RogerEbert.com , Solo didn’t do well in any capacity, with the general reaction being pretty negative, according to NBC News.
The response to Solo , combined with the additional negativity from fans toward The Last Jedi , caused Disney to pump the brakes on their Star Wars films that were in development, as reported by Collider .
As such, the news of Star Wars taking a break after The Rise Of Skywalker isn’t too surprising. Iger reiterated this fact when speaking to Bloomberg about Disney’s plans for the iconic franchise.
“We have not announced any specific plans for movies thereafter. There are movies in development, but we have not announced them. We will take a pause, sometime, and reset because the Skywalker saga comes to an end with this ninth movie. There will be other Stars Wars movies, but there will be a bit of a hiatus.”
While the movies may be taking a break, the TV production for Star Wars content is in full swing with The Mandalorian , created by Jon Favreau, all set to be one of the signature shows to be available with the launch of the Disney+ streaming app from Disney. Another Star Wars series is also in development, and it will focus on the adventures of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the character introduced in Rogue One.
As suggested by Iger, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker will be the last Star Wars movie for a while, premiering on December 20.