Dave Filonis Star Wars Film Reportedly Targeting a 2026 Release, Ahsoka Season 2 Will Depend on First Seasons Reception

The Star Wars franchise is getting ready to return to the big screen, as Kathleen Kennedy announced over the weekend during Star Wars Celebration 2023. Three feature films in active development were announced -- one focused on the beginnings of the Jedi, a 'biblical epic' by writer-director James Mangold; another one bringing back Daisy Ridley as Rey, by director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy; and finally, a film culminating all storylines from The Mandalorian and spin-off shows, directed by Dave Filoni.



While Kathleen Kennedy insisted in an interview with IGN that all films are 'pretty far along' into development, not a lot of specifics were given at the convention (a nice change of pace when compared to previous, detail-filled announcements that never came to fruition). The next spot reserved for a Star Wars film is on December 19, 2025, and according to reports, Disney is very insistent on Lucasfilm making that date.



According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lucasfilm wants to go back to theaters with the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy film about Rey Skywalker rebuilding the Jedi Order, so putting two and two together, that would make the yet-untitled film to be coming out in 2025. We've been speculating this would be the case for a while, but Lucasfilm probably didn't want to commit to a date just yet. Perhaps more interestingly, though, the trade is saying that Lucasfilm would ideally like to see Filoni's film released in theaters one year later.







We are assuming at this point that the New Jedi Order film will be released in 2025, although we must also consider the possibility that it's delayed a few months. Steven Knight has been working on a rewrite of the script by Justin Britt-Gibson and Damon Lindelof, and could complete the new draft within a couple of months, possibly allowing for the film to shoot in February 2024 as initially expected.



Assuming everything goes to plan, Filoni's film could come out in late 2026, and there are a couple of reasons why. First, during the aforementioned talk with IGN, Kennedy hinted that the story told by the film will have been six to seven years in the making; counting from the release of The Mandalorian season 1 in late 2019, that puts us right into late 2026. Now, Disney has currently scheduled Avatar 4 to come out in December of that year, but a recent comment by James Cameron hinted that his film could actually be delayed to the following year, paving the way for a Star Wars film to come out that December. (Remember that the last time two Star Wars films came out in consecutive Decembers, they both crossed the billion-dollar mark at the worldwide box office.)



Another interesting detail from said story by The Hollywood Reporter is that Ahsoka could get a second season if the response to the first one is solid, after it premieres this August. This was already hinted at by Rosario Dawson at the convention on Friday, so it's unknown if the trade is simply echoing what she said onstage, or adding more value to an otherwise throwaway comment. (Let's be honest, Rosario Dawson has been a small PR mess for Lucasfilm whenever she's given a chance to speak.)



Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) in Lucasfilm’s Ahsoka, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



There is actually a lot to take in from this bit, if true. Does this mean that there is already a planned arc for a second season? If so, we have to assume Dave Filoni is heavily involved. How would that story factor into his Mandalorian-centric movie? We have very little information about the future of the MandoVerse beyond Skeleton Crew, so we certainly hope that Lucasfilm has a concrete plan of where and how these stories are converging. We know that The Mandalorian season 4 is happening, and it could film as soon as this year, but we still don't know when. The LA soundstages have been empty for a couple of months since Skeleton Crew wrapped, so we definitely expect pre-production to move forward on that season sooner rather than later. But what should we expect from 2024-2026? Is Ahsoka season 2 going to be fast-tracked and come out before Filoni starts working on his movie?



A lot of details have to be ironed out, and we will be here to tell you all about them. Stay tuned, as more shall be revealed within the next few months!



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