Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars movie plans look to be undergoing a major shake-up once in the wake of the announcement that writer-producer Simon Kinberg will oversee a new Star Wars trilogy.
Having put the franchise’s film side on temporary hold following the negative reception to 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, 2026 was earmarked as the year for Star Wars’ return to the big screen with not one but two releases – Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian & Grogu in May, and an as-yet-unrevealed standalone movie in December. That’s no longer the case though, as the latter has been removed from the release calendar, with Deadline confirming that Disney will instead fill the vacated December 18th 2026 date with its animated sequel Ice Age 6.
Although it had never been confirmed exactly which film Disney and Lucasfilm were planning to drop in 2026 out of the numerous projects in development, it had widely been assumed that the Daisy Ridley-led ‘New Jedi Order‘ movie from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was front-runner for the slot. However, that lost another writer last month, and with Kinberg’s newly-announced trilogy reportedly being viewed as Episodes X-XII, this latest release date change is sure further fuel the speculation that the standalone Rey film is set for the chopping block.
While we await official news on Star Wars’ feature film future, fans do have the new limited series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew arriving on Disney+ this December, followed by the second season of Star Wars: Andor, which has been confirmed to premiere on April 22nd 2025.
