Star Wars boss describes how franchise will 'segue into something new and different' after The Rise of Skywalker

Future films could abandon the trilogy format

Star Wars boss Kathleen Kennedy says the franchise could look very different after The Rise of Skywalker.

Kennedy, the president of LucasFilm (the production company behind the Star Wars films), discussed the future of the Star Wars universe in a recent interview with the LA Times.

“What we’ve been focused on the last five or six years is finishing the family saga around the Skywalkers,” she said.

“Now is the time to start thinking about how to segue into something new and different.”

In fact, the Star Wars franchise could distance itself from the trilogy format that has so far dominated its production (with the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, and the current sequel trilogy being released over the course of the past 42 years).

“I think it gives us a more open-ended view of storytelling and doesn’t lock us into this three-act structure,” Kennedy said of the planned changes.

“We’re not going to have some finite number and fit it into a box. We’re really going to let the story dictate that.”

The next Star Wars film, an untitled project shrouded in mystery, is planned for 2022.

According to Kennedy, LucasFilm will move away from the Skywalker saga but won’t drop the new characters introduced in the sequel trilogy.

The Rise of Skywalker, the last chapter in the sequel trilogy, will be released on 19 December in the UK and 20 December in the US.

Viewers have shared their first reactions after the movie’s LA premiere.