{"id":1878,"date":"2026-09-27T14:57:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T14:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/27\/spider-man-director-jon-watts-picked-to-helm-first-installment-in-new-star-wars-skywalker-saga-trilogy-for-disney\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T14:57:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T14:57:05","slug":"spider-man-director-jon-watts-picked-to-helm-first-installment-in-new-star-wars-skywalker-saga-trilogy-for-disney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/27\/spider-man-director-jon-watts-picked-to-helm-first-installment-in-new-star-wars-skywalker-saga-trilogy-for-disney\/","title":{"rendered":"Spider-Man Director Jon Watts Picked to Helm First Installment in New Star Wars Skywalker Saga Trilogy for Disney"},"content":{"rendered":"

The developments regarding Lucasfilm\u2019s new slate of cinematic projects were initially reported by industry insider Daniel Richtman and subsequently corroborated by The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>. While Watts is widely recognized for steering Tom Holland\u2019s critically acclaimed Spider-Man<\/em> trilogy within the Marvel Cinematic Universe\u2014directing Homecoming<\/em>, Far from Home<\/em>, and No Way Home<\/em>\u2014his upcoming work on the Star Wars<\/em> franchise will act as a direct continuation of his relationship with the galaxy far, far away. Watts previously served as a co-creator on the Amblin-esque live-action television series Skeleton Crew<\/em>, which premiered in late 2024.<\/p>\n

The yet-to-be-titled films are designed to form the next foundational chapter in the Skywalker Saga. The writing duties for the trilogy belong to Simon Kinberg, a seasoned Hollywood veteran whose previous writing and producing credits include Star Wars: Rebels<\/em> and the action-comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith<\/em>, as well as a heavy hand in Fox’s X-Men<\/em> movie universe. While exact plot details remain heavily guarded, sources close to the production have indicated that Daisy Ridley\u2019s sequel trilogy Jedi, Rey Skywalker, will play a notable role in the narrative arc.<\/p>\n

At present, Watts has only been officially tapped to direct the first movie of the trilogy. It remains unclear when production will officially commence or when the film will arrive in theaters, with sources cited by The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> noting that Disney has yet to grant the project an official green light while foundation and pre-production work continue to take shape. <\/p>\n

Despite remaining in the early stages of development, insiders suggest that Kinberg’s trilogy is currently further along than the vast majority of other gestating Star Wars<\/em> cinematic endeavors. The only theatrical project ahead of it on the active development docket is Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling\u2019s Star Wars: Starfighter<\/em>, which has already been given a firm release date of May 28, 2027.<\/p>\n

Jon Watts famously broke into the upper echelons of blockbuster filmmaking when he was chosen to helm 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming<\/em>. He successfully shepherded the wall-crawler through two direct sequels before eventually stepping aside to let Destin Daniel Cretton take over the reins of Holland’s future MCU outings. Following his departure from the superhero franchise, Watts directed the thriller feature Wolfs<\/em>, which premiered in 2024.<\/p>\n

Talk of Simon Kinberg entering the Star Wars<\/em> fold to write a new trilogy first surfaced publicly in 2024, though conflicting reports muddied the waters during the initial announcement phase. While some early reports indicated that the upcoming run of mainline theatrical films would continue the overarching Skywalker Saga, other insider rumors suggested that the initiative might pivot toward telling a completely isolated, standalone story. The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>‘s updated reporting indicates that Kinberg has firmly settled on continuing the established saga, though given the early nature of development, industry observers note that creative trajectories can always shift.<\/p>\n

\"Spider-Man<\/figure>\n

Former Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy previously offered a public status update on Kinberg\u2019s progress during an interview with Deadline<\/em> earlier this year. While the developmental pipeline has clearly encountered a few creative speed bumps along the way, the latest recruitment news suggests the trilogy is steadily finding its footing and marching toward a full production green light.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the script’s evolution earlier this year, Kennedy noted that Kinberg had submitted a draft in August that showed promise but ultimately required structural revisions. The studio upended portions of the narrative framework, leading Kinberg to spend considerable time developing a comprehensive, roughly 70-page treatment that was completed four weeks prior to her statements. <\/p>\n

Talk to most dedicated Star Wars<\/em> fans today, and they will likely express a sense of caution regarding the health of the franchise, particularly when evaluating its theatrical output. The expansive Skywalker Saga seemingly concluded its nine-film narrative spine with Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker<\/em> in 2019, but the trilogy-closer arrived with a polarizing reception that left many fans and critics dissatisfied. <\/p>\n

While Ridley-led entries consistently sparked passionate discourse across fan communities, The Rise of Skywalker<\/em> yielded a notably mixed critical response\u2014earning a 7\/10 review from outlets like IGN\u2014a reception rivaled only by George Lucas\u2019s 1999 prequel kickoff, The Episode I \u2013 The Phantom Menace<\/em>. In the wake of these mixed box office and critical returns, Disney intentionally pumped the brakes on theatrical releases for the franchise, initiating a notable seven-year drought of Star Wars<\/em> feature films that is only now being broken by the theatrical rollout of The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/em>. Even that cinematic transition faced its own set of trials, encountering modest critical scores and box office figures that led Disney executives to acknowledge that the film underperformed relative to lofty financial expectations, though it still successfully moved substantial consumer merchandise.<\/p>\n

It has not been entirely a period of creative stagnation for the brand, however. While the feature film side has struggled to consistently capture the magic of George Lucas\u2019s foundational vision, the television arm of Lucasfilm has frequently kept audiences engaged. Seasons 1 and 2 of the Rogue One<\/em> prequel series Andor<\/em> earned widespread acclaim, standing tall as some of the most critically praised live-action content the franchise has ever produced. Meanwhile, streaming efforts like Skeleton Crew<\/em> and Maul \u2013 Shadow Lord<\/em> successfully cultivated dedicated viewing audiences, proving that the appetite for stories set in a galaxy far, far away remains robust across episodic formats.<\/p>\n

The franchise is evidently navigating a period of transitional growing pains alongside behind-the-scenes leadership shifts, but Disney has continuously reiterated its commitment to expanding the universe through multiple avenues. A diverse slate of movies and television shows remains in various stages of active development, including upcoming sophomore seasons for both Maul \u2013 Shadow Lord<\/em> and Ahsoka<\/em>, which are slated to debut next year. Meanwhile, even as passionate fan campaigns continue to lobby for the revival of scrapped projects like the rumored Hunt for Ben Solo<\/em> film featuring Adam Driver, current Lucasfilm leadership under Dave Filoni has signaled an optimistic path forward for the cinematic future of the franchise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The developments regarding Lucasfilm\u2019s new slate of cinematic projects were initially reported by industry insider Daniel Richtman and subsequently corroborated by The Hollywood Reporter. While Watts is widely recognized for steering Tom Holland\u2019s critically acclaimed Spider-Man trilogy within the Marvel Cinematic Universe\u2014directing Homecoming, Far from Home, and No Way Home\u2014his upcoming work on the Star […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":1877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[802],"tags":[806,810,87,803,54,557,3068,3069,804,3067,3072,3071,2166,1403,3073,805,3070,3066],"class_list":["post-1878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming-esports","tag-console-news","tag-director","tag-disney","tag-esports","tag-first","tag-gaming","tag-helm","tag-installment","tag-pc-gaming","tag-picked","tag-saga","tag-skywalker","tag-spider","tag-star","tag-trilogy","tag-video-games","tag-wars","tag-watts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitjunki.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}