'Star Wars' Could Return to Movie Theaters as Soon as 2025

Following the confirmation of three new Star Wars movies at this year’s Star Wars Celebration Europe, it looks like fans can expect to see the galaxy far, far away return to the big screen as early as 2025—so long as Lucasfilm doesn’t throw yet another scrapped project into the trash compactor.

Over the weekend, Star Wars Celebration Europe packed them in at ExCel London, drawing thousands of fans from all corners of the world. Those eager to hear updates on Star Wars’ plans for upcoming movies were indeed not disappointed, as the Lucasfilm Studio Showcase provided updates on the not one, but three new Star Wars features currently in production.

At the event, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that three new movies are slated to release in the coming years: the James Mangold-directed Dawn of the Jedi, a “Mandoverse” crossover movie from Dave Filoni, and an untitled Rey (Daisy Ridley) solo movie helmed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy—all of which have yet to get an official release date.

The subject of Star Wars movies has been a tricky one ever since the premiere of 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, followed closely by 2019’s highly divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Many fans slammed Disney/Lucasfilm for rushing these films’ development, resulting in what they deemed “messy” and “lazy” stories that not only tarnished the legacy of George Lucas’ rich universe and beloved characters, but also left them feeling disrespected by the franchise as a whole.

This debate was only made worse by Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), which, despite being less of a cinematic disaster than some make it out to be, was still generally unimpressive to audiences and didn’t garner enough hype to perform well at the box office. Its Harrison Ford-less cast also proved to be controversial, leading Kennedy to the conclusion that re-casting legacy characters wasn’t such a good idea.

After a series of box office “flops,” Lucasfilm decided to put a pause on releasing new movies. Instead, the company shifted its focus to growing its catalog on the newly-released streaming platform, Disney+ and found astounding success with the first Star Wars live-action series, The Mandalorian.

Now, it seems like Star Wars is setting its sights on the big screen. But when can fans expect to see the next epic adventure set in George Lucas’ fantastical universe arrive in theaters? Well, that remains up in the air.

Lucasfilm has yet to commit to a timetable for its newly announced releases, having learned its lesson the hard way. In the past, the studio dated movies that ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor, such as the ill-fated Rogue Squadron and Taika Waititi’s unknown Star Wars project, which were both removed from the 2023 release calendar after being unveiled at Disney Investor Day in 2020. Now, it looks like the company is electing to play it safe by not revealing expected premiere windows.

However, per The Hollywood Reporter, a December 2025 date is being kept open for an unspecified Star Wars movie, which, in theory could be one of the newly-announced titles. A source told the outlet that Lucasfilm would ideally like to return to theaters with the Rey-centric film and follow that a year later with the Dave Filoni-directed “Mandoverse” movie. However, nothing is set in stone due to the timetables of the Disney+ Mandalorian and Ahsoka shows.

The feature said to be the farthest along is the Rey project, which is currently being written by Steven Knight, taking over from Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson. This movie is unarguably the most risk-averse for Disney/Lucasfilm, with so many fans already having an intimate understanding of this character and her place in the greater Skywalker Saga—which looks like Star Wars has a hard time saying goodbye to after all, despite previous remarks.

Filoni’s Mandoverse project is dependent on many things: future seasons of The Mandalorian, the success of Ahsoka Season 1, and perhaps even the possibility of The Book of Boba Fett Season 2. As for Mangold’s mysterious feature, it seems years away from being made and released, with the filmmaker having other creative obligations to fulfill before he can start on his Star Wars project.

We seem to know the most about the Rey project as of now, indicating that this is likely Lucasfilm’s best bet for a 2025 release. After so many years of debating which film would be the one to ring in a new era of Star Wars movies, it’s somewhat surprising that a Rey spinoff movie would be the one Lucasfilm landed on, in light of the ongoing controversy surrounding the Sequel Trilogy. But perhaps, it’ll be just the movie to bring Star Wars lovers, both young and old, back to theaters after all this time.

As for its 2025 release window? It’s probably best to remain cautiously optimistic. This is Star Wars, after all, and based on their track record, these films could take years to see the light of day.

Are you looking forward to seeing Star Wars return to theaters, potentially as early as 2025? Let us know in the comments below.