Credit: LucasfilmDaisy Ridley says that her upcoming new Star Wars movie will be a big change for the franchise, promising fans that it will take the series from a galaxy far, far away in a new “different direction.”
This could be a very positive thing for the Star Wars franchise, which has been steadily losing viewers for Disney+ series like Ahsoka and The Book of Boba Fett after the initial smash hit of The Mandalorian. It can be argued that dwindling interest could be due to the lore-heavy tone of its new shows, which require extensive knowledge of the Dave Filoni-led animated Clone Wars series in order to follow characters and plots.
The Mandalorian was initially presented as a breath of fresh air for Star Wars fans after the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga, immersing audiences in a darker, grittier section of the galaxy that was largely disconnected from the main narrative of the series.
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It gave audiences an easy “in” for the show and welcomed neophyte fans, but as Dave Filoni has taken greater and greater control of the Star Wars arm of Lucasfilm, even The Mandalorian has increasingly become a platform to bring back Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill in uncanny valley form), and introduce live-action versions of characters like Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff).
One of the most persistent complaints about the Disney Star Wars sequel trilogy that began with The Force Awakens (2015) was that the Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley-starring series rehashed too much of the plot and imagery of the original movies, particularly when The Rise of Skywalker (2019) concluded with the unexplained resurrection of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). This new movie has the potential to finally break away from the legacy of the previous films and actually welcome fans who have perhaps not followed nine movies and innumerable shows.
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In an interview with AlloCiné, Daisy Ridley kept details of the new movie largely under wraps but confirmed that the movie was attempting a new start for the franchise. Ridley said, “So I thought about it for a little bit, and once I knew what the story was and everything, I knew it was something I really wanted to do…I think it’s a really fantastic exploration of the Star Wars world. It’s a really cool way of taking the story on in a bit of a different direction.”
The still-untitled Star Wars movie is set to be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and will reportedly take place sometime after the event of The Rise of Skywalker, with Rey Skywalker attempting to build a new Jedi Order. It does not yet have a release date.
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