Kathleen Kennedy’s ‘Star Wars’ No Longer Includes ‘First Jedi’ Movie, Creatives Speak Out on Cancelation

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Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker

Credit: Lucasfilm

The galaxy far, far away will no longer include the once highly-anticipated “First Jedi” movie, and the creatives behind it have addressed the cancelation and removal of their project.

Mace Windu, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme fighting with the Jedi Order in Attack of the Clones
Credit: Lucasfilm

In April 2023, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy presented the studio’s panel at the Star Wars Celebration in London, United Kingdom. After not releasing a movie since 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) failed to impress the masses and left a sour taste in the mouths of fans, anticipation was high for Kennedy to bring something new to the table.

Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron movie was already on the back-burner; Rian Johnson’s trilogy was not happening, and the Kevin Feige-produced feature was dead in the water, so Lucasfilm needed to fill the gaps. And fill the gaps they did. In a wave of applause, Kathleen Kennedy revealed that three new movies were being added to the slate.

Rey hearing all the Jedi in 'The Rise of Skywalker'
Credit: Lucasfilm

James Mangold will direct the Dawn of the Jedi film, exploring the origins of the Force, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will helm the Daisy Ridley-starring movie, currently known as The New Jedi Order. Ridley will reprise her role as Rey Skywalker, where she will rebuild the Jedi Order in the years following the downfall of the First Order and the death of Emperor Palpatine (again) in Disney’s sequel trilogy. Rey will essentially replace Luke Skywalker in this new Star Wars movie and wave of storytelling.

The third film will be directed by Lucasfilm’s darling Dave Filoni. Known for his work on The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, The Bad Batch, and various live-action pursuits like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, Filoni is an integral part of Lucasfilm’s recent television success. He will bring together the New Republic era featured in the various Mando-Verse shows, where key players like Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) will go to war with Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen).

The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu in the N1 Starfighter in 'The Mandalorian'
Credit: Lucasfilm

Related: Disney’s ‘Star Wars’ Is Erasing Years of Hard Work With Significant Jedi Change

Depending on what type of Star Wars fan you are, any of the three movies can spark excitement. But the story behind James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi film is shadowed by a tale of what could have been.

In 2018, before the release of the polarizing eighth season of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were attached to bring a new Star Wars trilogy to audiences. Known for their huge HBO hit, the creative duo were onboard to tell the story of the first-ever Jedi. At the time of the announcement, Kennedy said, “David and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today” and that “their command of complex characters, depth of story, and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push Star Wars in ways [she finds] incredibly exciting.”

Ewan McGregor (left) and Kathleen Kennedy (right) at D23 Expo
Credit: Lucasfilm

But it was not meant to be as the project was reimagined and replaced with a new lead. Benioff and Weiss told Games Radar that they would unlikely return to Star Wars as the universe has so many pre-ordained rules, and instead, they would opt to connect with “fresh” projects. The Game of Thrones executives recently shared more in an interview with Josh Horowitz on Happy Sad Confused.

“I think we got relatively far story-wise with the first one,” Weiss told Horowitz (via SFF Gazette). “We had a basic roadmap for the other two. It was a shame. The truth is, our batting average on things conceived to things actually finished has never been tremendously high, and there will always be ones that get away for various reasons. The ones that just aren’t meant to be.”

When asked whether there had been a conversation about the suspiciously similar pitch and movie from James Mangold, Weiss replied: “I love Jim. He’s a great dude. All the best of luck to him.” You can watch the exchange here:

Related: Lucasfilm Ignores the Haters, Daisy Ridley’s Huge ‘Star Wars’ Role Reportedly Revealed

Joining these three movies, Lucasfilm also announced that a fan-favorite duo would be heading to the big screen for the first time. In late 2023, the studio revealed that Jon Favreau would be directing a movie called The Mandalorian & Grogu and that this film would “lead” the current Star Wars slate.

No other word has been shared on the project since, but it can be expected that Pedro Pascal will just be on hand to voice Din Djarin, as he had done for the third season of the Disney+ show. It makes sense, considering the high-profile Hollywood star is currently working on The Last of Us Season 2 on HBO and will commence filming The Fantastic Four (2025) later this year.

Would you have preferred to see the First Jedi movie over the Dawn of the Jedi movie? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!

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