Lucasfilm

As Star Wars Rebels comes to a close, Disney may have tipped its hand to the next generation of Star Wars TV. Suspicious trademarks for the name Star Wars Resistance already have fans abuzz with possibilities for the new series coming to Disney streaming.

While many fans were thrilled with yesterday’s news that Lucasfilm had hired Game of Thrones duo David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to develop a new series of Star Wars movies, just as many were frustrated by it. Despite employing several women in key creative and executive roles, the studio, under president Kathleen Kennedy, has yet to hire a single woman or person of color to direct a Star Wars movie. Not one. According to a wacky new rumor, that’s not exactly true.

Is it Star Wars? Could it be Star Wars? Is Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy finally hiring a woman to direct a friggin’ Star War?! To be honest, we have no idea, but Reed Morano — director and executive producer of The Handmaid’s Tale — is coyly teasing a potential project at Lucasfilm. And no, she can’t tell you what it is (yet).

With the current Star Wars trilogy set to conclude in 2019, some fans have already begun wondering what’s next for the prolific franchise. Lucasfilm has a few spinoffs in the works, including an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie (possibly with Ewan McGregor) and the upcoming Solo (which recently wrapped production), but the future of the core series hasn’t exactly been at the forefront of public discussion — until now.

In 1989, a 26-year-old Steven Soderbergh changed the landscape of indie cinema with his feature debut, Sex, Lies, and Videotape. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment, and one he might not have achieved if Lucasfilm had hired him back in 1984. Instead, the iconic studio behind one of the world’s most popular franchises rejected Soderbergh, as evidenced by a letter recently unearthed by the multi-hyphenate.

Han Solo’s death is the kind of cinematic moment you never forget. I certainly won’t forget the reaction of the theater I was in when I first saw The Force Awakens, the audible gasps and cries (one very loud one from my mom sitting beside me) when that dirtbag Kylo Ren pretended to give up the Dark Side then killed his pops just like that...

Lucasfilm released upwards of 25 new ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ photos in gorgeous hi-res.

And in other, totally unsurprising Star Wars: Episode IX news… Following this morning’s announcement that J.J. Abrams is returning to direct (and co-write) the trilogy finale comes word that the release date has been pushed back seven months from May 24, 2019 to December 20. Meanwhile, despite a change in directors and Ron Howard’s ongoing reshoots, the Han Solo spinoff weirdly remains the one Star Wars property that won’t be released in December.

In the world of filmmaking, one day you are in, and the next you are out. Such has definitely been the case for Disney‘s and Lucasfilm‘s Star Wars sequels and spin-offs, which have both gone through a bit of an identity crisis these past few months. With Colin Trevorrow and Lucasfilm parting ways on Star Wars: Episode IX, we thought to take it upon ourselves to find a suitable replacement for the final movie in the modern trilogy.

As it turns out, asking Ewan McGregor about reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in a Star Wars spinoff is basically like a publicity version of Bloody Mary — say it enough times and it’ll appear. Despite the actor’s numerous expressions of interest in revisiting one of the only good things to come of the Star Wars prequels (aside from Watto, of course), the decision ultimately rests with Lucasfilm. And it looks like Lucasfilm is most definitely down.