Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyreally opened the door for Disney and Lucasfilm to take some risks with theStar Wars universein the future. By making a very successful movie set in a galaxy far, far away that didn’t take place in the main Skywalker saga, mostly centering on new, unknown characters, the playbook really opened up. And, John Knoll, the man behindRogue One, is currently exploring that playbook a bit, as he has revealed that he has an idea for anotherStar Warsspin-off.
Legendary special effects artist John Knoll was the man who initially came up with the idea forRogue One: A Star Wars Story. Though elements of the movie changed quite a bit during the development process, the core idea never changed. It was from his mind. By most accounts, that idea was a good one, so knowing that he has another one up his sleeve is a tantalizing prospect. In speaking withThe Hollywood Reporterrecently, he revealed that he does indeed have an idea for anew Star Wars movie. Here is what he had to say about it.
“I have another idea I’ve been tinkering with. It’s maybe 75 percent there. I haven’t pitched it to (Lucasfilm presidentKathleen Kennedy). It’s another Star Wars thing…There’s no reason to think Disney is going to stop wanting to make Star Wars movies if there’s quality and there’s interest. It has unlimited potential. It has a huge number of characters, worlds … It’s a massive playground.”
We know that Lucasfilm is tinkering with several more spin-off/anthology movie ideas right now. The most developed of these ideas seems to be the often discussedObi-Wan Kenobisolo movie that would star Ewan McGregor as the famed Jedi and take place between the events ofStar Wars: Revenge of the SithandStar Wars: A New Hope. There is also a bounty hunter movie that would heavily feature Boba Fett somewhere in the development process. At one point,Fantastic Fourdirector Josh Trank was working on the movie and they even had a brief teaser ready to present atStar WarsCelebration last year, but things ultimately fell apart. One of those will likely wind up filling the 2020 release date that the studio already has locked down for an unnamedStar Warsspin-off. It looks like what John Knoll has in mind here isn’t something that we have heard about. This is something entirely new.
Since he didn’t offer up much, other than the idea being mostly formed, we can only speculate hopelessly as to what it could be. As he points out,Star Warsis very fast and there is so much that can be explored. Even thoughRogue Onetold a very different kind ofStar Warsstory, it still dealt with a time period that we are very familiar with and centered on theDeath Star, a huge fixture in the franchise to this point. So there is a lot of room to expand to other eras and corners of the universe that haven’t even been touched on.
Disney and Lucasfilm had to test the waters in regards to the public’s appetite for a different kind ofStar Warsmovie, which they very successfully did withRogue One. The movie was a big critical success and went on to gross more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Not to mention that it gave us what might be one of the best Darth Vader sequences in the history of the franchise. So it is a pretty safe bet that, once John Knoll is ready, Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy will want to hear his pitch. Whatever it may be. The nextStar Warsspin-off we can look forward to is the still untitledHan Solomovie, which is set to hit theaters on July 08, 2025. But before that happens, we will get to see Luke Skywalker finally say stuff and maybe learn who Rey’s parents are inStar Wars: The Last Jedi, which will arrive on December 15.
