Over the weekend, the Star Wars corner of the internet got its favorite thing: something to argue about. Knight Edge Media reported that Jon Watts, the director behind Tom Holland's three Spider-Man movies, is set to direct the next Star Wars film. Variety said it could confirm a new Star Wars movie is in development with Watts attached, and Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter added the detail that made people lean in: it's reportedly the first film of the trilogy Simon Kinberg has been writing since 2024, and it would continue the Skywalker Saga.
Lucasfilm had no comment. So this is reporting, not an announcement, and I'm going to keep those two things separate below, because the line between them is easy to blur.
Here's where I land, and I'll defend it: it's a safe hire, and right now, safe is exactly what Star Wars needs. The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars movie since 2019, opened to about $82 million over three days on a $165 million budget and finished near $346 million worldwide, the lowest total ever for a live-action Star Wars film. After a summer like that, you don't hand the keys to a mystery box. You hand them to a guy who made three crowd-pleasers in a row, two of which cleared a billion dollars.
The Essentials
- Multiple outlets report Jon Watts is attached to direct the first film of Simon Kinberg's Star Wars trilogy, described as the next chapter of the Skywalker Saga. Lucasfilm hasn't confirmed it publicly.
- No release date, plot, production start or cast has been announced. The next Star Wars movie in theaters is Starfighter, from Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, on May 28, 2027.
- Rey (Daisy Ridley) would reportedly appear in some capacity.
- My take: a smart, safe hire with real open questions. I built a résumé comparison of all six Saga directors, a scoreboard of Disney-era Star Wars movies, and my own confidence rating below.
Is Jon Watts really directing the next Star Wars movie? What's reported, what's not
Three boxes, sorted by how solid the ground is. The first comes from several major trade outlets, which are right most of the time. The second is where Lucasfilm's silence matters. The third is everything nobody has said yet.
- Watts is attached to direct a new Star Wars movie (Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone; Knight Edge Media reported it first).
- It's the first film in a trilogy written by Simon Kinberg.
- The trilogy is described as the next chapter of the Skywalker Saga.
- Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, would appear in some capacity (Hollywood Reporter).
- The hire itself. Lucasfilm had no comment when Deadline reported it.
- A full studio green light for the whole trilogy. One report notes Disney hasn't officially given it.
- The "Episode X" label. Empire treats it as possible, not settled.
- A release date, a start of production or a budget.
- Any cast beyond the Ridley report, or any plot.
- Whether Watts directs all three movies or only the first.
- How this fits with Starfighter and the separate, long-stalled Rey film.
When Variety and Deadline both put their names on something, I'm comfortable calling it very likely. But "very likely" and "announced" are different things, and the third box is much longer than the first. Keep that in mind the next time a headline sounds surer than the reporting underneath it.
Is it Episode X? What is the Simon Kinberg Star Wars trilogy?
"Skywalker Saga" is shorthand for the nine main-line movies: the original trilogy (1977 to 1983), the prequels (1999 to 2005) and the sequels (2015 to 2019). The Rise of Skywalker in 2019 was the last one. The Hollywood Reporter says the Kinberg trilogy is meant to be the next chapter of that story, which would make Watts's film Episode X. Empire is more careful, saying it might be.
Kinberg is best known for writing, producing and directing in the X-Men franchise. Variety notes he was named as the trilogy's writer in 2024 and that he was considered a surprising choice at the time. He also co-created the animated series Star Wars Rebels, according to Screen Rant.
Now the wrinkle I keep turning over. A separate Rey movie has been in development for years from director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and TechRadar noted in August that it had seen very little movement since it was announced. Now the Hollywood Reporter says Rey shows up in the Kinberg trilogy. Are those two projects merging? I don't know, and nobody's said. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that the newer trilogy quietly absorbs the older idea. Lucasfilm is also under new leadership, with Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan replacing Kathleen Kennedy this year, and TechRadar notes it's unclear how many in-development projects will actually get made.
When will the Jon Watts Star Wars movie come out?
There is no date. The only dated Star Wars movie is Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, which opens May 28, 2027 in the franchise's 50th-anniversary year. Here's where everything sits:
- Dec. 2019 · DoneThe Rise of Skywalker closes the nine-film Skywalker Saga.
- 2024 · DoneKinberg is named writer of a new trilogy, and Watts co-creates the Disney+ series Skeleton Crew.
- May 22, 2026 · DoneThe Mandalorian and Grogu opens and ends near $346 million worldwide.
- Weekend of Sept. 26-27, 2026Watts is reported as director of the Kinberg trilogy's first film.
- May 28, 2027Star Wars: Starfighter opens in theaters.
- No dateWatts's film.
Here's the math I did to make my own guess. The Mandalorian and Grogu finished filming in December 2024 and opened in May 2026, about 17 months later. Starfighter was announced in April 2025 with production planned to start that fall, aiming for a May 2027 release, roughly a year and a half out. A movie with no cast, no date and no reported start of production can't beat either timeline. So my guess, and I'd stress it's a guess, is that Watts's film doesn't reach theaters before 2028.
Will Rey and Daisy Ridley be in the new Star Wars movie?
The Hollywood Reporter says Rey would appear in some capacity. That phrase is doing a lot of work: it can mean a lead, a mentor, a cameo or a name-drop. Ridley played Rey in all three sequel films, from 2015 to 2019. My hope is that Rey is a bridge, not a crutch. If the new trilogy is the future of the saga, its emotional weight should rest on characters we haven't met yet, with Rey as the thread that ties them to the story we already know.
Why Mandalorian and Grogu's box office matters here (my scoreboard)
To understand the Watts hire, look at what Star Wars has actually earned. This is my scoreboard of every Disney-era Star Wars movie, ranked by worldwide gross.
| Movie | Director | Worldwide | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Force Awakens (2015) | DirectorJ.J. Abrams | WorldwideAbout $2.07B | TypeSaga |
| The Last Jedi (2017) | DirectorRian Johnson | WorldwideAbout $1.33B | TypeSaga |
| The Rise of Skywalker (2019) | DirectorJ.J. Abrams | WorldwideAbout $1.07B | TypeSaga |
| Rogue One (2016) | DirectorGareth Edwards | WorldwideAbout $1.06B | TypeSpin-off |
| Solo (2018) | DirectorRon Howard | WorldwideAbout $392M | TypeSpin-off |
| The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) | DirectorJon Favreau | WorldwideAbout $346M | TypeSpin-off (from a TV series) |
Look at the pattern. Every Saga movie of the Disney era cleared a billion dollars. Of the spin-offs, only Rogue One did. The two that landed under $400 million, Solo and The Mandalorian and Grogu, were the two built around a single character rather than the big story. Solo opened to about $84 million over three days; Mando opened to about $82 million and, per The Hollywood Reporter, set a new series low. That's not proof of anything, but it's a strong hint about where the audience lives. When Lucasfilm chooses to lead with the Skywalker Saga again, it's following its own numbers.
The résumé test: every Skywalker Saga director, side by side
Only five people have directed a Skywalker Saga movie: George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand, J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson. Watts would be the sixth. I compared what each had made before the job, and one column is mine: whether they'd already proven they could run a studio-scale production.
| Director | Saga film(s) | Before the job | Studio-scale proven? |
|---|---|---|---|
| George Lucas | Saga film(s)A New Hope; the prequels | Before the jobTHX 1138, American Graffiti | Proven?No |
| Irvin Kershner | Saga film(s)The Empire Strikes Back | Before the jobMid-budget dramas and thrillers, including The Eyes of Laura Mars | Proven?No |
| Richard Marquand | Saga film(s)Return of the Jedi | Before the jobThe WWII spy thriller Eye of the Needle | Proven?No |
| J.J. Abrams | Saga film(s)The Force Awakens; The Rise of Skywalker | Before the jobMission: Impossible III, Star Trek, Super 8 | Proven?Yes |
| Rian Johnson | Saga film(s)The Last Jedi | Before the jobBrick, The Brothers Bloom, Looper | Proven?No |
| Jon Watts (reported) | Saga film(s)Episode X (unconfirmed) | Before the jobThree Spider-Man movies, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Wolfs | Proven?Yes |
My read: for most of Star Wars history, the Saga has been handed to talented people who hadn't yet run a machine this big. Watts and Abrams are the two exceptions. Watts also has something none of the four other outside directors had: he'd already made Star Wars. He co-created Skeleton Crew with Christopher Ford and directed several episodes, and Empire describes the show's tone as charming, adventurous and Goonies-style.
He isn't spotless. The Hollywood Reporter calls Wolfs, his Clooney-and-Pitt movie for Apple, a high-profile misfire. But his Spider-Man trilogy got bigger with every movie, and the last two each earned well over a billion dollars worldwide.
My verdict: why I'm cautiously cheering
A safe, sensible hire that matches what Star Wars' own box office is telling it. My confidence stops at 7 because the person who decides what this movie is about is the writer, and we know almost nothing about that yet.
Three reasons I'm on board:
- It respects the data. The Saga movies are what audiences show up for. Going back to them, with a director who has already handled a billion-dollar crowd-pleaser, looks like listening.
- He has handled legacy before. Spider-Man: No Way Home brought back earlier generations of the character without the movie collapsing under its own nostalgia. That's precisely the skill a Skywalker Saga sequel needs.
- He knows the sandbox. Skeleton Crew proves he can work inside Star Wars, not just borrow its logo.
Three things that worry me:
- A director tells you how a movie will feel; a writer tells you what it's about. Kinberg's own directing record, including 2019's Dark Phoenix, was widely seen as a disappointment. His credits as a writer and producer are stronger, but "what's the story?" is still the open question.
- The last Saga didn't feel like it had a shared plan. That's my view, but three movies, two directors and a director change on Episode IX before cameras rolled left the sequel trilogy feeling improvised to a lot of fans. Reports name Watts for the first film only, so who steers the other two matters.
- "Safe" can drift into "forgettable." The franchise also needs at least one idea that feels new.
What would change my mind: an official announcement that names the whole creative team, a release date that gives the film real time to be made well, or a clear answer on how Rey's story is handled.
What this means for you
- Casual fan: nothing changes yet. Starfighter on May 28, 2027 is your next movie, and this project is years away.
- Lapsed fan: the Skywalker Saga returning to the center is the signal to watch. The sequel trilogy's characters are apparently coming back with it.
- Die-hard: watch for an official Lucasfilm announcement, then for Kinberg's collaborators and any cast news.
Jon Watts Star Wars questions people keep searching
Is Jon Watts directing a Star Wars movie?
According to Variety, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and others, yes: he's attached to direct the first film in Simon Kinberg's new Star Wars trilogy. Lucasfilm had not commented publicly at publication.
Is Jon Watts's Star Wars movie Episode X?
It's reported as the next chapter of the Skywalker Saga, which would make it Episode X. The Hollywood Reporter and Rolling Stone use that framing; Empire says it might be. Lucasfilm hasn't confirmed the numbering.
Who is writing the new Star Wars trilogy?
Simon Kinberg, who was named as the writer in 2024.
Will Daisy Ridley return as Rey?
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Rey would appear in some capacity in the new trilogy. Nothing has been confirmed by Lucasfilm or Ridley.
When is the next Star Wars movie?
Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling, opens May 28, 2027. There is no date for Watts's film.
Did Jon Watts direct Star Wars: Skeleton Crew?
He co-created the series with Christopher Ford and directed several episodes.
What was the Mandalorian and Grogu box office?
About $346 million worldwide on a reported $165 million budget, the lowest total for a live-action Star Wars movie. It opened to about $82 million over three days.
