Disney may be preparing to drag the Skywalker name back into the theater one more time.
According to reports, Jon Watts is attached to direct the first movie in a new Star Wars trilogy written by Simon Kinberg. The project is supposedly meant to continue the Skywalker saga, which raises one immediate question:
Who, exactly, is left?
The original Skywalkers are dead. Han Solo is dead. Luke Skywalker is dead. Leia Organa is dead. The sequel trilogy wrapped up by handing the Skywalker name to Rey, a character who was technically a Palpatine and whose story already felt like a corporate argument nobody bothered to finish.
And now Disney wants another trilogy.
Development Is Not the Same as a Movie
Before anyone starts making fan art of Luke Skywalker returning through the World Between Worlds, the project has not been greenlit.
That part matters.
Lucasfilm has announced enough Star Wars projects that we could build an entire fictional filmography out of movies that never existed. New trilogies, standalone films, streaming shows, origin stories, sequel stories, Old Republic projects, mystery projects. Some were announced with great confidence. Most disappeared into the Lucasfilm announcement graveyard.
This new trilogy is reportedly the furthest along after Star Wars: Starfighter, the Shawn Levy movie that is already deep into production. “Furthest along” still does not mean “coming to a theater near you.” It means the project has survived long enough to be discussed publicly.
That is a very low bar for Star Wars in 2026.
The timing also feels deliberate. Disney and Lucasfilm know people are exhausted by announcements that never become real movies. So this could be an attempt to test the audience. Put the headline out there, watch the reaction, and see whether anybody gets excited enough to justify moving forward.
The reaction so far? More shrug than stampede.
Jon Watts Is a Reasonable Choice. That’s the Problem.
Jon Watts is not a nobody. He directed the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, including Spider-Man: No Way Home, which managed to turn nostalgia into an actual story instead of merely stapling old characters onto a new one.
He also co-created Skeleton Crew, a Star Wars series that arrived with considerably less cultural impact than Disney probably wanted.
Watts can make a polished studio movie. He understands spectacle, pacing, and the mechanics of a major franchise. But Star Wars needs more than a competent director who knows how to move digital objects across a screen.
The question is whether Watts has a reason to make a new Star Wars trilogy, or whether he is simply the latest name attached to a franchise that has spent a decade confusing activity with direction.
Even his Spider-Man titles sounded like a marketing department trying to fill a whiteboard: Homecoming, Far From Home, No Way Home. At least Brand New Day has the decency to sound like a reboot warning.
Simon Kinberg Does Not Inspire Confidence
The scripts are reportedly coming from Simon Kinberg, a longtime Hollywood journeyman who has worked on both decent and disastrous franchise material.
That résumé includes X-Men: Days of Future Past, but it also includes Dark Phoenix, a movie so lifeless that it made one of the most famous comic-book storylines feel like a tax seminar.
This is the problem with modern franchise hiring. The studio finds someone who has touched successful IP, assumes the success is transferable, and then hands that person an entire mythology.
Star Wars does not need another writer who can assemble familiar pieces. It needs somebody with a point of view, an understanding of myth, and enough confidence to let a story exist without constantly apologizing for the last one.
Kinberg may have that story. We have not seen it. At this stage, we have a trade report and a familiar corporate promise that this time the next era will be different.
We have heard that promise before.
What Would a New Skywalker Story Even Be?
The obvious fan theory is that Disney will use this trilogy to erase the sequel trilogy and restore the old continuity. That rumor will spread because it always spreads. Somebody will mention time travel, alternate timelines, resurrected heroes, and a secret plan to bring back the version of Star Wars people actually liked.
It is not happening because Mike Zeroh said so in a thumbnail. It is happening because Disney has created the conditions for the rumor by leaving the franchise’s direction so unclear.
If Lucasfilm wants people to care, it needs to answer the basic questions. Who are these Skywalkers? What is the conflict? Why does the story need to be connected to the Skywalker family? What does the name mean now besides “please remember when this was good”?
Rey could be part of the answer, but that would require Disney to give her an actual story instead of using her as a nostalgia delivery system. The studio could also admit that the Skywalker saga ended and build something new somewhere else in the galaxy.
That would be the smart move. Naturally, it is probably the least likely one.
Star Wars Has an Audience Problem
The real issue is not that nobody wants more Star Wars. People still love Star Wars. They love the original trilogy, the characters, the worlds, the music, and the feeling that this universe used to have a destination.
The problem is trust.
Disney took one of the most valuable fictional universes in history and spent years announcing projects, changing plans, canceling projects, reviving projects, and treating audience exhaustion like a scheduling issue. The brand became associated with uncertainty. Every new announcement arrives with a second announcement hiding behind it: “assuming this one actually happens.”
A new trilogy could work. Jon Watts could surprise us. Simon Kinberg could write something with a pulse. We are not required to pretend that is impossible.
But a press release is not a comeback. A director attachment is not a plan. And the word “Skywalker” cannot do all the emotional labor forever.
Until Lucasfilm gives audiences a reason to care about the future instead of another reminder of the past, the response will remain exactly what Disney has earned:
Apathy.
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