Star Wars Episode 10 Has Found Its Director
The next entry in the Skywalker Saga will be directed by Spider-Man: No Way Home's Jon Watts
Disney and Lucasfilm just brought on a director for an upcoming Star Wars movie reportedly continuing the Skywalker Saga. It's Jon Watts, a director you know best for his work on the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Spider-Man trilogy.
What we've learned about Star Wars Episode 10
On Sept. 26, The Hollywood Reporter and Knight Edge Media revealed that Jon Watts would direct the first Star Wars movie that's part of "the next phase of a potential new Skywalker Saga." The film is supposedly part of a trilogy Simon Kinberg is writing. Kinberg wrote X-Men: The Last Stand, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse before directing the infamous Dark Phoenix. Disney hasn't fully greenlit the movie yet, so plot details aren't being readily shared right now.
A potential Episode 10 is far along in development, though, and Disney is quite familiar with Jon Watts' work. Watts helped fold Spider-Man into the MCU, directing Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home. After that, he turned to Star Wars and helped create the underrated Star Wars: Skeleton Crew for Disney Plus, which clearly impressed Lucasfilm enough to give Watts a Skywalker Saga movie.
Still, I wouldn't get too excited until we know for a fact that Episode 10 is in production. Ever since Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker messily wrapped up the series' overarching narrative in 2019, Lucasfilm has been hesitant to continue its flagship Star Wars movie series. Multiple projects have entered development and never came to fruition in the nearly seven years since, with most new Star Wars releases coming as Disney Plus shows or video games.
The Mandalorian and Grogu did hit theaters in May, but it underperformed expectations at the box office. Shawn Levy and Ryan Gosling's Star Wars: Starfighter hits theaters next May and will test how successful a Star Wars movie that's not part of the Skywalker Saga can be. If it underperforms, Disney and Lucasfilm may have no choice but to turn to a hypothetical Star Wars Episode 10 to save the franchise.