Kathleen Kennedy hints The Rise of Skywalker characters might appear in new projects
Do Rey, Finn, and Poe have a future beyond The Rise of Skywalker?
A new L.A.Times interview with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy hints that characters in the current Disney Star Wars trilogy have more to do beyond the eagerly awaited final Skywalker Saga film.
From the story: “Kennedy said she plans to make key decisions about the direction of the franchise in the coming weeks. But some things she already knows. While the Skywalker saga is ending, the company won’t abandon the characters created in the most recent trilogy.”
Now that could mean a lot of different things. But it seems to suggest the possibility of a film or TV series featuring one or more of the current saga cast. This would hardly be surprising given that there are two Disney Plus shows in the works with actors from Star Wars films reprising their roles (a show starring Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and another starring Diego Luna as his Rogue One Rebel spy Cassian Andor).
That we haven’t heard anything about this so far also isn’t surprising given that news of, for instance, a Poe Dameron series would presumably spoil that Poe Dameron survives The Rise of Skywalker. So waiting some weeks or months after The Rise of Skywalker is released in theaters Dec. 20 before making any announcements would seem prudent.
Previously, The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams has said his film is designed to be a true finale rather than set up any new projects for the characters. But both things can be true: Rise of Skywalker can serve as a definitive Skywalker Saga ending and new projects might be launched around one or more of the trilogy’s characters (after all, Cassian Andor died in Rogue One, so his TV show is a prequel).
The film’s actors have given mixed responses in media interviews to the question of whether they would ever reprise their characters. Daisy Ridley, for instance, has said she “can’t imagine” playing Rey again.
Other bits of intrigue in the interview include Kennedy saying that fan criticism matters to the company when making decisions about the franchise. “It does matter what [fans] say and what they care about,” Kennedy said. “All of those things play a role in our decision making.”
The report also added that Solo co-writer Jonathan Kasdan has finished a pilot script for a series based on the 1988 George Lucas fantasy film Willow.
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