Witness Disney synergy at work: The Hollywood Reporter reports that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige is developing a new Star Wars film. And because Feige has proven so adept at bringing B and C-list characters to the fore in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s possible that Feige is about to do the same with Star Wars.
Disney’s co-chairman and chief creative officer Alan Horn confirmed the news, saying that the company is excited for what Lucasfilm has in the pipeline (reminding us that they also have a Indiana Jones film and an adaptation of Children of Blood and Bone in the works), and that as they build out the future of Star Wars, it “made sense for these two extraordinary producers to work on a Star Wars film together.
The announcement didn’t come with any concrete details about what it would be about, although sources tell THR that “Feige has told a major actor that there’s a specific role he would like that person to play if and when he makes the movie.”
THR says that Feige isn’t coming in to upstage Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, and it doesn’t appear that he’s being brought in to retool the Star Wars franchise into a 3-film-a-year schedule like the MCU. Indeed, Disney CEO Bob Iger has repeatedly said that they oversaturated the market with an annual Star Wars release schedule, and Lucasfilm had a bit of trouble nailing the tone for its standalone projects, prompting the company to pull back on some existing plans, or retool them as streaming projects for Disney +.
Given that this year’s The Rise of Skywalker promises to bring the three-trilogy story to a close, Lucasfilm and Disney have been working to figure out what comes next in the franchise. Already, the company has announced a slew of projects: a new trilogy from The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson, a series of films from Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (the first of which will be released in 2022), as well as forthcoming streaming TV projects about Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
What that means is anyone’s guess, although there’ll certainly be plenty of speculation. Star Wars has a long history of delving into the backstories of all of the background characters that you might see, either as action figures, in RPG supplements, anthologies like Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina / Jabba’s Palace / Bounty Hunters, and even the latest standalone films Rogue One and Solo. Feige’s guided the Marvel Cinematic Universe to incredible box office heights with the films leading up to the latest Avengers film, using B or C-list superheroes, typically equipping them with some excellent stories that fit within the franchise’s history and framework.
There’s certainly plenty of things that he could go to work on here:
- Any number of characters from The Clone Wars
- Mace Windu
- Qui-Gon Jinn
- Jar Jar Binks, yes even him
- Any of the bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back (except for Boba Fett)
- Mon Mothma
- Other various members of the Rebel Alliance that we saw in the original trilogy
- Lor San Tekka (the mysterious guy in the opening of Force Awakens who has the map to Luke)
- Snap Wexley
- Lt. Connix (Billie Lorde’s character)
- Admiral Holdo
- Rose and Paige Tico
Given that Feige has apparently told an actor that they’d like them to reprise their role, my desperate wish is that he was speaking with Denis Lawson, the actor who played Wedge Antilles. (And who has expressed interest in returning if the part were substantial enough!) He’d be perfect for an in-between trilogy project as he’s brought back from reluctant retirement to train the next generation of New Republic or Resistance X-Wing fighter pilots (which obviously could include Poe Dameron or Snap Wexley). Disney, please make that.
