Simon Kinberg Has Been Tapped To Write And Produce The Next Star Wars Trilogy
EXCLUSIVE: Lucasfilm has closed a deal with Simon Kinberg to develop a trilogy of Star Wars films. Kinberg will write the trio, and produce them with Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy.
I heard this will comprise episodes 10-12 of The Skywalker Saga that began with George Lucas’s 1977 first film that along with Steven Spielberg’s Jaws reshaped the global blockbuster game. Insiders disputed my intel that Kinberg will continue that storyline, saying this will instead begin a new saga and sits alongside Star Wars percolating projects with James Mangold, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Taika Waititi, and Donald Glover. As usual, Lucasfilm and Disney are not commenting.
Before I even begin to think about this news, lets go over the recent history of Star Wars announcements since Disney took over:
- Colin Trevorrow was supposed to direct Star Wars Ep 9, he left for creative differences and JJ Abrams ended up taking over.
- Lord and Miller directed most of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story', but they ended up leaving for creative differences and Ron Howard Took over.
- There was supposed to be a Boba Fett Star Wars directed by James Mangold but they ended up canceling in 2018.
- Guillermo del Toro was supposed to direct a Jabba the Hutt movie but that was canceled around 2018.
- Benioff and Weiss were tapped to make a brand new trilogy for Star Wars, but that was canceled in 2019.
- 'Rangers of the New Republic' was supposed to come out after 'The Mandalorian', but that was canceled in 2021.
- Patty Jenkins was supposed to make a 'Rogue Squadron' movie but it was canceled in 2023.
- Kevin Feige was supposed to make a movie at some point over the last few years but that was canceled in 2023.
- Damon Lindelof was supposed to have a Rey Skywalker movie, but that was canceled in 2023
- That same Rey Skywalker movie was reworked into a brand new movie written by Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight, but he later left and the movie was delayed again this year.
This shit is exhausting. It's the boy who called wolf and the fact that neither Lucasfilm nor Disney have commented on this doesn't give me a ton of confidence. However, if it is real, its not a terrible choice. Here are the highlights and lowlights of what he has been involved with as a producer, writer or both:
GOOD: Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: First Class, Elysium, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Cinderella, The Martian, Deadpool, Logan, Deadpool 2, Deadpool and Wolverine Star Wars 7*, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story*, Star Wars Rebels, Legion, Sugar, Designated Survivor
BAD: XXX State of the Union, This Means War, Fantastic Four, Chappie, Murder on the Orient Express, Dark Phoenix, The 355, The New Mutants, The Haunting in Venice
*Consultant*
Above all, Kinberg is a franchise vet and I would say that he has been involved with more good projects than bad. The fact that he was involved in 3 solid star wars projects is also promising but the question is going to be how do they move this story along? I really don't know the answer! Like the article says, they don't think that this is a direct sequel to the latest trilogy but a new one entirely. To me, that is the way to go. The sequel trilogy ended on a whimper and people really didn't resonate with that story at all. To me, there are two keys to victory for any new Star Wars media.
1. Stick to practical as much as possible. Fans of this franchise like the puppets. We like on-location shooting. We like costumes, goofy voices, miniatures etc. It does not hurt our suspension of disbelief at all! Obviously you need CGI in moments but the more you limit that, the better off you are.
2. Limit the number of characters. One of the great aspects of the original trilogy is that you could zero in on the trio of Luke, Leia and Han and enjoy their development as characters. In The sequel trilogy, there was just no chemistry between the Rey, Poe and Finn trio and they really weren't given any time on screen together to develop any. On top of that, there were just a trillion new characters introduced every movie that nobody gave a shit about. Like Mel Gibson said, aim small, miss small.
And on a lesser note, performative social justice stuff can't be the highlight of a production anymore. Disney is perpetuating this never ending cycle where they cast someone from an underrepresented community into a bad project. That actor gets unfairly shit on by trolls, has to turn off comments, etc. The project comes out and bombs, and anyone who fairly criticizes the project for legit reasons gets accused of being racist, sexist, homophobic etc. That shit sucks for everybody. Sucks for the actor, sucks for whatever community they're from, sucks for the people that make the show, sucks for the fans.
Stick to the keys made by me, a person who does not have a lick of experience in Hollywood, and we might have a certified banger on our hands.