As Star Wars fans wait as patiently as possible for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger addressed the future of the space opera saga while speaking at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica.
“When we bought Lucasfilm, we were going to make three films — Episodes VII, VIII and IX,” the Disney CEO said. “We had to deal with tragedy at the end of 2016. Carrie appears throughout VIII. We are not changing VIII to deal with her passing. Her performance remains as it is in VIII. In Rogue One, we had some digital character. We are not doing that with Carrie.”
More importantly, the studio has already started to talk about what stories could be explored following the events of Star Wars IX, which is being directed by Colin Trevorrow with an expected release date of May 23, 2019. According to Iger, we are looking at “what could be another decade-and-a-half of Star Wars stories.”
There’s no shortage of Star Wars stories and as we’ve seen from Star Wars Rebels this year, characters who are apart of Star Wars Legends could easily come back to the main canon like Grand Admiral Thrawn. Star Wars Rebels finished it’s third season on Disney XD and will be back for a fourth season. The Rebel Alliance just formed heading into the third season finale.
On the subject of the Han Solo stand-alone film, Iger says that the movie will include “acquiring a certain vehicle and meeting a certain Wookie. Fans will “also discover how he got his name.”
Iger was interviewed by his wife, Willow Bay, during the inaugural SCALE: The Future of Tech and Entertainment conference put on by the USC Marshall School of Business. If you have 48 minutes to spare, you can watch Iger’s remarks here.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will open in theaters on December 15, 2017.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had its Digital HD release on March 24th and will have its Blu-ray release on April 4th.
