Lucasfilm sounds like it’s still struggling to figure out the film side of Star Wars, as one report claims Rey will be coming back in a big way.
We’ve known since last year that Daisy Ridley would be coming back to Star Wars for a solo Rey film, but as of yet it’s just the one film. There are plenty of other films in the works, including one by Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), another by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), and Donald Glover is working on his solo Lando film too. Most recently a report emerged that a new Star Wars trilogy is in development with X-Men writer Simon Kinberg, but reports are split on whether it will continue the Skywalker Saga or if it’ll be a completely new thing. Now, a new report from The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that the debate over whether or not this new trilogy will be a continuation or not, is that it’s apparently hoped that Ridley could come back for it as Rey in some form.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Rey is the key to the franchise’s next turn, but with Kinberg’s trilogy still early in development, it might put it in conflict with the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy directed solo Rey film. That Rey film has had a number of writers attached to it, so THR posits that that’s why Lucasfilm might be interested in Rey appearing in this new trilogy. One source told THR that Rey is “the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now.”
Lucasfilm is having a lot of trouble continuing the world of Star Wars on the big screen, having only released TV shows in the years following the release of The Rise of Skywalker, with another source telling THR that trying to continue George Lucas’ original films is like “being asked to create the new New Testament. And no one can agree on anything and there’s a lot of second guessing about meanings.”
Another source still notes that “Star Wars is a nostalgia-based enterprise and they are running out of ways to create nostalgia.” With a whole bunch of the series’ most popular characters no longer being relevant due to being killed off or having their storylines wrapped up. There’s only so many prequels that can be made, too.
One insider said that to “make standalone movies or continuing the Skywalker Saga in any form is a fundamental question the company faces as it tries to move forward,” so we’ll just have to wait and see if Lucasfilm can pick up the messy pieces the highly criticised The Rise of Skywalker left behind in the film world.