Star Wars Episode X: 11 Things to Know About Jon Watts Taking On the Skywalker Saga

By the Filmoria News Desk

Quick Facts

• The story: Jon Watts is attached to direct the first film in Simon Kinberg’s new Star Wars trilogy, widely described as a continuation of the Skywalker Saga
• First reported: 26 September 2026 by Knight Edge Media and Daniel Richtman, then confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline
• Writer and producer: Simon Kinberg (Star Wars Rebels, X-Men: Days of Future Past), hired by Lucasfilm on 7 November 2024
• Returning cast: Daisy Ridley is expected back as Rey Skywalker, reportedly in a smaller role
• New leads: Lucasfilm is said to be casting relatively unknown actors as the male and female leads
• Status: Not yet formally greenlit by Disney; no title, release date or shoot date announced
• Next Star Wars film in cinemas: Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter, 28 May 2027 (US)
• Last updated: 30 September 2026

This is a ranked list of the 11 most important things to know about Lucasfilm’s reported plan to continue the Skywalker Saga with Jon Watts directing Simon Kinberg’s script.

We ranked each point by how much it changes the picture for fans and for Disney: confirmed creative hires first, then casting, then development status, then the industry and box office context that explains why this is happening now. Anything that is still a report rather than an official Lucasfilm announcement is labelled as such.

1. Jon Watts Is Attached to Direct (Lucasfilm, Reported 26 September 2026)

What makes it stand out: The man who steered Tom Holland’s Spider-Man through three films is now lined up for the saga that started modern franchise filmmaking.

Key data: Knight Edge Media and Daniel Richtman broke the story on 26 September 2026, and The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline both followed with their own reporting within hours.

Why it matters: It’s the first time since 2019 that a named director has been publicly tied to a film billed as the next chapter of the Skywalker story.

Let’s be clear about what we actually know. Lucasfilm hasn’t put out a press release, and there’s no title card, no logo and no date. What exists is a scoop from a Star Wars-focused outlet that the two biggest Hollywood trades then stood up. That’s usually a good sign. Deadline ran its piece under the headline that Star Wars is “continuing Skywalker Saga with director Jon Watts”, which is about as unambiguous as trade language gets.

According to The Playlist, Watts is attached to direct only the first instalment of the trilogy for now, and that could change further down the line. That’s a sensible hedge. Lucasfilm has a long record of hiring directors for a whole arc and then swapping them out (Colin Trevorrow on Episode IX is the famous case), so a one-film commitment gives both sides room.

The timing is interesting too. The story landed on the same weekend Avengers: Endgame’s re-release topped the US box office, a neat reminder that Disney’s older blockbusters are still pulling crowds while its newer franchise bets have been wobblier.

2. Simon Kinberg Wrote It and Will Produce (Lucasfilm, Hired November 2024)

What makes it stand out: Kinberg is one of the few Hollywood writers who has already worked inside Star Wars at a senior level.

Key data: Lucasfilm hired him on 7 November 2024 to write and produce a new trilogy, originally alongside Kathleen Kennedy; he co-created Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018) and was a creative consultant on The Force Awakens (2015).

Why it matters: A single writer holding the whole trilogy is a direct answer to the biggest complaint about the sequel trilogy, which was that nobody seemed to have a plan.

Kinberg’s CV is a mix of huge hits and a couple of well-known stumbles. He wrote Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and Sherlock Holmes (2009), shaped the X-Men films for more than a decade, and earned a Best Picture Oscar nomination as a producer of Ridley Scott’s The Martian (2015). He also wrote and directed Dark Phoenix (2019), which closed Fox’s X-Men run on a low note, and wrote The 355 (2022).

His Star Wars credentials are real, though. Rebels is one of the best-loved pieces of the Disney era, and it’s where Dave Filoni, now running Lucasfilm, did some of his defining work. That shared history matters. The Playlist reports that Kinberg delivered one version of the story, then substantially reworked it into a 70-page treatment. Seventy pages is long for a treatment. It suggests the trilogy is mapped out in some detail rather than being a loose pitch.

The obvious question is whether one writer across three films is enough of a safeguard. It helps. But the sequel trilogy didn’t just lack a plan; it changed directors, tone and direction between episodes. Kinberg’s job will be as much about holding the line as writing pages.

3. The Trilogy Has Swung Back to the Skywalkers (Lucasfilm, 2024 vs 2026)

What makes it stand out: When Kinberg was hired, the trilogy was described as a fresh story with new characters; two years later it’s being reported as the continuation of the Skywalker Saga.

Key data: Variety’s November 2024 report said the films would feature new characters and wouldn’t continue George Lucas’s original storyline; September 2026 coverage calls it “the next chapter of the Skywalker Saga”, with some outlets using the label “Episode X”.

Why it matters: It’s a strategic U-turn, and it tells you Lucasfilm thinks name recognition is the safer bet right now.

This is the part most coverage has skated past. In 2024 the message was that Star Wars was moving on. New heroes, a new era, no more family drama. That framing fitted the times: after The Rise of Skywalker, plenty of fans and critics felt the Skywalker name had been squeezed dry.

Now the reported direction is almost the reverse. WDW News Today describes the trilogy as featuring multiple generations of Skywalkers, with Rey appearing in some capacity. Nobody at Lucasfilm has explained the change on the record, so we can only read the context. And the context points one way. The brand-new corners of the galaxy haven’t been reliable at the box office, while the saga films are still the franchise’s biggest earners by a wide margin.

There’s a middle path here that the reporting hints at: keep the Skywalker label, but hand the story to new, unknown leads. That would let Lucasfilm sell “Episode X” while still building the next generation. Whether it lands as a smart bridge or as a cynical rebrand will depend almost entirely on the script.

4. Daisy Ridley Is Expected Back as Rey (Lucasfilm, Smaller Role)

What makes it stand out: Rey was supposed to lead her own film; now she’s reportedly a supporting figure in someone else’s story.

Key data: The Playlist reports Ridley is expected to return as Jedi Master Rey in a smaller role that could grow across the later films; Reactor describes it as a minor role in the first film.

Why it matters: Rey is the one legacy character Disney still has under contract-friendly terms and in good standing with a large part of the audience.

Ridley has been attached to a return since April 2023, when Lucasfilm announced a Rey-led film at Star Wars Celebration in London. That project never got in front of cameras. So this is, in effect, her third route back into the saga, and the least central of the three.

A smaller role could be a blessing. Rey’s arc ended with her taking the Skywalker name on Tatooine, having been revealed as Palpatine’s granddaughter. That twist remains one of the most argued-over decisions in the whole franchise. Putting her in a mentor position, the way The Force Awakens used Han Solo, gives the new film a familiar face without asking it to relitigate 2019’s story choices head-on.

What’s missing from every report so far is any word on John Boyega’s Finn or Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron. The Playlist says their status is unknown. For fans who felt Finn in particular was sidelined in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, that silence will be noticed.

5. Lucasfilm Wants Unknowns for the New Leads (Casting, 2026)

What makes it stand out: The studio is reportedly going back to the playbook that made stars of Ridley, Boyega and, in 1977, Mark Hamill.

Key data: Reports cite a search for relatively unknown actors for one male and one female lead; no names have been reported.

Why it matters: Casting unknowns keeps costs down and lets the characters own the roles, but it puts even more weight on the director.

Star Wars has always leaned this way. Hamill, Ridley and Boyega were all barely known when they were cast. It’s a tradition that gives the films a sense of discovery, and it also means the studio isn’t paying A-list fees for three films.

It’s also a job Watts has done before. His Spider-Man films were built around a young lead who was near the start of his career when cast, and gave Jacob Batalon, then almost unknown, a breakout role as Ned. Skeleton Crew went further, putting four child actors at the centre of a Star Wars series. Directing young, untested performers is a specific skill, and it’s arguably the strongest argument for this hire.

Expect casting rumours to arrive fast. Any Star Wars lead search leaks, and the trades will be watching the usual drama school and breakout-TV pools. Until Lucasfilm names someone, treat any shortlist as speculation.

6. It Isn’t Greenlit Yet and Has No Release Date (Disney, Status as of September 2026)

What makes it stand out: For all the headlines, this is still a project in development, not a film in production.

Key data: The Hollywood Reporter says the project “has not been formally greenlit”; The Playlist says production could potentially begin in 2027; tbreak notes there’s no title, release date or schedule.

Why it matters: Star Wars films have been announced and then quietly dropped several times since 2019, so a greenlight is the milestone that really counts.

It’s worth sitting with that word “greenlit”. In studio terms it means Disney has approved the budget and schedule. Until then, a director can be attached, a script can exist, and the whole thing can still stall.

The past seven years give plenty of examples. Rian Johnson’s trilogy was announced in 2017 and never happened. The Game of Thrones pair David Benioff and D.B. Weiss left their planned films in 2019. Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron was dated for December 2023 and then pulled. Taika Waititi’s film has been “in development” for years.

If production does start in 2027, a realistic release would be 2028 at the earliest, given the post-production time a Star Wars film needs. That’s our estimate, not a reported date. Lucasfilm will almost certainly want Starfighter’s performance in hand before committing to a date anyway.

7. Rey’s New Jedi Order Film Has Been Shelved (Lucasfilm, 2023–2026)

What makes it stand out: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey film, announced with fanfare in 2023, has reportedly been put aside so the studio can focus on Kinberg’s trilogy.

Key data: Writers Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson, then Steven Knight, then George Nolfi all worked on it; Disney removed its December 2026 slot in November 2024 and gave the date to Ice Age 6.

Why it matters: It closes one of the franchise’s longest-running development sagas and folds Rey into a bigger plan.

The New Jedi Order film had a rough ride. It was set about 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, with Rey rebuilding the Jedi. Lindelof and Britt-Gibson’s draft went first, after creative differences. Steven Knight took over, then left in late 2024. Dark Horizons reported George Nolfi was brought on in January 2025, and by June 2025 the film was said to be on hold again while other Star Wars films moved ahead.

Star Wars News Net now reports it “has been shelved to put the focus on Episode X.” That’s not the same as cancelled, and Lucasfilm hasn’t commented. In practice, though, a Rey-led standalone and a Rey-featuring Episode X can’t easily coexist. One of them had to give way.

For Obaid-Chinoy, a two-time Oscar winner for documentary short, it’s a frustrating outcome after years of attachment. For Lucasfilm, it’s a tidier slate: one saga, one writer, one director for now.

8. Why Watts Got the Job (Marvel and Lucasfilm, 2017–2025)

What makes it stand out: Watts is one of very few directors who has delivered for both of Disney’s biggest franchise engines.

Key data: He directed Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Far From Home (2019) and No Way Home (2021), which grossed roughly $880 million, $1.13 billion and more than $1.9 billion worldwide; he co-created and ran Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (Disney+, 2024–2025).

Why it matters: He’s a proven hand with legacy characters, multiverse-level fan service and young casts, which is exactly what this trilogy needs.

Watts started small. His first two features were the horror film Clown (2014) and the tense Kevin Bacon thriller Cop Car (2015), which played Sundance. Marvel and Sony then handed him Spider-Man, and each film made more than the last. No Way Home, which brought back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, is the clearest proof that he can juggle nostalgia without losing the story. That’s the balancing act Episode X will face.

He also knows Lucasfilm’s machinery. Skeleton Crew, which he co-created with Christopher Ford and which starred Jude Law, was a warm, Amblin-flavoured adventure that critics generally liked, even if it wasn’t a streaming juggernaut.

There’s one wrinkle on his record. Watts was set to direct Marvel’s Fantastic Four but exited in April 2022. He’s since made Wolfs (2024) with George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Worth noting, too: he isn’t directing Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has been breaking box office records this year under Destin Daniel Cretton.

9. It’s Dave Filoni’s First Big Film Call as Lucasfilm Chief (Lucasfilm, 2026)

What makes it stand out: This is the first major feature decision to surface since Kathleen Kennedy handed over the studio.

Key data: Disney announced on 15 January 2026 that Dave Filoni would become Lucasfilm’s President and Chief Creative Officer, with Lynwen Brennan as Co-President; Kennedy stayed on as a producer, including on Starfighter.

Why it matters: How Filoni handles the saga will define his tenure more than any Disney+ series.

Kennedy’s 13 years at Lucasfilm delivered the highest-grossing Star Wars film ever and a string of acclaimed series, but also a lot of stop-start film development. When she stepped down, Filoni said he was “incredibly grateful to Kathy, George, Bob Iger, and Alan Bergman for their trust and the opportunity to lead Lucasfilm in this new role.”

Filoni is a George Lucas protégé whose work (The Clone Wars, Rebels, Ahsoka) is steeped in the saga’s mythology. Bringing the story back to the Skywalkers looks like a very Filoni move. It also fits the way his TV universe has been heading; see our guide to Ahsoka Season 2 and Thrawn’s return.

One thing to watch: Kennedy was Kinberg’s original producing partner. With her now out of the top job, the Kinberg–Filoni–Watts triangle is the real creative leadership on this project.

10. The Box Office Pressure Behind the Pivot (Disney, 2015–2026)

What makes it stand out: The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars film in cinemas since 2019, finished below Solo worldwide.

Key data: Per The Numbers, The Mandalorian and Grogu (22 May 2026) opened to $81.7 million domestically and grossed $345.8 million worldwide on a reported $165 million budget; Solo (2018) made about $393 million.

Why it matters: Those numbers make a return to the Skywalker brand look less like nostalgia and more like a business necessity.

Here’s the comparison nobody at Disney wants on a slide. The three sequel films made roughly $2.07 billion, $1.33 billion and $1.08 billion worldwide. Even the weakest of those, The Rise of Skywalker, took more than three times what The Mandalorian and Grogu managed. The spin-off films Rogue One ($1.06 billion) and Solo sit either side of that gap.

So the data tells a fairly simple story. Saga entries earn a billion; side stories are a coin flip. Mandalorian and Grogu had a hugely popular TV brand behind it and still came in lower than Solo, which was widely labelled a flop in 2018.

That doesn’t mean a Skywalker label guarantees a billion again. The sequel trilogy’s own decline, from $2.07 billion to $1.08 billion across four years, shows how quickly goodwill can drain. But if you’re Disney, and your last film underperformed, “Episode X” is the most bankable phrase you own.

11. Starfighter Goes First, and Ben Solo Is Still Off the Table (Lucasfilm, 2025–2027)

What makes it stand out: Shawn Levy’s Starfighter is the next Star Wars film in cinemas and is set in the same post-Rise of Skywalker era, while Disney has already said no to one Skywalker-adjacent pitch.

Key data: Starfighter stars Ryan Gosling, Flynn Gray, Matt Smith, Mia Goth, Aaron Pierre and Amy Adams, shot from 28 August to 18 December 2025 in the UK and Sardinia, and opens on 28 May 2027 (US); in October 2025 Adam Driver said Disney rejected a Ben Solo film he’d developed with Steven Soderbergh.

Why it matters: Starfighter will test the audience appetite for this era, and the Ben Solo rejection shows the limits on how far the saga will bend.

Starfighter is set five or six years after The Rise of Skywalker, with mostly new characters. Levy has called it “not a sequel, it’s not a prequel, it’s not legacy characters.” So it’s essentially the proof of concept for the era Episode X will likely inhabit. If it does well, Kinberg’s trilogy gets its greenlight with momentum. If it stumbles, expect the pressure on Watts’s film to double.

Then there’s Ben Solo. Driver told the press he’d been talking to Kennedy about a return since 2021, with a script by Scott Z. Burns and Soderbergh attached, a project fans have come to call The Hunt for Ben Solo. “We took it to Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no,” Driver said. “They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”

That quote is useful context for Episode X. Disney is clearly happy to bring the Skywalker name back, but it isn’t reversing the ending of The Rise of Skywalker to do it. Anyone hoping Kinberg’s trilogy is a back door for Driver’s return shouldn’t hold their breath.

The Bottom Line on Episode X

Strip away the hype and you’re left with a promising but fragile setup. The pieces make sense: a writer who knows the galaxy, a director who’s handled legacy franchises and young casts, a returning Rey and a new generation of unknowns. The business logic makes sense too, given how The Mandalorian and Grogu performed.

What’s missing is the thing Star Wars fans have learned to wait for: an official greenlight and a date. Until Lucasfilm announces those, treat Episode X as the most credible Skywalker plan since 2019, not a done deal. The next real signal comes on 28 May 2027, when Starfighter shows whether audiences still want to go back to this corner of the galaxy.

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