Spider-Man's John Watts swings into the director's chair for a new Star Wars trilogy

The wobbling, arguably oversaturated Star Wars brand is currently prepping for the Shawn Levy-directed Ryan Gosling vehicle Star Wars: Starfighter to hit screens in time for the May 27, 2027 50th anniversary of the original Star Wars‘ release. (Yes, it’s called Star Wars and not A New Hope, so deal with it.) That makes it unclear when Watts’ project will attempt to right the Skywalker ship left adrift after J.J. Abrams’ 2019 ninth entry, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker underwhelmed fans and critics alike. 

Perhaps worryingly, the continuing tale of the most midi-chlorian-soaked family in the universe will be written by Simon Kinberg, whose history as screenwriter in the sci-fi/fantasy genre is full of red flags (The New Mutants, X-Men: The Last Stand, Dark Phoenix, which he also directed). And while Watts successfully navigated the rocky transition of everyone’s favorite wall-crawler through the Sony-MCU changeover, he’s got a lot riding on him as he’s tasked with steering the Star Wars franchise out of its current doldrums. 

Watts does have some previous Star Wars street cred, having co-created the more kid-focused, critically praised Star Wars series Skeleton Crew in 2024. As to the Skywalker Saga’s next steps, few details have been made public for what would be the series’ tenth installment. THR only reports that recent series star Daisy Ridley’s Rey would be involved “in some capacity.” Lucasfilm hasn’t commented yet, although insiders report that Watt’s film is “furthest along the development track after Starfighter.”