James Mangold’s Dawn of the Jedi will have a huge advantage over other Star Wars films

Right now, the future of “Star Wars” seems more up in the air than it has in a long time. A lot of that has to do with the fact that Disney and Lucasfilm haven’t released a feature film set in a galaxy far, far away to the silver screen in more than five years. The last time this happened was “Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019, which concluded the sequel trilogy and the larger Skywalker Saga with it. Since then, several films have entered development, none of which have made it to the finish line.

One of the coolest movies currently working at Lucasfilm is James Mangold is tentatively titled “Dawn of the Jedi.” Which will explore the origins of the Jedi. The film was first announced nearly two years ago, though Mangold has been working slowly behind the scenes. Speaking in an interview with MovieWeb To promote the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” the “Logan” and “Walk the Line” director provided some updates about the “Star Wars” project:

“For me, the really important aspects are the freedom to make something new.” Do you find a way on the page to say something original?”

“Beau” Mangold refers to him Beau Willimon, who wrote the Emmy-nominated “Andor” episode “One Way Out.” He was brought on to co-write the film with Mangold last year. Speaking further on the subject, Mangold explained that the most attractive thing to him about his developing Star Wars movie is that it won’t be tied down by continuity, which he finds freeing. As he put it:

“The Star Wars movie (that I’m working on) will be set 25,000 years before any known Star Wars movie came out. It’s an area and a playground that I’ve always (wanted to explore) and I’m inspired by being a teenager. I wasn’t interested in being tied down to a lot of the lore in this The stage is such that it is almost constant, and you cannot please anyone.

One problem with a lot of “Star Wars” media in the Disney era is that it has largely existed in the shadow of what came before. For example, people generally love “The Mandalorian,” but it still operates on the fringes of the familiar; It overlaps with the Skywalker Saga timeline at a point where the Empire was defeated but somehow continued to survive. Perhaps the show’s ability to tell new stories in a recognizable context is why “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will be the next “Star Wars” movie to hit theatersproviding the franchise with a fairly safe return to the big screen.

That’s not to say the property hasn’t tried to do anything outside of the Skywalker Saga before. The Disney+ series “The Acolyte” is set during the era of the High Republicwhich takes place hundreds of years before the events of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.” But what Mangold is talking about is going back a full 25,000 years, an unfathomable period of time. At that point in “Star Wars” history, the universe would look so different, that it would make it impossible for the film to directly reference anything familiar in the series. In that sense, it will be a completely clean slate.

At the same time, Mangold will have the advantage of being able to parse the origins of the Jedi, which will make his film somewhat instantly familiar to even casual fans. It could also give Lucasfilm the opportunity to finally do something truly new. By heading to the distant past, “Star Wars” may be able to craft a bold future. Of course, whether or not this film sees the light of day is another matter entirely. In recent years, quite a few “Star Wars” movies have collapsed in pre-production. Furthermore, there are several other “Star Wars” films moving forward at the moment as well, including a trilogy led by Simon Kinberg (“Dark Phoenix”). And above all, Mangold is a very busy man, as he is also set to direct DC’s “Swamp Thing” movie.

However, it’s clear that Lucasfilm wants to work with Mangold, especially in this franchise. After all, He was previously scheduled to direct the “Boba Fett” movie before it fell apartso obviously there’s a lot of common interest there. We hope that the pieces will fall into place as the development process continues.

There is currently no release date for James Mangold’s “Star Wars” movie, but stay tuned.