Thanks to a disappointing release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, future spin-offs for the Star Wars franchise have been put on pause. The studio, Lucasfilm, now plans to shift its attention towards Episode IX while also looking at what is to come next.
There had been rumors about upcoming spin-offs and who would be the central focus. Obi-Wan and Boba Fett were apparently the next two to get the “A Star Wars Story” treatment. Things have now changed due to the poor performance of Solo. The Han Solo focused film received mixed to positive reviews but underperformed at the box office. To compare, Rogue One brought in $155 million on opening weekend in contrast to Solo’s $84.4 million.
Disney’s latest Star Wars film also opened during an already packed month. Movie-goers had been treated to the record-breaking Avengers: Infinity War which was then followed by Fox’s Deadpool 2. Solo released just a week after the latter.
Lucasfilm will now focus on 2019’s Star Wars: Episode IX and the trilogies that are to follow. Episode VIII’s director, Rian Johnson, is set to helm a trilogy, as well as Game of Thrones writers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. It is unknown what these will be or in what era they will be placed in, but it has already been stated that they are not going to follow the Skywalker saga.