LOS ANGELES, September 27 — A new “Star Wars” film is in development, with Jon Watts attached to direct, Variety reported on September 26. The trade did not disclose a title, a release date, or any plot details, leaving the project defined for now by the people behind it rather than by anything audiences will see. The story begins, as these things often do, with a name.
Watts is best known for directing the “Spider-Man” trilogy starring Tom Holland — “Spider-Man: Homecoming” in 2017, “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in 2019, and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in 2021. That run made him one of the most commercially proven filmmakers of his generation, and it is the work that will follow him into a galaxy far, far away.
A filmmaker shaped by smaller films first
Before Marvel came calling, Watts helmed “Cop Car” and “Clown.” Those credits matter to the shape of this story. He was not handed the Spider-Man job on the strength of a franchise pedigree; he was selected after working at a smaller scale, and the same pattern now repeats itself at Lucasfilm. His ties to Disney have deepened in other ways.
In 2024, it was reported that Watts, his production company Freshman Year, and producer Dianne McGunigle had signed a first-look feature deal with Walt Disney Studios. That same year, he co-created “Skeleton Crew” alongside Christopher Ford — a coming-of-age series set in the era of the New Republic that followed four young characters on a new adventure, per the show’s official logline.
Jude Law starred as Jod Na Nawood, with Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Fern, Kyriana Kratter as KB, and Robert Timothy Smith as Neel. So the relationship is not new. What is new is the scale of it.
Kinberg on the script, and a crowded lineage
Simon Kinberg will pen the script, as previously reported by Variety. Kinberg is best known as a writer, producer, and director for the “X-Men” franchise, and was considered a surprising choice at the time of the announcement. With the role, Watts joins a list of previous “Star Wars” directors that includes Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand, J.J.
Abrams, Rian Johnson, and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. That is the company he keeps now, and it is a list that carries its own weight — Kershner and Marquand shaped the original trilogy, Abrams and Johnson the sequel era, and Lucas everything before it.
At its heart, this is a development story and nothing more. No cameras are rolling. No cast has been named.
The report did not disclose a title, a release date, or plot details for the new film, and until it does, the project exists as an intention rather than a production. For those involved, the next step is the one that always follows an announcement of this kind — a script, a schedule, and eventually a cast.
Watts has spent the past decade learning how to carry a franchise-sized expectation. Now he inherits a different one, older and more demanding, with a fanbase that has watched directors come and go. What unfolds from here will be measured against every name on that list.
