According to Lucasfilm, Rian Johnson, writer-director of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," will be responsible for creating a new trilogy of the universe created by George Lucas in the late 1970's.
The new movies will be separated from Skywalker's saga, introducing new characters from the "galaxy far far away" never explored before. Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said in the statement that they loved working with Johnson on the eighth episode and added that he will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.
Johnson said he had the time of his life collaborating with Lucasfilm and Disney.
He also said that Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology and he feels very lucky to have contributed to it. "We can't wait to continue with this new series of films," completed the statement released.
"Star Wars: The Last Jedi" will hit the theaters on December 15. No release date is set for the upcoming trilogy.
TV series
According to Variety, Disney is also developing a live-action TV series. With no further details, Bob Iger, CEO of the company, believes the show will be released in 2019 on the streaming service that has been in development by Disney since August of 2017.
In recent years, Star Wars has two animated series that aired on Disney channels. The first, "Star Wars: Clone Wars," ran for six seasons and had more than 120 episodes.
The second is "Star Wars Rebels," that has had four seasons.
The company is also working on TV series adaptations of "Monsters, Inc.," and the "High School Musical" franchise. Marvel will have a new entry on the platform as well.
Disney's streaming service
In August of this year, Disney announced its own streaming service to be launched in late 2019.
The Mickey Mouse company will debut upcoming movies like "Toy Story 4," "Frozen 2," and the live-action of "The Lion King" on the new platform.
The deal between Disney and Netflix still something that has to be worked out. Currently, Netflix has a TV series from Marvel Studios and most of the animated classics. In addition to the original TV series, the service would not have traditional advertising in the form of commercials.
According to Bob Iger, the streaming service from Disney will be priced "substantially below" the numbers from other platforms, because the platform will have less content overall and will reflect that. The goal is to have as many subscribers as they can get.
