A Star Wars movie and TV show about the Knights of the Old Republic is reportedly in development. This past December, Lucasfilm closed out the franchise’s iconic Skywalker saga with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but that’s hardly the last Star Wars film that will grace the big screen. While Disney is putting the Star Wars films on a short, self-imposed hiatus, they already have a trio of mystery projects scheduled for release in December 2022, 2024, and 2026. As the studio figures out their next course of action, there’s obviously no shortage of rumors concerning Star Wars’ future.
Most recently, word was the next Star Wars film saga would be set during the days of the High Republic, some 400 years prior to The Phantom Menace. Lending credence to that speculation was a High Republic name-drop in a Star Wars comic book, but if the latest reports are to be believed, Lucasfilm is looking much, much further into the past for their next slate of projects. And, it’s an era fans have been yearning to see onscreen for a long time.
According to FandomWire, a Knights of the Old Republic movie and TV show are in development. From the sound of things, neither will be an adaptation of the fan-favorite video games, instead telling other stories set in that era (nearly 4,000 years before A New Hope). Screen Rant has reached out for comment and will update this space accordingly.
For some time, it’s looked like the Old Republic is next on deck for Star Wars. Last April, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said the studio was working on some kind of project set in that era, but was rather vague on details. It appeared as if David Benioff & D.B. Weiss’ film trilogy would bring the Old Republic to the multiplex, but that series is now defunct. Still, it isn’t surprising Lucasfilm remains interested in this time period. It’s an area of canon that hasn’t truly been addressed in the Disney era (save for a few Easter eggs like the Darth Revan Sith trooper legion), providing creatives with plenty of untapped potential for a plethora of stories. That might explain why Lucasfilm is allegedly looking at a TV series (most likely for Disney+) to complement the feature film, allowing them to explore the Old Republic in greater detail and really flesh a narrative out.
It’s interesting that this report mentions only one Knights of the Old Republic movie, as opposed to a trilogy or series. In the past, Kennedy’s mentioned Lucasfilm may look beyond the traditional trilogy structure that’s more or less defined Star Wars movies to this point and let the story dictate how things unfold. The Old Republic is certainly an expansive enough era to support multiple films and seasons of TV, but perhaps Lucasfilm feels it’s smarter to take it one step at a time and see how audiences respond to these first projects - rather than fully committing themselves longterm to something that doesn’t work. Hopefully by the time Star Wars Celebration rolls around this August, the studio will be ready to unveil their new movie slate.
More: Why Knights of the Old Republic Hasn’t (and Probably Won’t) Happen
Source: FandomWire
