An attendee at All Star Comic Con claimed on Twitter that actor Tom Kane – the voice of Ackbar in The Last Jedi – said LucasFilm currently has that jaw-dropping number of movies in the pipeline.
Aaron Goins, who also hosts a Star Wars podcast – tweeted: “Tom Kane seems to be somewhat in the know but very hesitant to share..
“Claims there are at least 9 Star Wars films in various stages of development, some individual character stories yet to be announced, but definitely not Yoda.”
It’s unknown whether that nine includes both of the already-announced trilogies in their entirety; that is the series being overseen by Rian Johnson, and another by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
It’s also unknown whether that tally includes Episode 9, the conclusion to the current trilogy – although that would presumably be a given.
Films and TV shows quite regularly go into development but are never actually made, so it could just be the case that LucasFilm are floating various ideas at the moment, only a small number of which will ever see the light of day.
But after the lukewarm success of Solo: A Star Wars Story last month, it’s interesting to see that the franchise bosses are still full steam ahead.
It was claimed last month that Solo’s comparatively slow box office results were not due to “franchise saturation”, with it coming out just five months after The Last Jedi.
Instead, its tepid takings – which will see it become the first Star Wars movie since the Disney takeover to make a loss – has been put down to poor marketing, with Alden Ehrenrich (in the title role as Han Solo) barely featuring at all in early teaser trailers.
Among the rumoured character stories are prequels for Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi and even Jabba the Hutt.
Sequel stories for Solo – which would presumably answer what happened next with Qi’Ra – are also up in the air, as far as official announcements are concerned. Lando Calrissian is one character for whom the idea of a standalone movie has been floated.
Episode 9 is the only upcoming Star Wars film with a firm release date, but it likely won’t have its title revealed until early 2019 – if the same pattern set by The Last Jedi is replicated.
JJ Abrams returns to direct, with the likes of Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver back to star.
Star Wars: Episode 9 is out on December 20, 2019.
