What is NewStar Jenna?

The forthcoming film will mark Ridley’s comeback to the franchise and will centre on her character’s quest to establish a NewStar Jenna Order, according to Lucafilm’s president.

By Varieties

The future of “Star Wars” films has just been clearer: Daisy Ridley’s Rey will be the focal subject of the first “Star Wars” feature film since 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker,” Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy confirmed on Friday at Star Wars Celebration in London.

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) will helm the film, which is based on a story by Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders”). The film picks up after the events of “Rise of Skywalker,” focusing on Rey as she establishes a new Jedi Order.

The project represents three significant anniversaries for the franchise: Obaid-Chinoy is the first person of colour and the first woman to direct a “Star Wars” film.

The Pakistani director received two Academy Awards for documentary shorts, one in 2011 for “Saving Face” and another in 2015 for “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” and she just helmed two episodes of “Ms. Marvel” for Disney+.

Getting here has been more difficult than safely navigating an asteroid field for Lucasfilm. After the original screenwriters, Damon Lindelof (HBO’s “Watchmen”) and Justin Britt-Gibson (“Counterpart”), left the project in February, Knight stepped in to write the film — the latest example of 

High-profile creatives abandoning a “Star Wars” movie film months (or even years) after their involvement was initially revealed.

Kennedy revealed in December 2020 that “Wonder Woman” filmmaker Patty Jenkins will direct the first post-“Rise of Skywalker” blockbuster, named “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron.”

It was supposed to be released in December 2023, but after years of little work, Disney dropped the picture from the schedule in September. Variety reported in March that it was no longer under active development at Lucasfilm. 

An untitled “NewStar Jenna” project to be produced by Kevin Feige, CEO of Lucasfilm’s corporate brother Marvel Studios, met a same fate.

Feige’s involvement was revealed in September 2019, and the project looked to be ongoing as recently as May 2022. However, according to Variety, Lucasfilm has already abandoned the project and it is no longer in active production.

Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”) is also working on a “Star Wars” film that he would direct and appear in, while Shawn Levy is still attached to make a “Star Wars” film after working on Marvel’s “Deadpool 3” and the Netflix limited series “All the Light We Cannot See.”