Jon Watts to Direct New Star Wars Movie — SkimNews
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Jon Watts is attached to direct a new Star Wars theatrical film in development, joining a director lineage that includes George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand, J.J. Abrams, and Rian Johnson.
- Watts is best known for directing the Tom Holland Spider-Man trilogy — Homecoming (2017), Far From Home (2019), and No Way Home (2021) — while the 2026 installment Brand New Day was helmed by Destin Daniel Cretton.
- Simon Kinberg will write the script; the X-Men franchise writer/producer was called a "surprising choice" when his attachment was first announced.
- In 2024, Watts, his company Freshman Year, and producer Dianne McGunigle signed a first-look feature deal with Walt Disney Studios, and he co-created the Star Wars Disney+ series Skeleton Crew alongside Christopher Ford.
- Skeleton Crew, a coming-of-age series set in the New Republic era, starred Jude Law alongside Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Kyriana Kratter, and Robert Timothy Smith.
- The most recent theatrical Star Wars film was J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.
- Knight Edge Media first broke the story.
Why it matters: With The Rise of Skywalker (2019) still the most recent theatrical Star Wars film, the franchise's cinema return lands with Watts — already a Disney first-look deal holder and Skeleton Crew co-creator. Pairing the Spider-Man trilogy director with X-Men veteran Simon Kinberg as writer brings an unexpected creative combination to Lucasfilm.
Ask SkimNews
