Lucasfilm CEO Dave Filoni still has one clear path to save Star Wars after The Mandalorian and Grogu disaster. This year, Star Wars returned to theaters for the first time in 7 years with The Mandalorian and Grogu, the sequel to the three-season Disney+ series. However, the galaxy far, far away's latest movie was anything but a triumphant comeback, as it grossed just $344.8 million and became Star Wars' lowest-grossing film ever. Next up for Lucasfilm in theaters is Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Shawn Levy, on May 28, 2027, but there is another movie that CEO Dave Filoni should greenlight to win back fans' eyes and wallets.
The Mandalorian and Grogu's box office flop has left Lucasfilm in a position where it desperately needs to regain some goodwill from fans and critics alike. The clear way to achieve that goal is to revive the canceled Star Wars movie audiences have clamored for since it was put on ice: The Hunt for Ben Solo.
Ocean's Eleven director Steven Soderbergh, who recently tagged in to help finish The Batman: Part 2, was developing the Episode IX sequel with Ben Solo actor Adam Driver, with a script by Contagion writer Scott Z. Burns. Unfortunately, Disney execs axed the project over confusion about how Solo was alive after he was seemingly killed off during The Rise of Skywalker's final battle.
Passionate fans launched a petition to revive The Hunt for Ben Solo last year, making it clear that this is the Star Wars movie they want to see. The decision may surprise some, as The Rise of Skywalker and the sequel trilogy weren't exactly beloved, but Kylo Ren was consistently regarded as one of the standouts.
Former Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy offered a glimmer of hope for The Hunt for Ben Solo in her exit interview with Deadline. Kennedy stated that the script was "just great" and "anything's a possibility if somebody's willing to take a risk," suggesting that its potential revival under Filoni isn't off the table.
Dave Filoni Must Abandon the MandoVerse to Save Star Wars
Having produced seven seasons of Disney+ TV and one movie in under eight years, with limited live-action content from elsewhere in the timeline, there's no denying that fans have some degree of MandoVerse fatigue. Returning to the latest point of the Star Wars timeline (well, the latest canon point) with The Hunt for Ben Solo and more post-sequel trilogy stories could reinvigorate the franchise.
After all, while stories in the MandoVerse can have consequences for its characters like Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano, it's tough to feel the stakes as highly when fans know where the galaxy ends up. For example, Baylan Skoll is searching for a power on Peridea to end the cycle of war, but the sequel trilogy confirms that he will fail, as the First Order will emerge.
There are positive signs that Lucasfilm is pivoting its focus to the sequel trilogy's aftermath, as scooper Daniel Richtman reported that the New Jedi Order timeline could become the next MandoVerse as part of a major expansion. The studio will supposedly develop a range of projects that build toward a blockbuster crossover event, with Daisy Ridley's Rey at the center of it all.
But that may also be a misstep for Star Wars, as refocussing on one era, even with elevated quality and a mix of movies, TV, and animation, would risk simply repeating the same mistakes as before. Part of the beauty of Star Wars is its ability to tell stories across different characters, eras, groups, and planets within this mythos, so the best course of action may be to maintain that variety, rather than attempt a larger MCU-esque storyline, as Lucasfilm has with the MandoVerse.
Beyond The Hunt for Ben Solo, Lucasfilm has also seemingly squashed plans for a New Jedi Order project directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and starring Rey. One has to wonder if the storylines from the New Jedi Order project and The Hunt for Ben Solo will be folded into Simon Kinberg's new Star Wars trilogy, the first installment of which, rumored to be Episode X, will be helmed by Jon Watts.
Perhaps a return to blockbuster-scale live-action trilogies that push the galaxy far, far away forward is the right move from Dave Filoni to revive the brand. However, what is rather surprising is that Filoni himself isn't taking a major creative hand in writing the new movies, instead leaving those duties with X-Men: Dark Phoenix (yes, really!) writer Simon Kinberg, although Filoni is likely keeping a watchful eye.
