The Skywalker Saga concluded with Disney's divisive sequel trilogy, but continuing the story with Star Wars 10 could redeem the sequels’ problems.

Disney's Star Wars efforts concluded the Skywalker Saga with the divisive sequel trilogy, but the movie franchise can (and should) move forward with Star Wars 10 despite the problems of the sequels. The Star Wars sequel trilogy is often criticized for its lack of cohesiveness, as it dropped many of the plot threads it had set up and introduced new ones (like the sudden return of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) with little preface. A potential Star Wars: Episode X could improve upon those missteps, however, and even continue stories from the sequel trilogy that did not get their proper due.

Since the sequel trilogy finished, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and the promise of other new Star Wars projects from Disney+ have brought the franchise to a new height of modern popularity. The Mandalorian moved the story on from the sequel trilogy, opening up the world of Star Wars to explore new angles beyond the Skywalker saga. In this way, these shows' successes and their widening of the Star Wars scope could be a roadmap for a fresh approach to Star Wars 10.

There is still a deep well of worldbuilding to draw on for new stories to happen, as The Mandalorian effectively showcased. The Star Wars sequel trilogy neatly tied up the fates of most of the original trilogy characters, meaning that Star Wars 10 would have an easier time disentangling its plot from the past. New characters introduced in the sequel trilogy can move forward into another adventure without the shadow of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, or Emperor Palpatine looming large over them. A new movie to continue the story beyond Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker can learn from the sequel trilogy’s mistakes, as the television shows have. With the background of the sequels and the many shows that would premiere before its release, Star Wars 10 could be set up as one of the most creative and imaginative chapters of the story to date.

Star Wars 10 Is Not Being Developed (Yet)

The future of the Star Wars timeline beyond The Rise of Skywalker is currently unconfirmed. Many Star Wars projects, including movies, are currently in the works, but none of them (at present) are set to be the equivalent of Star Wars: Episode 10. Disney has Star Wars movie release dates set for December 2023, 2025, and 2027. Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron will tell the story of a new generation of pilots, and Taika Waititi has a Star Wars movie of his own in the works, with few details about it known so far.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was involved in creating another trilogy, but unconfirmed reports in November 2021 stated his Star Wars movies had been shelved. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has said that there are plans to continue telling stories with the sequel trilogy characters (at some point). "Certainly, those are not characters we’re going to forget," she said in an interview with Empire. "They will live on, and those are conversations that are going on with the creative team as well." Any of the still-mysterious movies in the works (including Kevin Feige’s and J.D. Dillard’s) could shape into Star Wars 10, but the fate of the post-Skywalker timeline is in flux for now.

Rogue Squadron Will Be Made Before Star Wars 10

Rogue Squadron will be the first Star Wars movie since 2019’s sequel trilogy closer, The Rise of Skywalker, and is currently scheduled to take the aforementioned December 2023 release date slot.  Since it was first announced at Disney's Investor Day in 2020, there hasn’t been much information released for the movie, but director Patty Jenkins has confirmed that Rogue Squadron will be an original story and is set to take Star Wars into a future era with a new generation of fighter pilots. This puts it in a good position to potentially be set after the Star Wars sequel trilogy but before Star Wars 10.

Disney has shown time and again with both the MCU and Star Wars that they’re open to inter-connected stories, and Rogue Squadron’s position on the Star Wars timeline will indicate what scope it has to cross over with a potential Star Wars 10. Production on Rogue Squadron has apparently been delayed, though, following reports of creative differences and scheduling issues. Whether it makes its December 22nd, 2023 release date is unclear, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the movie were pushed back. In the meantime, fans have the Disney+ Star Wars shows to tide them over in the interim, including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Mandalorian season 3.

The Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Didn't Give The Skywalker Saga A Good Ending

The Star Wars sequel trilogy had some great ingredients and thrilling moments, but the story was too inconsistent to feel like a proper ending for the Skywalker Saga (something Star Wars 10 can fix). It shifted between miring itself deeply in Star Wars legacies and rejecting the past as it changed hands between J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson. This led to such glaring problems as Rey’s parentage changing and Darth Sidious returning from the dead with only the line “somehow, Palpatine has returned” to explain his resurrection. Rather than bringing back the magic of the original trilogy, Palpatine's return instead had the effect of undermining Anakin Skywalker's final sacrifice in Return of the Jedi.

The Star Wars sequel trilogy also consistently failed the characters they introduced, such as the massive cut to Finn’s expected arc through the trilogy. Finn was teased as an important character in the story — a defected stormtrooper who could have become a Jedi or at least a central figure in the rebellion. Finn, however, got left behind by the sequels, relegated to side plots along with Poe Dameron and Rose Tico, to the point where their actions rarely mattered to the plot. This did not make for a suitable cast of characters to continue the type of adventures Luke, Leia, and Han once had. With problems underlying both its legacy elements and its new characters, Star Wars 10 is needed to smooth over this rocky ending to the saga.

Star Wars 10 (& 11 and 12) Can Do A Better Sequel Trilogy

There is an open field of possibilities for Star Wars 10 and a new sequel trilogy. It can pick up where Rise of Skywalker left off, showing Rey continuing the Jedi Order. It’s unclear whether all of the previous cast would return, but the right script could reunite them. Finn, Poe, and Rose could come back for more central and full character arcs that deliver on their initial promise. As Finn was supposed to be revealed as Force-sensitive, he could join Rey in Jedi training. Poe would be the new leader of the rebellion after the last movie's events, and Rose could finally be fleshed out more with a story all her own.

However, the dropped plots from the sequel trilogy are not the only source Star Wars 10 could draw from. Other Star Wars projects have used pieces of George Lucas’ original sequel plans, such as Clone Wars repurposing his plans for Darth Maul. New sequels could also honor some of Lucas’ ideas for how to continue the story.

Star Wars 10 could also follow the success of elements The Mandalorian did better than the sequel trilogy. That show's central focus was on a character who was not a legacy or from an important bloodline, but it naturally folded in the most well-loved parts of all three Star Wars trilogies, honoring the past while also moving on from it. The Mandalorian took more time to smooth out the sequel trilogy’s less well-established plot points, like providing the background for the cloning project Emperor Palpatine used to create Snoke and his new body. It kept the balance the sequel trilogy should have been able to reach.

The Mandalorian also saw success in drawing upon Star Wars Legends, previously the Expanded Universe, to bring popular points from those books like the Dark Troopers and Boba Fett’s return into the canon. The sequel trilogy did incorporate Legends twists and turns but focused on those related to the Skywalkers and largely executed them in too rushed a fashion. Legends would be ideal source material for a less Skywalker-centric Episode X, as the next movie would need an antagonist that didn't belong to either the Empire or the First Order. Executed well, Star Wars 10 would be primed to move on and learn from its contentious sequel trilogy, giving its saga a more fitting future.

Obi-Wan Kenobi Can Answer Important Questions That Would Move Star Wars 10’s Story Forward

Star Wars 10 has an advantage over previous trilogy-opening titles. Whereas Episode VII only had six movies, some animated shows, and the then-recently-de-canoned Legends to draw from, Star Wars 10 will be coming after a slew of Disney+ series and other canon projects. Star Wars in the Disney+ era is a different beast to Star Wars in 2015 when The Force Awakens was released. The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett have both aired and significantly fleshed out the on-screen universe. The Bad Batch and continuation of The Clone Wars series brought the animated Star Wars adventures closer to the main movies, too, as did the live-action appearance like Ahsoka and Cad Bane. Not to mention that Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story hit theatres in addition to Episodes VII-IX.

With the Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+, Disney is in a prime position to harness all that new Star Wars and set up Star Wars 10 in a way that would organically tie it to the broader universe. Star Wars has always been a story told across many generations. Star Wars 10 could time jump several years from the end of the sequel trilogy, set at a much later date in the galactic calendar, similar to how Episode I and Episode IV were 32 in-universe years apart, and Episode VII starts three decades after Return of the Jedi's ending.

Obi-Wan Kenobi sits between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, ten years after Anakin became Vader, with another ten-or-so to go before he and Obi-Wan duel for the final time. This puts it in a prime position to retroactively answer many questions left by the prequels and fix some elements of the sequels that weren't well-received, such as Snoke - who many fans felt deserved his own story beyond being just another Palpatine clone. Obi-Wan Kenobi could also establish characters and plot points for Star Wars 10 many years in advance. For example, Obi-Wan Kenobi introduces Leia's petulant cousin Niano Organa in Episode 1. He's a pretty unlikeable child, and he's also the right age to become a Grand Moff Tarkin-like antagonist decades later in a Star Wars 10 set after The Rise of Skywalker.

Disney already showed with the dice in Solo: A Star-Wars Story that they're skilled at creating significance from previously insignificant design or story elements. Those golden cubes were included in the Millenium Falcon to mimic rearview mirror danglers back when Episode IV was shot in 1977. It wasn't until Solo: A Star-Wars Story that Han Solo's Dice became relevant to the character, and this relevancy was then carried across to the sequel trilogy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi gives Disney and Lucasfilm ample opportunity to retrofit some significance into the backgrounds of the prequel, original, and sequel trilogies, Han Solo's dice style. They can also use Obi-Wan Kenobi to introduce characters who don't seem consequential to the galaxy's Jedi but have major significance if/when Star Wars 10 picks up many galactic decades later. Obi-Wan Kenobi received extraordinary levels of praise when the first episodes aired. If Disney and Lucasfilm play their cards right, it could be used as the series that sets up the fourth trilogy of Star Wars movies, giving Star Wars 10 a much stronger start than Episode VII: The Force Awakens had when the first Disney-made Jedi adventures hit the big screen.

Next: All 8 Star Wars Movies Releasing After The Book Of Boba Fett