'Spider-Man' Director Jon Watts Is Reportedly Set To Direct 'Star Wars: Episode X'
The Hollywood Reporter- Even as Lucasfilm is deep in post-production on its next Star Wars movie, Star Wars: Starfighter, the next phase of a potential new Skywalker Saga is coming into focus.
Jon Watts, the director behind a trio of Tom Holland Spider-Man movies, is now attached to direct the first installment of the Simon Kinberg-penned trilogy. It is a return to the franchise for Watts, who previously co-created Star Wars series Skeleton Crew in 2024.
Kinberg has been working on writing a mystery trilogy since late 2024. The project is intended to act as the next chapter in what is referred to as the Skywalker Saga, the stories featuring the multi-generations of the Luke Skywalker family. The previous movies have been Episodes I through IX. The next one would be Episode X. Rey Skywalker, the Jedi played by Daisy Ridley in last trilogy released from 2015 and 2019, would appear in some capacity in the new trilogy.
Outta NOWHERE on a Saturday night, it seems the next chapter of the Skywalker Saga may have found its director!
If you didn't even know Lucasfilm was making an 'Episode X' - don't fret! We still don't have confirmation that writer Simon Kinberg's upcoming trilogy (which has been in development for years) is officially Episodes X-XI-XII yet….but it is heavily assumed to be as such by everyone in the industry.
And now Jon Watts, who helmed all three of Tom Holland's Spider-Man movies, is apparently going to direct the first movie in the trilogy - and I think he's a great man for the job!
When 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' came out this Summer, the internet went on a weird revisionist history run about those Watts Spider-Man movies and acted like they had no sauce, which I found insane.
'Homecoming' is one of the best movies the MCU has to offer, injecting a little John Hughes energy into the franchise and somehow pulling off the third Peter Parker origin story in fifteen years without feeling repetitive or derivative at all. 'Far From Home' has become one of the more underrated movies in the MCU, which deals with the death of Tony Stark and the fallout from Endgame so well (plus, it has some AWESOME action sequences and a kickass ending twist!), and No Way Home is EASILY one of the best blockbuster spectacle "event movies" of the decade.
I have the utmost faith in the guy who made those movies to make a great Star Wars movie. He's proven he can handle massive franchises, huge expectations, young casts, comedy, action, and spectacle without losing the heart in all of it. Oh, and he also co-created 'Skeleton Crew', which is one of Disney's best Star Wars offerings! So he's already played in this sandbox and proven he understands the tone of the galaxy far, far away.
Watts feels almost as safe a pick as Shawn Levy was for 'Starfighter', and while I think "Film Twitter" will look at that as a negative, I view it as a positive. Right now, Star Wars needs good, experienced directors who can actually get these movies made without years of delays, creative overhauls, or needing the whole thing to be patched together in reshoots. Once the franchise is back in a good spot, THAT'S when we can afford to get weird and/or bold with directorial choices.
The Simon Kinberg of it all worries me more than anything. Kinberg previously wrote some really good movies like 'X-Men: Days of Future Past', 'Mr & Mrs Smith', and Guy Ritchie's 'Sherlock Holmes' - but he's also written some god awful stinkers like 'X-Men: Dark Phoenix', 'X-Men: Apocalypse', and 'Fant4stic Four'. He's got some amazing credits as a producer, and he co-created 'Star Wars Rebels' which is a tremendous show for the franchise (and received a special thanks for being a consultant on 'The Force Awakens')….he's just not the most consistent writer historically.
I'm hoping he channels whatever made him write 'Days of Future Past' here, though, and we get a kickass start to the next phase in the Skywalker Saga from Kinberg and Watts. We need Star Wars to feel like Star Wars again.
P.S. Some scoopers have recently been implying that the Daisy Ridley Rey movie (that was announced over three years ago) is now dead, and some of the plot points from that project are being transferred to 'Episode X', so for anyone hoping they were going to redo the sequel trilogy or retcon it or something - oh well! Sorry!