Star Wars 9 is not only the end of Disney’s Sequel Trilogy, but also the Skywalker Saga - but that doesn't mean there can't be a Star Wars 10. J.J. Abrams will bring to a close the story that George Lucas started way back in 1977, leaving a big question mark over the future of the series.

Little is currently known about what lies ahead for Star Wars. Episode IX is the only movie with a release date, and while we are getting new trilogies from Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, it’s unclear when they’ll arrive or what else Lucasfilm have planned. Episode IX is ending the story of the Skywalkers, but does that also mean it’ll be the end of the main episodic series?

Related: What Star Wars Movies Are Coming Out?

Understandably, Lucasfilm haven’t exactly been forthcoming with details, since the immediate focus is on Episode IX, alongside Disney Plus show The Mandalorian. But Kathleen Kennedy has previously suggested that there’ll be future stories to tell with characters like Rey, Finn, and Poe, and we can see that through them Episode X - and perhaps even Episodes XI & XII - could still happen - albeit without the Skywalker family.

What Does "End" Really Mean To Star Wars?

Episode IX is the end of the Skywalker Saga, but, well, we’ve heard that one before. While Lucas made various comments about his plans for other Episodes back in the 70s and 80s, when Return of the Jedi was released in 1983, it was ostensibly the end. Darth Vader was dead, the Empire was defeated, and the story of Luke, Leia, and Han was neatly wrapped up with a happy ending. But from that point, Star Wars would only expand: the unsuccessful TV shows Droids and Ewoks took the franchise to its nadir, but then came the Expanded Universe, and things continued to grow and grow.

Star Wars came back, and then the Prequels arrived. This time, there was an even more definitive story to be told, since it would directly inform the Original Trilogy. Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, the Empire took control of the galaxy, and Luke and Leia were born. With Revenge of the Sith, it was once again ‘the end’.

Even from that point, though, Star Wars would expand further: The Clone Wars was launched, the EU continued to grow and, eventually, Lucas started planning Episode VII, before selling Lucasfilm to Disney, who’d then launch their own trilogy and establish their own canon. So now Star Wars Episode IX is ‘the end’, but crucially, they’re only framing it as the end of the Skywalker Saga. As with before, the universe will continue to be added too, future stories will be told, and there’ll be more movies. And since they’re so focused on saying it’s ‘only’ the end of the Skywalker Saga, it’s quite likely there’ll be more Episodes too.

Related: Star Wars 9 Can Imagine What Would Happen If Darth Vader Didn't Turn Good

There Will Likely Be No Skywalkers Left After Star Wars 9

Kylo Ren and Darth Vaders Helmet in Star Wars.

Heading into Episode IX, and thus the end of the Skywalker Saga, there are only two characters left from that family lineage (and neither actually carry the name). Luke, the last person to use the name Skywalker, died in The Last Jedi. He’ll be back in some form for Episode IX, as a Force Ghost and/or in flashback, but it’s unlikely to be a central part, and it’ll presumably be his final outing.

Left alive, then, are Leia Organa and Ben Solo. Sadly, the passing of Carrie Fisher means that, even if Abrams leaves Leia alive by the end of this movie, the character cannot appear in any future installments. Episode IX is using repurposed footage from VII and VIII, which would mean anything beyond that (set in the present continuity anyway, rather than films placed much earlier in the timeline) would need to use CGI, which seems extremely unlikely to happen.

The only one who could carry the family forward is Ben Solo. The only problem there is he’s now Kylo Ren, the Supreme Leader of the First Order and the major antagonist of the Sequel Trilogy. It’s possible he comes out of this alive but, whether he gets redeemed or not, the odds are he is going to be killed off in Episode IX. And after that, there are no more Skywalkers. It isn’t a sprawling family dynasty. It may have inspired a Saga, but it’s always been centered around just 2-3 of them. If/when Kylo dies, that is the end.

Page 2: How the Star Wars Saga Can Continue Without the Skywalkers

Star Wars 10 Can Start A New Saga

Star Wars: Episode IX is ending the Skywalker Saga and, with it, the family lineage (assuming Kylo does indeed die). However, that’s no reason that Star Wars: Episode X can’t happen. Star Wars is, at its core, a space opera inspired by multi-part serials like Flash Gordon. That means it can absolutely keep telling more stories in the galaxy, and move on past the Skywalkers. This is something the Sequel Trilogy itself has already started doing: the main hero isn’t someone with the name Skywalker, but Rey, a nobody without a surname.

In The Last Jedi, Yoda tells Luke: “We are what they grow beyond.” It applies to the master/student dynamic, but also the Skywalkers themselves. Rian Johnson quite deliberately tried to move the saga away from that one family - through Rey’s parentage, but also the importance of Rose to the plot, and the final shot of ‘Broom Boy’, all of which was telling us that there’s much more to this universe then the Skywalker clan. Johnson will be exploring this further in his own trilogy, which will be a brand new series in an unexplored piece of the timeline, unconnected to the main saga. The same goes for Benioff and Weiss’ trilogy too, which is reportedly set during the Old Republic. While this does, in a loose sense, have a little more connection to what we’ve seen before, it’s still new characters and a new setting for the big screen, and again sans Skywalkers.

Related: Star Wars 9: The Big Lesson JJ Abrams Must Learn From The Force Awakens

Since they’re already doing this, then it’s easy to do with the Episodes as well. It’s the same approach, just with added hype and expectation that comes with a numbered Star Wars movie. That could be further movies with Rey, Finn, and Poe, all of whom are still young enough that there’ll be plenty more stories to tell with them. Anakin and Luke’s stories both spanned more than one trilogy, so it’s entirely feasible theirs could too. Or it could even be with their descendants, each starting their own families than can branch further and further out, giving a broader lineage to play with.

Where Else We Can See Star Wars Sequel Trilogy Heroes

Even if Star Wars Episode X doesn’t happen, and we don’t see Rey, Finn, and Poe again on the big screen, it’s certainly not going to be the end of their journeys. Star Wars has long been far more than just the movies, and that’s something Disney has continued to push since purchasing Lucasfilm back in 2012. There are already comics, novels, and video games featuring the Sequel Trilogy characters, and we can probably expect many more to come. We’ve already seen a comic devoted to Poe Dameron, for example, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to get ones that tell us more about Rey and Finn too.

Then there’s Disney Plus, for which a number of live-action Star Wars TV shows are in the works. First up is The Mandalorian, which will be followed by a Cassian Andor series. There have been plenty of rumors about what else we might see, but it’s not too much of a stretch to think we could see these characters again in some kind of Disney Plus show. Failing that, there’s also the animated side of things too: again, we’ve already seen Rey and Poe in this format, thanks to Forces Of Destiny and Star Wars Resistance respectively. That’s another area that will continue to grow.

Put simply, there is a multitude of different mediums where Disney can continue these stories, and Star Wars Episode IX isn’t the end. But it’d also be no surprise if, even without the Skywalkers, we do one day get Episode X as well.

More: How Star Wars 9 Can Make Rey A Skywalker (Without A Last Jedi Retcon)

Key Release Dates