Summary

• The Star Wars franchise has had numerous unmade and canceled projects across both TV and film, with many ideas not making it past the early stages of development.
• George Lucas originally had plans for a sequel trilogy that would have included elements such as Luke becoming a Jedi Knight, Han Solo's death, and Leia being elected "Queen of her people".
• Several Star Wars films and TV shows, including Boba Fett's solo movie, the Mos Eisley Spaceport movie, and Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron, were canceled due to various reasons, such as commercial failure and production issues.

The Star Wars universe has a total of 11 movies, two being part of Disney's anthology series, but many other projects were never made. The Star Wars franchise has gone through many ups and downs, including both some very successful movies and others that drew a lot of backlash. Regardless, this universe continues to be one of the most popular and profitable in the realm of sci-fi and fantasy. Despite the Skywalker Saga coming to an end in 2019, the franchise has only continued expanding through TV, books, comics, video games, and the announcement of three upcoming Star Wars movies.

However, with the expansion of a franchise being spearheaded by a studio as large as Disney comes many ideas of how Star Wars should move forward. As a result, many different concepts over the years have not made it past the early stages of development for one reason or another. Whether a change in writers and directors, lack of interest from the audience, or the studio changing its mind, many unmade and canceled Star Wars projects exist across both TV and film. Here is every one of those projects explained, and why they did not see the light of day in favor of newly-announced movies and upcoming Star Wars TV shows.

George Lucas’ Episodes VII, VIII, & IX

Even before the original trilogy was completed, George Lucas had plans for multiple Star Wars trilogies. By the time The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980, he already had the story treatments for nine episodes. As per many rumors, Episode VII would have continued Luke’s journey as a Jedi, Episode VIII would have introduced his sister (who was not Leia at that point), and the final episode would have introduced the Emperor and featured Luke’s final battle against him.

George Lucas' Star Wars sequel trilogy would have also dealt with the rebuilding of the Republic and would have given Luke a romantic partner. However, as was made clear by the events of Return of the Jedi, many of these elements were ultimately scrapped or incorporated into 1983’s final film in the Star Wars original trilogy. From Luke becoming a Jedi Knight to the presence of his sister Leia and the Emperor’s final confrontation with Luke, Return of the Jedi was used as a capper for Lucas’ original story outline.

Some other plans Lucas had for the sequel trilogy, and specifically the closing chapter of the saga, were Leia being elected “Queen of her people”, Han Solo’s death, Luke living alone after what happened between him and Darth Vader, Luke training Leia in the ways of the Force, and Luke’s death. It is interesting that many of these elements still made it into Disney’s eventual sequel trilogy; Han Solo died in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Luke lived in exile after what transpired with Kylo Ren and was also killed in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had Leia briefly train as a Jedi.

Despite Disney adopting some of Lucas’ plans, his original idea to incorporate them into his own sequel trilogy did not transpire for various reasons. For one, Lucas was always very indecisive and kept changing his mind about where the story of Star Wars should go. Similarly, some elements from the sequels made it into other movies as was the case with Return of the Jedi. Finally, Lucas began working on the prequel trilogy in the 1990s. While Lucas insisted during the prequels' production that there was no intention to create a Star Wars sequel trilogy, this changed once he left the franchise in Disney’s hands.

Colin Trevorrow’s Episode IX - Star Wars: Duel Of The Fates

In August 2015, Disney announced that Colin Trevorrow had joined Star Wars: Episode IX as director. However, the filmmaker dropped out of the project in August 2017, citing creative differences as the reason for his departure, which was later reported to be due to Trevorrow’s failure to deliver a satisfactory script. After the culmination of the Skywalker Saga, Trevorrow’s script for what would have been Star Wars: Duel of the Fates leaked meaning fans got an idea of what his version of Episode IX would have been like.

Among the elements fans would have seen in Trevorrow’s version of Star Wars 9 was the concept of the First Order cutting off all communications between planets in the galaxy. The core conflict of the film would then have been the Resistance fighting to rectify this and free the galaxy from the First Order’s oppression by attacking the organization's main base on Coruscant. Part of this fight by the Resistance involved Finn forming an army of defective Stormtroopers while Rey searches for the planet of Mortis to confront Kylo once and for all.

After Snoke’s death in The Last Jedi, Kylo Ren would have served as the sequels' main villain and been revealed as the murderer of Rey’s parents. The Emperor would have been mentioned but not revived as was the case with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Rey would have eventually defeated Kylo but been blinded in the process, leading Kylo to transfer his life energy to Rey after speaking with Leia. This would have saved Rey’s life and led to her taking the name Rey Solana. Rey would then rebuild the Jedi Order using a combination of the light and dark sides of the Force to keep galactic peace.

From the sounds of things, Trevorrow’s movie would have been a proper continuation of Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi. From keeping Kylo as the series’ main villain and delving into elements of the prequels through Coruscant and Mortis to keeping Rey as someone with no special heritage, it seems like the story of the sequels would have been less jarring based on Trevorrow’s initial script. This is something that can only be somewhat argued for J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which frustratingly both reverts and continues elements of the divisive Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The Original Star Wars Prequels

Producer Gary Kutz has shared that Lucas had plans for a prequel trilogy before the original trilogy was completed. Speaking to IGN in 2002, Kutz shared the basic idea Lucas had for the prequels. Apparently, Lucas intended for the three Star Wars prequel films to deal “with the Clone Wars and the formation of the Jedi Knights”. In the end, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace revealed that the Jedi Order was an already established, centuries-old organization.

Similar to Lucas’ original sequel plans, these ideas for the prequels also changed for several reasons. One of these was the difficulty and stress that came with finalizing the original trilogy, which initially put an end to all prequel plans. Likewise, the technical advances in CGI filmmaking in the early 1990s allowed Lucas to bring something much bigger to the big screen, calling for revisions to the initial plans Star Wars’ creator had for any prior prequel ideas.

Boba Fett's Solo Star Wars Movie

After the production of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo, the Star Wars anthology movies were set to continue. These films were supposedly expected to expand the universe beyond the Skywalker Saga and make the wait between mainline Star Wars movies more bearable for audiences. However, after the commercial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story, the idea for more anthologies was rethought by Lucasfilm which put an end to any others that were planned including a Boba Fett solo film.

This project was announced to be in development in 2013 with Josh Trank joining as director in 2014. Not long after this though, Trank left the project due to creative differences. Since then, it has been revealed that Trank left as he knew he was going to be fired as Disney had caught wind of his poorly constructed reboot of The Fantastic Four.

The studio tried to save the project by bringing James Mangold in as writer and director but by October 2018 the movie had been canceled. This led to the refocusing of Star Wars through Disney+ and the production of The Mandalorian, something that has retroactively benefited the character of Boba Fett. A spin-off of The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, continued the titular bounty hunter's journey after Return of the Jedi with hopes the character will continue to be part of the New Republic era of Star Wars.

Mos Eisley Spaceport Movie

Back in 2018, there were various reports of a Mos Eisley movie being part of the planned anthology movies. However, as all plans for this branch of the Star Wars universe were canceled, the Mos Eisley movie did not evolve beyond whispers and rumors. It was even reported that Lucasfilm had reserved time at Pinewood Studios to start working on an “unannounced” project, believed to be the one about Mos Eisley that was scrapped after the unfortunate failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye

At one point, Lucas wasn’t sure of how audiences would react to Star Wars. As a contingency, he had a backup plan in case the film turned out to be a major flop. Author Alan Dean Foster was brought in to write the novelization of the first Star Wars movie and a second book titled Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. This was done so that Lucas could adapt this story as a low-budget sequel should the initial Star Wars fail to spawn a franchise. Ultimately, Star Wars was a massive hit, the franchise exploded, and Splinter of the Mind’s Eye stayed as a novel.

The story centered on Luke and Leia on a planet called Mimban as they search for the Kaiburr crystal. This was apparently a relic that can supposedly enhance the Force powers of the Jedi. Eventually, Star Wars canon transitioned this to the kyber crystal, the substance responsible for weaponry like the Jedi lightsabers and the Death Star.

David Benioff & D.B. Weiss’ Star Wars Trilogy

Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss joined the Star Wars universe in 2018. As per initial reports, the filmmakers were hired to produce and write a new trilogy separate from the Skywalker Saga. Reportedly, the films from Benioff and Weiss would have been set either in the far future or the distant past, though no more details about the story were revealed due to the film’s premature cancelation.

In October 2019, Benioff and Weiss dropped out due to their commitment to Netflix as they signed an overall deal to write, produce, and direct a new TV series and several films for the streaming giant. However, many believed it was the overwhelmingly disappointing ending the duo produced for Game of Thrones that saw them fall out of favor with the higher-ups at Lucasfilm. While these are just rumors, Benioff and Weiss have produced little of note since Game of Thrones ended including their initially planned Star Wars series.

Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron

One of the more recently canceled Star Wars films under Disney is Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron. The film was first announced in 2020, set for release in 2023. According to Jenkins and Kennedy, the film was going to introduce a new generation of fighter pilots and move Star Wars into the future era. However, the film underwent many production issues, from script rewrites to Jenkins' overlapping commitments with DC Studios. In March 2023, the film was announced to have ceased development with Lucasfilm announcing three new Star Wars films a month later at Star Wars Celebration 2023.

Kevin Feige's Star Wars Movie

In 2019, it was reported that a Star Wars film was in development with Kevin Feige producing and Michael Waldron serving as writer. This was later confirmed by Waldron who stated the film was in development and would stand on its own in the Star Wars universe. Although, like Rogue Squadron, it was revealed that this film was no longer in development in early 2023 with Kennedy stating that it was overblown by the media and that the film never made it past the initial stages of production.

Damon Lindelof's Rey Skywalker Film

Another movie planned by Lucasfilm was reportedly a story set after the sequels focusing on Rey rebuilding the Jedi Order. While a film with this concept from writer Steven Knight and director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was announced at SWCE 2023, initially Damon Lindelof was expected to write the film. According to rumors from The HOT Mic podcast, Lindelof's film was centered on an older Rey, 60 years after The Rise of Skywalker. Since then, Rey's New Jedi Order film has been confirmed with Daisy Ridley reprising her role, with Lindelof's ideas for the film being scrapped in favor of a different approach.

Guillermo del Toro's The Rise & Fall Of Jabba The Hutt

In September 2023, auteur filmmaker Guillermo del Toro confirmed via his Twitter/X account that he was in talks to direct a Star Wars movie around six years ago from a script by David Goyer:

The above tweet confirms del Toro's involvement with Lucasfilm while also providing tantalizing hints at what the canceled project would have entailed. As it turns out, del Toro's later interview with Collider's Steven Weintraub led to the confirmation that the "J" and "BB" hinted at the so-called "The Rise and Fall of Jabba The Hutt" movie. Del Toro would have been in charge of a story centering on the notorious Star Wars crime boss and how he rose to power before subsequently losing it.

Del Toro confirmed that the primary reason for the movie not entering production was Lucasfilm's decision not to run with the script. Del Toro stated "It's not my property, it's not my money. It's one of those 30 screenplays that goes away, you know?" After the above post from del Toro, screenwriter David Goyer appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and further outlined why the project did not come to pass: "It was just a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on at Lucasfilm at the time, but it's a cool script." This would have been a fascinating project thanks to del Toro’s directorial talents and the intriguing premise, yet failed to come to fruition.

Star Wars: Underworld

At Star Wars Celebration in 2005, plans for a TV series set between the original and prequel Star Wars trilogy were announced. After many years of development, the series received the working title of Star Wars: Underworld and focused on the seedy, grittier aspects of the Star Wars franchise. The series was set to center around the criminal and political struggles of the galaxy in the period as the Empire was attempting to grasp control of the galaxy, with characters like Han Solo, Palpatine, Boba Fett, and Lando Calrissian to name a few set to appear.

As late as 2012, over 100 episodes had been planned out before the realization that the series was far too expensive to actually produce. After Disney took control of the Star Wars franchise, Kathleen Kennedy stated that the scripts that had been written were always under review by Lucasfilm, with some elements making it into future Disney stories. The concept for Rogue One was one of the planned episodes of Star Wars: Underworld, as was the story of Han winning the Falcon from Lando seen in Solo.

Rangers Of The New Republic

Another canceled TV show from the Star Wars franchise is much more recent: Rangers of the New Republic. Initially announced in 2020 as a spin-off to The Mandalorian, the show was rumored to focus on Cara Dune as a new inductee into the New Republic investigating the emergence of Imperial remnants in the Outer Rim. However, after the firing of Gina Carano from Lucasfilm, the series stalled. Since then, elements of Rangers of the New Republic were included in The Mandalorian season 3, with season 4 of the latter expected to fully replace the former with Din Djarin hunting down Imperial remnants.

Furthermore, Ahsoka seemed to have set up more elements of Rangers of the New Republic being incorporated into other Star Wars projects. The journey of Hera Syndulla in the 2023 Disney+ show centered on her exploration of Imperial sympathizers within the New Republic and how the leaders responsible for the latter organization were turning a blind eye to the resurgence of the Empire. As such, many have assumed the future stories involving Hera and Carson Teva could tie into The Mandalorian season 4's restructuring of Rangers of the New Republic as Star Wars refocuses yet another canceled project.