Jon Watts Star Wars Trilogy Gets Its Director

The next chapter of the Skywalker saga finally has a director. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed on September 26, 2026 that Jon Watts will direct the first film in a new Star Wars trilogy written by Simon Kinberg, and Deadline and Variety backed the report, according to coverage by The Playlist. The Jon Watts Star Wars news traveled fast, because fans have spent years asking who gets to make the next one.

The film is expected to function as Episode X, picking up the saga after 2019's The Rise of Skywalker closed the nine-film Skywalker story. Lucasfilm has not officially announced that title, so the Episode X label stays unofficial for now. Knight Edge Media reported that Daisy Ridley is expected to return as Jedi Master Rey in a smaller role that could grow across the trilogy, while Lucasfilm casts relatively unknown actors as the new leads, The Playlist reported. Whether John Boyega or Oscar Isaac return as Finn and Poe remains unknown.

Watts already knows this galaxy. He co-created the Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew with Christopher Ford and directed both its premiere and its finale, the show having premiered in December 2024. He also wrote and produced on the series, which followed four kids on an adventure in the New Republic era. That history matters, since Lucasfilm rarely hands its biggest projects to directors who have not already survived one of its productions.

A director who can survive the machine

Watts built his blockbuster credentials in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directing three Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland that were released between 2017 and 2021 and grossed more than $3.9 billion worldwide. He started small with the indie thriller Cop Car before Marvel trusted him with the Spider-Man relaunch, and his most recent directorial effort was Wolfs, the Brad Pitt and George Clooney comedy thriller. Along with his producer Dianne McGunigle, he also signed a first-look deal with Walt Disney Studios through their company Freshman Year, so the Lucasfilm job keeps him inside the Disney family.

That resume is the reason he fits. The Los Angeles Weekly Times called Watts a reliable choice for a franchise that has famously struggled with directors over the years. Star Wars has cycled through announced filmmakers who never made it to set, and the next chapter needs someone comfortable with massive budgets, heavy studio oversight, and intense fan expectations all at once. Watts handled all three on Spider-Man, a franchise where the pressure is arguably just as high. Spider-Man: Brand New Day broke the all-time box office record this year, which says plenty about how much trust the industry places in that corner of the Marvel universe.

The long road to a galaxy far, far away

None of this is moving fast. Kinberg has been developing the trilogy for the better part of two years, and Lucasfilm had no comment on the Watts news. The project has not yet been greenlit by parent company Disney, though reports describe it as the furthest along in development after Shawn Levy's Star Wars: Starfighter, which stars Ryan Gosling and is due in theaters in 2027 to coincide with the franchise's fiftieth anniversary. CBR noted that Starfighter will bring the franchise back to the big screen after The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Kinberg is a known quantity in this universe. He co-created the animated series Star Wars Rebels and served as a creative consultant on The Force Awakens, and he wrote X-Men films for Fox. The Direct reported that Kinberg was first attached to the trilogy while Kathleen Kennedy ran Lucasfilm, and that he and Watts are now expected to continue the work under Dave Filoni, who took over the studio. Knight Edge Media added that Lucasfilm hopes to begin production as early as next year.

For fans, the shape of the story is the most interesting part. Rey as a Jedi Master mentoring new leads bridges the sequel trilogy and whatever comes next without asking Daisy Ridley to carry another three films alone. Casting unknowns as the leads also echoes how the franchise launched new faces before, from Mark Hamill to Daisy Ridley herself. The saga that began in 1977 keeps finding ways to hand the lightsaber to someone new.

No release date exists yet, and plenty can still change before cameras roll. But after years of announcements that went nowhere, "the next chapter of the Skywalker Saga appears to be getting considerably more concrete," according to The Playlist. For a franchise built on hope, that reads like the best news fans have had in a long time. Godzilla Minus Zero earned the franchise's first R rating this week, which shows legacy franchises can still surprise audiences when they take a real swing.