LucasFilm killed an original Star Wars movie three separate times only to retreat to another Skywalker Saga sequel, proving corporate entertainment would rather recycle a safe brand than risk something new for audiences who deserve better.
The pattern is unmistakable. Rogue Squadron — a Top Gun-in-space concept that director Patty Jenkins framed as a personal story inspired by her fighter-pilot father — went through three distinct iterations between 2018 and 2022 before LucasFilm let it die completely. Now, according to KnightEdgeMedia, Star Wars Episode X is moving forward with Jon Watts directing, dragging the franchise back to the same Skywalker well that already ran dry with The Rise of Skywalker.
Screen Rant laid out the full timeline of LucasFilm's self-sabotage. The first Rogue Squadron concept came in 2018 under director J.D. Dillard, an aviator's son who reportedly drew on his love for the classic TIE Fighter PC game. Dillard left LucasFilm, and the project froze. Two years later, Jenkins suited up as a pilot and publicly announced Rogue Squadron as the first post-Rise of Skywalker film, with a December 2023 release date. LucasFilm pivoted away to concentrate on Disney+ shows instead. A third attempt emerged in 2022 as a potential Disney+ series under showrunners Rick Famuyiwa and Rayna McClendon, tied to the Mandoverse timeline — possibly replacing the scrapped Rangers of the New Republic. That died too. Jenkins claimed in 2024 she had re-signed for a fourth life. Nothing has materialized.
Meanwhile, the projects LucasFilm actually announced at Star Wars Celebration — Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's New Jedi Order, James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi, Dave Filoni's Mandoverse culmination, and Taika Waititi's long-gestating film — were sold as expansion into new territory. Screen Rant noted that even Filoni and Mangold's films, while indirectly tied to the Skywalker legacy, were "not actively presented as part of the Saga." Now the Rey-starring New Jedi Order appears shelved, though Rey is said to be appearing in Watt's Episode X. According to KnightEdgeMedia, Rey won't be significant in Episode X but may step up in later sequels — meaning audiences get the Skywalker name without even the commitment to the character who carried the last trilogy.
Screen Rant framed the cancellation as a creative misfortune — "frustratingly, LucasFilm had the perfect antidote to another Skywalker Saga movie that was unfairly canceled." But the real story is institutional inertia. A corporation with a proven brand has every incentive to reheat it rather than greenlight something untested. The backlash to Episode X's confirmation was predictable.
Fortune's report on Meta's $10 billion-plus undersea cable investments sits in a different industry but illustrates the same corporate logic: established players pour capital into controlling existing infrastructure rather than gambling on the unknown. Meta is spending $130 billion to $145 billion this year on capital expenditures, nearly double its 2025 spend, to own the pipes that carry data worldwide. LucasFilm's calculus is the same — own the Skywalker pipeline, no matter how exhausted it gets.
The question isn't whether Star Wars can make another Skywalker movie. It's whether audiences will keep paying for the same meal reheated a fourth time.
