The world of Star Wars seems to have shifted from a primarily theatrical experience to that of a universe of connected streaming shows. The countless Disney+ subscribers have seen that ever since The Mandalorian became such an intergalactic hit, and now the streamer is going hard on episodic projects in that galaxy far, far away. So much so that it turns out an Amblin-type coming-of-age adventure is in the works, with another Marvel director leading the charge.
If you were wondering why Jon Watts dropped his Fantastic Four duties, this new Star Wars announcement may be part of the reason. In a gigantic spread in Vanity Fair that lays out the future of Disney’s plans for multiple series, one such show was mentioned as being “created and executive produced” by Watts, alongside writer Chris Ford. Set at some point after the Rebellion’s victory over the Empire in Return of the Jedi, the leads will apparently be four children “around 11 to 12 years old,” getting into Amblin adventures in a Star Wars setting.
From the details above, it sounds like what we should be expecting is something that Disney+ might consider as its equivalent to Stranger Things. You can practically see how this would play out: a group of scrappy youngsters, running around in an era of great turmoil and uncertainty, just bound to run afoul of Imperial remnants and foil their evil plans. It actually sounds kind of cozy, when you really think about it.
Not only is Jon Watts a great fit for this project, but his hiring just proves that much like when Jon Favreau defected to the Star Wars machine, MCU directors get how this sort of thing works. Even before his days directing Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man trilogy, Watts’ R-rated adventure Cop Car saw two kids messing around with the titular vehicle and a sadistic officer of the law. While darker than his more PG-13 output, you could see that the director knew how to tell a story with children at the heart, no matter the rating.
Star Wars as a franchise has been all about branching out with its recent streaming output, on top of still making theatrical films with directors like Taika Waititi and Patty Jenkins. Three pretty huge experiments in that effort will be launching throughout 2022, and the upcoming Star Wars series set to drop this year include Obi Wan Kenobi with Ewan McGregor as the next entry. Digging into stories of characters other than the Skywalkers, while also tying those adventures into the main line theatrical franchise’s story, there’s a potential for these new youngsters to run into some familiar faces over time.
As there’s no set timetable for production or when to expect Jon Watts’ new Star Wars project to kick off, these details are pretty sparse for a reason. There’s even a chance that this series might not immediately get off the ground, joining concepts like Rian Johnson’s mysterious trilogy on the proverbial backburner. As exciting as this all sounds, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all pans out in the days to come.
Meanwhile, the world of Star Wars marches on for Disney+ subscribers! All of the films, as well as TV series like The Mandolorian and The Book of Boba Fett, are currently available to stream at this very moment. May 27th will see Obi Wan Kenobi join the ranks, with the two-episode premiere kicking off further weekly drops in the limited series’ run.
