Director Announces A New ‘Star Wars’ Trilogy Will Happen After Ninth Movie

When the Rebels were celebrating their win against the Empire at the end of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, fans of the franchise thought it was a fitting end to a movie series that had gone on for nearly 30 years.

But the new generation of the Force fanatics were gifted with another trilogy which left off where Luke, Han and Leia left off and developed new characters. The graphics and special effects were sharper, with the Millennium Falcon looking mighty fine in HD and even a new type of lightsabre was introduced.

The second instalment to that new trilogy will come out in mid-December.

Credit: LucasFilm / Walt Disney Pictures

Then, when it looked like we were all finally going to say goodbye to the galaxy far, far away, people in Hollywood thought they'd whip that dead horse one more time.

Disney and Lucas Films have released a statement, saying: "In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored."

President of Lucas Films, Kathleen Kennedy, said: "[Rian is] a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy."

Director Rian Johnson. Credit: PA

Fans did seem to enjoy the 2016 spin-off movie Rogue One, which was meant to fill in the gaps before the original three films, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi.

The spin-off became one of the highest grossing movies of all time, despite the severe lack of lightsabres. While die-hard fans will be quick to point out, yes, this movie wasn't meant to include the usual Star Wars stuff that we're used to, but it clearly showed how people were still engaged with the premise despite it not being a continuation of the Luke Skywalker saga.

It's not yet clear whether this new breed of movies will borrow characters featured in movies VII, VIII and IX, or whether it will create and entirely new realm for people to sink their teeth into.

As long as there are lightsabres, some element of the force and a lovable droid then I'm in.