Star Wars: Rian Johnson’s new trilogy release date revealed? Much SOONER than expected

Johnson helmed last year’s critic-pleasing, fan-dividing The Last Jedi – and was immediately given his own set of three films by LucasFilm.

The movies will feature all-new characters and all-new stories within the Star Wars universe, and are in development right now.

In an interview with Israeli website From The Grapevine, his producing partner Ram Bergman is quoted as saying the first chapter could be as soon as “two years” away, potentially putting it in 2020.

“It’s a completely new trilogy that writer-director Rian Johnson, my partner, is going to create,” he said.

“It’s all new characters. Everything is new.

“I can’t tell you [a release date] because we don’t know yet. Maybe in two years; it’s just in the early stages.”

Two years does seem far too soon to cast, shoot and edit a movie as big as a Star Wars movie, even if the script is already finished.

Plus, with Episode 9 of the ‘main’ saga coming out at the very end of 2019, 2020 may be deemed too soon to launch into a brand new trilogy.

But it’s encouraging that Bergman doesn’t think it’ll be too long before the films will be on screen.

It was recently thought that LucasFilm had hit pause on all other spin-offs and projects after the disappointing box office performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Ron Howard, who directed Solo, played down the speculation.

Speaking to TMZ, he said: “I don’t think it’s entirely accurate [to say all spin-offs are cancelled].

“I think that was reported but I don’t think that’s right.”

He added: “Everybody at LucasFilm and Disney really cares about the fans, so I think it’s an ongoing process of discovering what it can be and what it can add up to.

“It’s a process and I like the fact that, personally, they take some chances, take some risks and see how people respond to it.”