10 More Movies Already Cancelled In 2019 (And Why)

4. Rian Johnson's Star Wars Trilogy

What We Knew

Over a month before Star Wars: The Last Jedi was even released, Lucasfilm announced that director Rian Johnson would be helming his own trilogy of new Star Wars spin-off movies.

Fans were initially overjoyed, as the prospect of Johnson expanding the Star Wars universe away from obvious spin-offs and prequels seemed like a solid way to ensure the franchise's longevity.

Why It Was Cancelled & The Future

The Last Jedi was of course divisively received by fans, prompting many to call for Johnson to be taken off the Star Wars franchise altogether.

But Johnson assured fans he wasn't going anywhere, even as the commercial disappointment of Solo: A Star Wars Story caused Lucasfilm and Disney to reconsider their general stance on spin-offs. Disney's CEO Bob Iger claimed in late 2018 that the Star Wars IP would "slow down" due to Solo's box office performance.

This past February, rumours began to emerge that Johnson's trilogy had been cancelled, though Johnson claimed otherwise, and stated in April that he planned to return to his Star Wars movies after the release of his new film Knives Out in November.

The same month, Iger confirmed again that the franchise will be going on "hiatus" after the release of The Rise of Skywalker, implying that we won't see any new Star Wars films until Game of Thrones show-runners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss' spin-off trilogy launches in 2022 (with sequels set for 2024 and 2026).

Industry insider John Campea stated last month he'd heard from a source that Johnson was "done" with Star Wars, which makes sense given that the Benioff/Weiss movies are already in development.

After all, releasing six new Star Wars spin-offs within the next decade doesn't really sound like the slowdown or hiatus Iger mentioned.