The future of Star Wars on the big screen largely remains uncertain following The Rise of Skywalker. Lucasfilm has yet to officially confirm any specific titles, but we know that they’re going to steer away from the Skywalker story we’ve been following for four decades. Now, we have word that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is set to be a big part of that future, as the studio is developing not only a movie set during that time period, but a TV show as well.
Before diving in, we must caution that this information hasn’t been corroborated by Lucasfilm just yet, so it’s still in the rumor camp for now. That said, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy did previously reveal they have a Knights of the Old Republic project in the works, so this would seem to make sense. According to a new report, both a movie and TV show based on the popular video games of the same name are in development. Few details are available, so we don’t know for sure who may be involved on the creative side, or which characters could be slated to appear.
Previously, we heard that screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Alita: Battle Angel) was set to pen a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic movie, so it’s possible this could be her baby. It was rumored that Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were going to make a trilogy that took place in the Old Republic era. However, the duo parted ways with Lucasfilm last year over creative differences. It seemed possible that the studio would scrap the idea, which is partially why this new report is important. Plus, if this turns out to be true, there will be a tie-in TV show, which is no small thing. Especially considering how successful The Mandalorian has been. It’s not clear at this time if the show would tie-in directly to the movie, or if both projects will tell independent stories taking place in the same era.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, commonly referred to as KOTOR, started life as a video game released in 2003. At that time, what is now known as “Legends” material contributed additional stories to the Star Wars universe. Lucasfilm reset the canon following the Disney purchase in 2012, but the studio has pulled lots from Legends into the new canon. The story takes place roughly 4,000 years before the events of the original trilogy. The player is tasked with battling a Sith uprising which is being headed up by the evil Darth Malak.
The Rise of Skywalker visual dictionary, it’s worth mentioning, made Darth Revan, a famous figure from the Old Republic, canon. So that could be part of planting the seeds for storytelling in this time period. We’ve also heard Lucasfilm is planning stories set in the High Republic era, which is roughly 400 years before the events of the original trilogy. So it’s tough to say what will come first, if indeed both sets of stories are happening. The next Star Wars movie is dated for December 2022, so we should be finding out more at Star Wars Celebration in August. This news comes to us via FandomWire.
