Jon Watts Is Attached to Direct Lucasfilm’s Next Star Wars Film

What the trades are reporting

A significant piece of Lucasfilm’s theatrical future came into focus this weekend. Variety reports that Jon Watts is attached to direct a new Star Wars movie that Simon Kinberg is writing. The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline independently reported the development, giving the director attachment substantially more weight than an ordinary single-source franchise rumor.

Watts is already part of Lucasfilm’s recent creative history. He co-created Star Wars: Skeleton Crew with Christopher Ford, executive produced the series, and directed its first and final episodes. StarWars.com’s own behind-the-scenes coverage documents his work on the series and his approach to building a new corner of the New Republic era. His reported move to a theatrical Star Wars project would therefore represent continuity in Lucasfilm’s filmmaker network rather than the arrival of someone completely new to the franchise.

The more complicated question is exactly what Kinberg and Watts are making. The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline connect the project to Kinberg’s developing Star Wars films and describe it in terms of a continuation of the Skywalker saga. Variety confirms Watts’ involvement in a Star Wars movie but is more restrained about the larger structure. Lucasfilm has not yet published an official announcement defining the title, release date, cast, production start, or final place in the saga. IDS is therefore labeling the story Development Watch.

What is not confirmed yet

The reporting should not be stretched beyond what the available evidence supports. No official Lucasfilm announcement reviewed by IDS names the movie Episode X, confirms Daisy Ridley or another returning actor, gives a theatrical date, or says principal photography has begun. Those details remain separate questions even if Watts’ attachment is accurately reported.

This distinction matters because Star Wars film development has repeatedly involved projects changing form, schedules, writers, and directors before production. An attached director and writer are meaningful evidence of forward movement. They are not the same as a locked shooting schedule or a finished creative plan. The next useful confirmation would be a Lucasfilm announcement, casting notice, production start, or placement on Disney’s release calendar.