Jon Watts to Direct New Star Wars Film, Simon Kinberg to Write
Jon Watts is to direct a new Star Wars film, with Simon Kinberg writing the script.
Variety reported the development on 27 September 2026 and credited Knight Edge Media with breaking the news first Variety. No title, story details, cast or release date were announced.
Watts directed Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), all starring Tom Holland, according to that same Variety report Variety. He co-created the streaming series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew with Christopher Ford. The director leads the shoot, while the writer builds the story and dialogue before filming starts.
Skeleton Crew follows four children lost in the galaxy and searching for their home planet, according to Lucasfilm Lucasfilm. Watts described that series as a coming-of-age adventure, a story centred on growing up, in comments reported by Variety in May 2022 Variety. It was developed under the code name Grammar Rodeo Empire.
The television link goes back to February 2022, when early reports connected Watts to Star Wars television. One report said an untitled series tied to The High Republic, a publishing era set centuries before the films, had eyed Watts to direct at least one instalment Collider. Another said the Watts project was using the Grammar Rodeo code name.
Watts and Ford had first taken a standalone Star Wars film idea to Lucasfilm, the Disney-owned studio behind the franchise, according to a Variety feature in January 2025 Variety. That idea later became Skeleton Crew. At the same time in 2022, Watts was set to write and direct a film reuniting George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival fixers, people paid to clear up trouble Variety.
Watts was also attached to direct Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four film in July 2022 Variety. The big-screen Star Wars gap is long. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, released in 2019, was the last film in the series to open in cinemas, according to Variety Variety.
In March 2023, Variety reported that planned Star Wars films from producer Kevin Feige and director Patty Jenkins had been shelved while Lucasfilm worked with Taika Waititi and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Variety. Development is an early stage in film-making, before shooting and release planning. Several Star Wars features have been announced in recent years without reaching production.
For fans, this means a familiar guide returns. Watts knows this galaxy from television. Now he takes on a feature.
