Disney has officially confirmed that starting in 2015 they plan to release a new Star Wars film every year J.J. Abrams will kick things off with Star Wars Episode VII, the first chapter in a  new trilogy picking up with the original cast and following on from Return of The Jedi. Although Episode VIII won’t be arriving for several year’s after that Disney plans to fill the gaps in-between the new trilogy with a series of spinoff films focusing on individual characters from the existing Star Wars universe.

Episode VII already has a script from Michael Arndt, while the writing team of Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg will be responsible for the spinoff films.
Kasdan co-wrote Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, whilst Kinberg most recently helped Guy Ritchie reboot Sherlock Holmes.

It’s rumored that the first Star Wars spinoff may focus on Jedi master Yoda, hardly surprising given the enduring popularity of the grammatically challenged and that fact that these days he seems to have nothing better to do than sell you mobile phones.

Reaction to the news of Disney’s ambitious plans for Star Wars have been met with mixed reaction. The studio is undeniably keen to quickly recoup the $4 billion they spent securing the creative  rights from George Lucas, but some fans are concerned that churning out so many films so quickly may threaten the quality of the franchise. It may be worth reminding those critics that The Phantom Menance exists and that Lucas had 30 years to plan/make it. Good things don’t always come to those that that wait.