Nobody was quite sure how successful the first Star Wars movie that didn't focus on Skywalkers would be. However, it turned out to be a big hit and now the man behind the idea is working on something new. John Knoll at Industrial Light & Magic is the man who conceived the original idea that became Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. While Knoll's expertise is in visual effects, his writing credit for Rogue One is the only one he has, that hasn't stopped him from playing with another idea for a future Star Wars Story. While he says it's not quite ready to run by Lucasfilm, it sounds like it's getting there.
I have another idea I've been tinkering with. It's maybe 75 percent there. I haven't pitched it to [Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy]. It's another Star Wars thing...There's no reason to think Disney is going to stop wanting to make Star Wars movies if there's quality and there's interest. It has unlimited potential. It has a huge number of characters, worlds ... It's a massive playground.
John Knoll's comments came during a panel at the National Association of Broadcasters Show (via The Hollywood Reporter). He doesn't go into detail about what his idea is, but we can be fairly confident that it will fall into the same spinoff story territory that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story occupies. In talking about how large the overall universe is he's clearly making a statement that his idea may fall into a part of that universe that we haven't previously explored. We're certainly curious what kind of idea he has.
John Knoll is certainly correct that Disney has no plans to stop making Star Wars movies as long as there is quality and interest. It's been previously stated that one Star Wars movie a year is the plan, and so far that's exactly what's happening.
While Star Wars movies are currently planned through the end of the current trilogy in 2019, we don't know exactly what's being planned after that. It's clear the studio was in something of a holding pattern waiting to see how the audience would react to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The critical and commercial success that the film had means that more spinoff stories like it are probably in the cards, meaning whatever John Knoll's idea is, it will probably get serious consideration once he's ready to share it.
We love the idea of going to brand new worlds and meeting new characters in the Star Wars universe, and considering how well John Knoll's last idea did, we can't wait to hear about what he's planning next.
