While details or even titles were never released, Disney has long scheduled three new Star Wars movies for release beginning in December 2022 and every two years after. Today, Disney announced changes to their film schedule brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the new Star Wars movies have been pushed back a year.

The new dates are as follows:

December 22, 2023
December 19, 2025
December 17, 2027

The films will alternate with James Cameron’s Avatar sequels as the tent poles of Disney’s holiday film slate. This was always the plan, but COVID-19 has simply delayed the Star Wars scheduling.

The films, which still have not been announced as far as names or even basic concepts are concerned, will likely benefit from this as Disney now has more time to develop the stories, find directors, cast actors, etc. Longtime Star Wars fans are accustomed to waiting decades for new material, so this one year delay should be just a blip.

Disney+ Series Updates

What remains unknown is how the COVID-19 pandemic delays have impacted other Disney+ series in the works. Marvel Studios recently pushed back the release of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier to the fall, which may or may not be due to Black Widow not being released. The upcoming live-action Star Wars series have not been officially delayed, but filming had not started yet on the untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi or Casian Andor series.

The Mandalorian Season 2 remains on target for an October 2020 release as filming had wrapped prior to the global shutdown. The animated series The Bad Batch, announced recently, remains on target for a 2021 release as well.