Star Wars series Rangers of the New Republic is no longer in active development for Disney+, with the news coming buried in a report from Variety covering Dave Filoni’s promotion to Executive Creative Director at Lucasfilm, which actually happened last summer but wasn’t updated on the studio’s website until earlier this week.
Rangers of the New Republic was one of the many Star Wars projects announced at last year’s Disney Investor Day, but it looks as though it’s the only one not currently moving forward. Presumably, the decision is down to Lucasfilm and Disney cutting ties with The Mandalorian’s Gina Carano, who was widely expected to headline the show given that the former MMA fighter’s Cara Dune was literally made a ranger of the New Republic in Season 2 of Jon Favreau and Filoni’s streaming exclusive.
Favreau teased towards the end of last year that the story would be set right after Return of the Jedi, and it would occupy the same narrative space as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka, with Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy teasing at the Investor Day that the four standalone shows would culminate in a ‘climactic story event’.
Even though the total number of shows now appears to have dropped by one, it’s not as if Disney Plus subscribers are going to be starved of Star Wars content over the coming years. The Book of Boba Fett premieres in December of this year, with The Mandalorian’s third season expected after that, while Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano will be back to hunt down fan-favorite villain Grand Admiral Thrawn in her solo series.
Outside of the Favreau and Filoni-verse, Rogue One prequel Andor is currently shooting with Diego Luna reprising his role and Tony Gilroy acting as showrunner, while production is also underway on Ewan McGregor’s long-awaited return to Star Wars in Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Joby Harold writing and Deborah Chow directing the entire run of episodes. Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland is developing The Acolyte, described as a mystery thriller set during the end of the High Republic era, and Justin Simien is overseeing Lando, which may involve the returns of both Donald Glover and Billy Dee Williams.
