Disney announces a new Star Wars trilogy

The Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that Rian Johnson will craft a new trilogy for the Star Wars universe, greatly expanding the director's command over the ever-expanding space saga created by George Lucas.

Johnson, 43, will write and direct the first of a new Star Wars trilogy that will bring new characters and worlds not yet explored on screen, Disney said.

"He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy,” Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said in a statement.

Disney said no release dates have been set for the new trilogy. 

Three new stand alone movies

Disney is also making three standalone Star Wars films outside of the Skywalker saga.

"Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored," Disney said in a statement.

Star Wars live action series

In addition to the new film trilogy, Disney's CEO Bob Iger said during the company's quarterly earnings call on Thursday that a Star Wars live action TV series was also being developed for the company's upcoming streaming service.

Disney also announced a live-action Star Wars series that will debut on its streaming service which is set to launch in 2019.

That Johnson will preside over a new Star Wars trilogy altogether confirms his status as the franchise's new chief guardian. It's a considerable amount of trust to be placed in the 43-year-old director of 2012′s Looper, even before audiences see his first Star Wars instalment. 

Johnson was brought on to write and direct the second film in Disney's rebooted trilogy of the Skywalker stories, which George Lucas first brought to screen in 1977.