Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi — Everything we know about James Mangold’s movie

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi will take us back to the epic beginnings of the Jedi Order, so here are all the details we have on the James Mangold movie.

Three new Star Wars movies were announced during Star Wars Celebration 2023: New Jedi Order, Dave Filoni’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, and Dawn of the Jedi.

The most mysterious of the bunch promises to shed light on a part of the Star Wars timeline never seen in live-action before.

With teases and concepts floating around, here’s the potential Dawn of the Jedi release date and our theories.

Is there a Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi release date?

No Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi release date is confirmed, but it will likely come out no sooner than late 2027 due to what a huge undertaking it will be.

Given it was announced in 2023 and hasn’t begun filming yet, we have to take into account the scale of the production, the likely heavy VFX work to be completed, and finding a great theatrical window.

Disney tends to release new movies in the franchise late into Winter, so we’d expect a November or December date.

Logan and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny filmmaker James Mangold will direct.

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi cast and characters

There are no confirmed Dawn of the Jedi cast or characters yet. We’ll likely see original characters made for the story.

Lucasfilm

None of the Star Wars cast from contemporary movies can show up, because we’re in an entirely different part of the timeline.

As for the villain, the Sith are understood to have been created around 5000 BBY, following the Hundred Year Darkness. That was a period that led to the formation of the Sith. This means (in Legends canon, at least) they weren’t around at the time Dawn of the Jedi is set.

So, we probably won’t see a Sith threaten the budding new Order unless Mangold rewrites the timeline, which is entirely possible

Mangold could take things in a fresher direction, perhaps embedding a bad guy within the Jedi. The Order has always been flawed, and religions’ worst practices tend to be the ones implemented earliest.

What will Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi be about?

Lucasfilm said Dawn of the Jedi is a “biblical epic” that chronicles the beginnings of the Jedi Order.

Lucasfilm

It will chart new territory for the franchise as a whole, set far in the past and unpacking the tales of the first-ever Jedi.

Speaking to Variety, Mangold said epics such as Ben-Hur and The 10 Commandments inspired his pitch to producer Kathleen Kennedy. The director plans on exploring the Force’s evolution into a “religious legend,” specifically its birth and discovery.

In Star Wars lore (a fun mix of books, comics, games, and more) The Prime Jedi founded the Order on the planet Ahch-To, around 25,025 BBY.

Is Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi based on a book?

Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi shares its title with a comic book miniseries, but there’s no indication the movie will adapt it.

Dark Horse Comics

This title is already in use by a comic miniseries of the same name. Set 26,000 years before A New Hope, the brief comic run followed an ancient alien species’ discovery of the Force. The series also chronicled how the race used it to significantly advance.

It’s unclear how faithfully the film will follow the Dark Horse-published comics. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how the Je’daii Order and their early lightsabers get translated to the big screen.

When does Dawn of the Jedi take place in the Star Wars timeline?

Dawn of the Jedi will take place 25,000 years before Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

As a result, expect the new movie to navigate long before the Old Republic era, a period that the films’ canon, despite how many Star Wars movies there are now, has yet to expand upon.

Jedi as we know them will not exist, something Mangold confirmed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “I don’t tend to think people brand themselves before they’ve actually found themselves,” he said. “You don’t come up [with] a name for your organization, and then let’s put this big thing on our chest. I tend to think that the branding tends to happen later.”

We’ll see the spiritual beginnings and the establishment of the Order, but we’ll be tens of thousands of years from the Republic era’s bureaucracy in Revenge of the Sith.

Has Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi been canceled?

There’s no indication Dawn of the Jedi has been canceled.

While major updates have been few and far between, Disney has not canceled the movie. At least not publicly.

Some fans might have concerns though, as projects like Lando and Rogue Squadron have been in development hell for years.

We’ve got a long wait ahead of us. While we wait, there’s Andor Season 2, The Acolyte, and The Skeleton Crew to keep us busy. Or, see what the wisest words in the galaxy are in our list of the best Star Wars quotes.