Why Star Wars Fans Are Furious Over the Next Skywalker Saga Movie

Published Sep 28, 2026, 11:33 AM EDT Elijah is a freelance news writer at Polygon. He was an associate editor at The A.V. Club and Paste, and has been featured in outlets like Game Informer, Fanbyte, Unwinnable, and more. He loves media in all forms, from fighting games and horror flicks to slow cinema and visual novels. He's from the Greater Boston area. The Force is not strong with this one Image: Disney Star Wars fans are notorious for not liking Star Wars, but even by those standards, the latest rumors about the series have sparked an impressive amount of doom and gloom. On Saturday, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Spider-Man director Jon Watts has been tapped to direct the next mainline Star Wars movie, which would be “the next phase of a potential new Skywalker Saga.” The film would be part of the previously rumored trilogy that Simon Kinberg is writing. The Star Wars fandom didn’t take the news well. Why are Star Wars fans up in arms? The first reason many fans are upset is because of the new movie’s premise: It will tell another story centered on the Skywalkers. Considering how vast the Star Wars universe is, the fact that the story will once again center on this familiar family instead of being about literally anything else is a very tough sell. Given how Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker bent over backward to bring back series iconography and villains, fans want something new that will take the series far, far away from the rest of the mainline films. On top of this, many are displeased that Jon Watts will helm the movie. Watts is best known for directing the first three Tom Holland-led Spider-Man entries. While the trilogy was reasonably well received, Watts is not seen as an auteur. His output has been described as workmanlike at best, with detractors calling his work visually bland. Essentially, he’s perceived as an overly safe pick, clearly capable of delivering a blockbuster movie on time, but not with much pizazz. That said, Watts co-created, co-wrote, and directed episodes of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, an outstanding series for Disney Plus. Watts has also reliably delivered hits for Marvel, and Lucasfilm seems increasingly interested in tapping directors like Jon Favreau and Shawn Levy, whose big-budget projects don't languish like many Star Wars productions that never seem to get off the ground. Fans were more upset when it came to Episode X’s writer, Simon Kinberg, mostly because he’s penned some real duds. Detractors pointed to critically panned movies like Fantastic Four (2015), X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix, and Jumper. As one X user somewhat rudely put it, in reaction to Kinberg’s filmography, “Genuine question, how does he still have a job?” In Kinberg’s defense, he wrote X-Men: Days of Future Past, which was well received. Another X user, Daniel Ritchtman, put things into perspective and claimed that Kinberg is well-liked in Hollywood, where he is seen as a good producer and ideas guy. Between Episode X’s premise and its key crew, it seems that Disney is opting for the safest path forward, an approach that hasn’t worked out so well as of late. Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu had a lackluster box office performance, underscoring how much hype has deflated over the last decade or so. For context, just 11 years ago, Star Wars: The Force Awakens had an incredible theatrical run, becoming the highest-grossing film in domestic box office history at the time, and the third highest-grossing film worldwide with over $2 billion. Mandalorian & Grogu made just $345.8 million and will likely struggle to earn back its budget. Star Wars fans seem to be craving something new, but Disney is going back to the well.