In major news for Star Wars fans, three new films will join the beloved franchise and Daisy Ridley will reprise her role as Rey. Lucasfilm announced the news at the Star Wars celebration event in London today where Ridley made a surprise appearance next to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy.

The upcoming films are not expected to be a traditional trilogy as they each are set to take place during a different time period. The film directed by Academy Award winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Ms. Marvel) will take place 15 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, and will show how Ridley’s Rey works to rebuild the Jedi Order as a Jedi Master.

“I have spent the better part of my life meeting real heroes who are overcoming oppressive regimes and battling impossible odds. And I think that is the heart of Star Wars,” Obaid-Chinoy said at the celebration event.

This was a historic announcement as Obaid-Chinoy will be the first woman and first person of colour to lead a Star Wars feature film.

Welcome home, Daisy. #StarWarsCelebration pic.twitter.com/9wIpKdicbe

— Star Wars (@starwars) April 7, 2023

Another film will be helmed by Dave Filoni, who has served as a writer, director and executive producer for Star Wars shows including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, as well as the upcoming Ahsoka. Filoni’s film will be set in the so-called “present” by serving as a climax to these three series.

A third film will be directed by James Mangold (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), which will take viewers to a time before the events of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, revealing the origins of the Force in what has been called a “Biblical epic”.

“When I first started talking to Kathy about doing one of these pictures, what occurred to me was thinking about what kind of genre of movie within Star Wars I wanted to do,” Mangold said at the celebration event. “And I thought about a Biblical epic, like a Ten Commandments, about the dawning of the Force. Where did the Force come from, when did we discover it, when did we learn how to use it?”

No release date for any of the films has been revealed.

The announcement follows a years-long hiatus of Star Wars films hitting the big screen, the last being The Rise of Skywalker released in 2019. With fans having expressed much criticism over the franchise's newest films, Lucasfilm paused its movie development and has spent recent years focusing predominantly on producing Disney+ series.

Other upcoming Star Wars projects include Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte and the final season of Andor. Donald Glover is also in talks to reprise his role as Lando Calrissian from 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.