Trying to find a new “Star Wars” movie these days is like trying to catch lightning in a bottle. We keep hearing the rumblings and seeing the flashes, but then the project vanishes just as quickly. Remember when Rian Johnson was supposed to get his own entire trilogy after “The Last Jedi” came out? Remember when Disney was giving a trilogy to the “Game of Thrones” guys? Or how about that Patty Jenkins “Rogue Squadron” movie? At this point, any news leak, rumor, or even official announcement from Lucasfilm regarding “Star Wars” on the big screen needs to be taken with a pound of salt. And now, yet again, another new “Star Wars” trilogy has purportedly entered the early stages of development.

According to a new report by Deadline, the mastermind this time is Simon Kinberg, a veteran of the franchise who helped produce “The Force Awakens” and held a central position alongside Dave Filoni and Carrie Beck as co-creator on the animated series “Star Wars Rebels.” Kinberg has also written and produced films in the “X-Men” film series, the Robert Downey Jr. “Sherlock Holmes” franchise, and the recent Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot movies starring Kenneth Branagh.

“Star Wars” is intended to return to theaters in 2026 with Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian & Grogu.” Other standalone films — the “Dawn of the Jedi” movie from “Logan” director James Mangold and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Rey movie (which recently lost writer Steven Knight) — also remain in the works. So, how does Kinberg’s hypothetical new trilogy fit into the mix? And what could it be about? Let’s get into it.

There are already some conflicting stories about what this new “Star Wars” trilogy is actually about. The original Deadline report claims that Kinberg’s films will “comprise Episodes 10-12 of the Skywalker Saga,” but it also acknowledges that some other “insiders” are contradicting that idea. For instance, The Hollywood Reporter says that the new trilogy “is not meant to be a continuation of the Skywalker Saga,” though it could contain familiar characters, as “Star Wars” always does. Entertainment Weekly reported the same angle — that this will be a new trilogy, and a fresh start of sorts.

That would make more sense with what Disney has said previously about its “Star Wars” strategy. “The Rise of Skywalker” may not be the most popular film in the franchise (far from it), but it was definitively marketed as the end of The Skywalker Saga, a moniker that Disney created to refer to the numbered films following the eponymous family of Force-sensitives. At the time, the label was a bit controversial, as some felt that George Lucas’ original six films should be left to themselves rather than get retroactively shifted into parts one and two of a three-part story.

Disney clearly understands the value of the trilogy as an idea within “Star Wars.” One of the big problems the company has faced since “The Rise of Skywalker” is the lack of a long-term, unified storyline for fans to get pulled into. Say what you will about the inconsistencies of the sequels, but they were hugely successful and got tons of casual viewers engaged. Returning to that trilogy model makes sense, but with so many past attempts now canceled projects in the graveyard, can Kinberg’s trilogy be the one to break through?

If Kinberg’s new “Star Wars” trilogy is, in fact, separate from The Skywalker Saga, as the majority of sources seem to be reporting, then there are a ton of possibilities for what it could entail. Given the mixed response to the sequels, Disney would probably be better off starting a brand-new story set somewhere else in space and time. And since Rey’s “New Jedi Order” movie is still in the works outside of the Kinberg project, it wouldn’t really make sense for his films to directly involve her or any other major characters from the last three numbered entries.

Some of the best “Star Wars” stories of the Disney era have arisen when creatives have been allowed to create whole new spaces within the franchise — the High Republic novels, “Andor,” the Doctor Aphra comics, and Kinberg’s “Rebels,” among others. While some of those have taken place within well-worn portions of the “Star Wars” timeline, they’ve tended to be most successful when given room to fully follow new characters and visit new locations.

What we don’t know yet is — if the new trilogy really is a fresh start — where and when it will be set. Since Disney has already ventured into the past for “Star Wars” stories like the High Republic and the upcoming “Dawn of the Jedi” movie, it would make more sense for them to jump a few hundred (or thousand) years into the future. Major time jumps occurred in the old Expanded Universe all the time, after all, but the new plan remains to be seen.

Because Simon Kinberg is best known at this point within the “Star Wars” ecosystem for his work on “Rebels,” there’s reason to suspect his new trilogy could be connected to the animated show. Since he’s worked closely with Filoni — the current Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm who oversees the broad narrative strokes of all projects — it would make sense for their individual endeavors to be at least somewhat aligned. Filoni’s direct creative involvement over the last few years has mostly involved “Ahsoka,” which is basically a live-action sequel series to “Rebels.” He’s building toward something with Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Force-wielders of Mortis, but we don’t know what.

Could Kinberg’s movies be playing with that same material, just later in the timeline? Ahsoka isn’t a Skywalker, and her story has always been separate from the mainline saga. We also don’t know where she, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, Baylan Skoll, Shin Hati, or any of the other legacy “Rebels” and “Ahsoka” characters are during the sequels (Hera Syndulla’s ship, the Ghost, does pop up in the background of “The Rise of Skywalker”), so there’s plenty of room to play there with some kind of parallel threat.

The big challenge with tying these storylines to a new film trilogy is the amount of homework more casual fans would be required to do. “Ahsoka,” which has Season 2 currently in development, already ran into that problem by bringing in threads from “Rebels,” “The Clone Wars,” “The Mandalorian,” and the sequel trilogy all at once. If Disney really wants to start fresh, it would probably be better to wipe the slate clean completely to bring in as many new viewers as possible.

One way that Lucasfilm could split the difference between current storylines and new material is by bringing back an old villain with new context. Filoni’s recent projects have all delved deeper into the cosmic, arcane nature of the Force, with “Ahsoka” Season 1 exploring the history of the Nightsister witches, a whole new galaxy, and an ancient religion of some kind built around the Mortis gods. Some fans have theorized that this is all building toward the return of Abeloth, a dark Force goddess from the old Expanded Universe who has deep ties to Mortis.

Since Kinberg and Filoni are long-time collaborators, it’s conceivable that Filoni could set something up in “Ahsoka” Season 2 that pays off in the later films. Have Ahsoka and Sabine stop Abeloth’s return, for instance, only for her to rise again a hundred years later in the new trilogy, or something like that. That would encourage new fans to watch while still leaving some fun material for loyalists to play with — something Lucasfilm has constantly tried to balance since being acquired by Disney.

Other potential returning big-bad options include the Nihil and their Drengir monsters from the High Republic, who could be revived in a later era, and the notorious Yuuzhan Vong from “Star Wars” Legends — the extragalactic alien conquerors who occupy many of the old EU novels. The Grysk — a race from the recent canon novels with ties to Grand Admiral Thrawn — are another possibility. However, the best option for a new theatrical trilogy may simply be to create fully new threats and storylines. The question is whether or not Disney is willing to let go of the reins to that degree.

It’s possible that Lucasfilm will set its next film trilogy at an earlier point in the “Star Wars” timeline rather than going farther into the future. If that happens, the Old Republic era is the natural choice. Popularized by the “Knights of the Old Republic” video games of the early 2000s, it’s a period that remains quite popular in the fandom. And, while Disney has recanonized the era on its official “Star Wars” timeline, Lucasfilm has yet to set any major, new canonical stories in it.

The Old Republic, honestly, has everything Disney should be looking for in a new trilogy. There’s enough nostalgia, but not too much; total freedom in creating new characters and storylines; accessibility for casual fans; a distinct aesthetic that would set the movies apart from their predecessors; and plenty of existing material to draw inspiration from. Given the success of “The Mandalorian,” the old wars between the Jedi and Mandalore are natural territory to explore. And, of course, there are plenty of wars with the Sith in the Legends version of the Old Republic as well.

Over the course of a trilogy, Kinberg and the rest of Lucasfilm could explore multiple threats and introduce a large roster of new characters. It would certainly make a subset of longtime fans happy, especially if they finally got that Darth Revan return they’ve been clamoring for.

One last option Lucasfilm could choose with the new Simon Kinberg trilogy is to go way, way farther into the future of the “Star Wars” timeline than we’ve seen in previous stories. Toward the end of the “Star Wars” Legends timeline, things jumped ahead to follow Cade Skywalker, a descendant of Luke whose story takes place more than a century after the original trilogy. DIsney could take things even farther by jumping ahead even more, bypassing the New Republic to explore other systems, civilizations, and galaxies.

That would be a bit of a risk, of course. Many fans have concrete (and yet conflicting) ideas of what “Star Wars” is supposed to be, and major divergences from the norm have occasionally been met with backlash. But you can only go back to the well so many times before it runs dry, and Lucasfilm has been playing in relatively safe space for years now.

In order for a new trilogy to achieve the kind of success that the first couple of sequels earned at the box office, there needs to be something new — a brand of “Star Wars” fresh enough to get all kinds of viewers excited and into the theater. Time will tell if Kinberg’s trilogy is the project that can finally make that happen again.