By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES - Walt Disney Co on Friday unveiled plans for three new "Star Wars" movies, including one with Daisy Ridley reprising her role as a Jedi hero in a galaxy far, far away.
Ridley will play her character, Rey, in a story set 15 years after the events of the 2019 film "The Rise of Skywalker." The upcoming movie will focus on rebuilding the New Jedi Order as powers rise to tear it down, Disney said.
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced the new projects in London at the annual Star Wars Celebration fan convention, where the actress took the stage to confirm her return to the blockbuster franchise.
Disney purchased Star Wars producer Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion and released three hit films from 2015 to 2019 plus several TV series on the Disney+ streaming service.
Fans had been waiting to hear where Star Wars would head on the big screen.
The company had put a pause on new "Star Wars" movies after "Rise of Skywalker." A film that was set to be released this year, "Rogue Squadron," was scrapped, as were some others that had been in early development.
The second of the three coming films will delve into the past to tell the story of the first Jedi to wield the Force, Kennedy said.
The third will be set in the present and chronicle an escalating war between the Imperial Remnant and the fledgling New Republic. It will be led by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, the team behind the popular Star Wars TV series "The Mandalorian."
No release dates for the movies were announced.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Mark Porter)