During a presentation at Disney Investor Day 2020, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy announced that interconnected stories between series such as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka would cross over and culminate in a "climactic story event."
On April 7, 2023, at a panel at Celebration Europe, the project was revealed to be a theatrical film helmed by director Dave Filoni. A news post on StarWars.com the same day confirmed that the film would "close out" the stories started in series like The Mandalorian. In an interview with IGN at the convention, Kennedy discussed how the genesis for the film had started over a decade prior and evolved organically into the current iteration of the project. She also revealed that Filoni would write the film. Also at Celebration, Filoni was interviewed by Variety and revealed that the film would center around a conflict between the New Republic and Imperial Remnants. When interviewed by Empire on May 5, Filoni discussed how he wants the film to deal with moments that "define an era," in this case the space between Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.