A long time ago, in a California desert far, far away, a group of filmmakers, artists, and special effects pioneers made one of the greatest movies of all time: Star Wars, released in 1977 (and since retitled Star Wars: A New Hope).

While not much is known about the plot of James Mangold‘s upcoming Star Wars movie, it has been confirmed that it will take place 25,000 years before the events of A New Hope. In a recent discussion,

James Mangold, who just picked up a Directors Guild of America nomination for “A Complete Unknown,” recently told MovieWeb that his upcoming “Star Wars” movie is deliberately set thousands of years before any other movie in the long-running franchise so that he doesn’t have to deal with the canon and can thus avoid angering fans.

"The Star Wars movie would be taking place 25,000 years before any known Star Wars movies takes place," he told MovieWeb. "It's an area and a playground that I've always [wanted t