Episode VIII will be a break from tradition for the Star Wars movie franchise, in the sense that there won’t be a significant time skip between it and the events that transpired during director J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens.
Moreover, the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII has been scheduled to finish production part-way through this year’s ‘Con for a while now.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016, followed by Star Wars: Episode VIII on December 15, 2017, the Han Solo Star Wars Anthology film on May 25, 2018, Star Wars: Episode IX in 2019, and the third Star Wars Anthology film in 2020.
Disney/Lucasfilm isn’t hosting a panel for the Star Wars franchise at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, but with fair reason.