It looks to be a busy year on Disney Plus for Star Wars fans. As Season 3 of The Mandalorian comes to an end in April and Skeleton Crew is planned for a late 2023 release, one of the most anticipated Star Wars properties is sandwiched between them. Fans have been waiting to find out exactly when Ahsoka, which stars Rosario Dawson, would hit Disney Plus and now they can finally pencil it in on their calendars.
During the Lucasfilm Showcase Panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023, it was revealed that Ahoska will hit Disney Plus in August.
Over the past several weeks, an impressive collection of talent was revealed to have directed episodes of the upcoming Star Wars streaming series Skeleton Crew. The Daniels, David Lowery and Jake Schrier were all rumored to have helmed episodes the New Republic era show but Lucasfilm remained mum. Now, those 3 have been confirmed and a few more have been revealed at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
Creator Jon Watts, Bryce Dallas Howard and Lee Isaac Chung were revealed to have directed episodes of the series during the Lucasfilm Showcase Panel.
The director lineup for ‘STAR WARS SKELETON CREW’.
Jon Watts David Lowery The Daniels Jake Scherier Bryce Dallas Howard Lee Isaac Chung pic.twitter.com/pTaXk9yBvI
Among the many upcoming projects on the Star Wars slate is the streaming series The Acolyte. Created by Leslye Headland, the series is set in the High Republic era well before the rise of the Empire giving fans a brand new perspective on the galaxy far, far away. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy hyped the show at Star Wars Celebration saying that the four finished episodes of the series blew her mind before turning the stage over to Headland, who detailed some of the show’s interesting inspirations.
According to Headland, her original pitch for the series was “Frozen meets Kill Bill.”
Leslye Headland says ‘THE ACOLYTE’ was pitched as ‘Frozen’ meets ‘Kill Bill’.
While that sets up some pretty interesting ideas of what type of action fans can expect from the new series, it was also revealed that the project will take philosophical inspiration from the works of legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa’s work famously inspired Star Wars creator George Lucas’ take on the franchise and, according to Headland, two of his films, Yojimbo and The Hidden Fortress, have inspired her on The Acolyte.
As Star Wars Celebration 2023 kicks off in London a rumor about a potential new project is making waves. On the latest episode of The Hot Mic Podcast, Jeff Snieder reported that Star Wars Rebels creator Dave Filoni, who has directed several episodes of The Mandalorian, is directing a film that is expected to be announced at Celebration.
According to Snieder, three movies are going to be announced during Celebration and one of them will be directed by Filoni. The film will reportedly “codify the Star Wars universe around the world” built by Filoni and Jon Favreau.
The story of Mandalore and its disparate clans of Mandalorians is something Filoni has been building both through animation and live-action for over a decade. Beginning in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, continuing through Star Wars Rebels and now The Mandalorian, Filoni created a culture and mythology around characters such as Bo-Katan Kryze, Sabine Wren and Din Djarin. Those characters and their stories captured the attention of audiences and now it seems likely that their journeys–and a few other characters’ journeys as well–will come together on the big screen.
The next installment in Marvel Studios Multiverse Saga, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, hits theaters on May 5, 2023. The Guardians’ story started in 2014 and unexpectedly captured the hearts of audiences across the globe. Those same hearts are set to break as JamesGunn closes out the Guardians trilogy with an emotional finale that is sure to see at least one member of the team meet their ultimate fate.
More than just an emotional roller coaster, Vol. 3 looks to be jam-packed and will be the longest film of the trilogy. The threequel will make good on one of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘s stingers by introducing Will Poulter‘s Adam Warlock as a weapon pointed directly at the team. As if Warlock won’t be enough to handle, the team will ultimately make their way to Counter-Earth where they’ll meet the man responsible for the pain and suffering that has defined Rocket: the High Evolutionary, played by Chukwudi Iwuji. And they’ll be doing all that while their leader, Chris Pratt‘s Peter Quill, continues to deal with the loss of the love of his life, Gamora, while a Variant version of her ends up working with the team out of their brand-new base in the severed head of a Celestial known as Knowhere. Vol. 3 has a lot in store for audiences but to appreciate what’s happening and where things are going in that film, there’s plenty of homework to be done which is why you’re here for the latest installment of…The Ultimate List of Things to Watch Before!
Tier One
These projects are non-negotiable. If you want to know what’s going on right when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 kicks off, you’ll have to find time to get these in before hitting the theater.
Guardians of the Galaxy
It all started with 2014’s surprise summer hit and any rewatch or first watch should start with the original Guardians of the Galaxy. The core team has grown quite a bit since they first came together in the space prison known as the Kyln in the first film but their origin story is one of the most rewatchable films in the Marvel Studios catalog, even if it does have one of the MCU’s worst villains. Rocket’s tragic origin, which is set to be explored in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, is hinted at here making it worth the watch for that alone. It’s also the start of the romantic relationship between Peter and Gamora which ultimately results in the emotional state Peter is in when Vol. 3 begins.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
While James Gunn will undoubtedly include something with the Sovereign in Vol. 3 to help newbies catch up, if you didn’t watch Vol. 2 you might not fully understand why Will Poulter‘s golden godman, Adam Warlock, is after the Guardians…but that’s hardly the only reason to check out Vol. 2. The 2017 sequel is all about relationships, some of which will be key to how you feel walking into and out of Vol. 3. Peter and Gamora’s romance grows; Drax and Mantis begin forming their wonderful friendship; Gamora and Nebula begin the process of repairing their sisterly bond. The core team also expands its roster during the film, adding Mantis and Kraglin. It’s certainly worth a watch to see how hard the next projects hit.
Avengers: Infinity War
Outside of Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Infinity War is arguably the most important project to take in ahead of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Not only does the team play a key role in attempting to stop Thanos’ efforts to cut the population of the universe in half but it’s also the final appearance of “Prime” Gamora. Her death, at the hands of her father, changed Peter forever, something that’s center stage in Vol. 3.
Tier Two
If you can’t get to the Tier Two projects before you head to the theaters for Vol. 3, you’ll probably be caught up on the important events in them early on in the threequel. It’s not to say that they aren’t important because to have a complete understanding of each of the characters, every second of time they spend on screen is ultimately important. However, these two projects don’t add to the overall story as much as the others.
Avengers: Endgame
Gamora is back! Except it’s not really Gamora. Nebula’s redemption is complete. The Guardians take off with Thor on some new adventures.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
While the Holiday Special is incredibly entertaining, for a project whose entire focus is on the Guardians, it’s hardly essential viewing. It established that the team has made Knowhere its base of operations and reintroduced and more fully developed Cosmo. It feels more like a Drax and Mantis comedy project and while the pair offer some great laughs, their relationship with each other doesn’t really change much. The Holiday Special’s effort to treat the audience to a shocking reveal falls pretty flat as most everyone who watched Vol. 2 already figured out that Mantis and Peter were siblings. It would seem that everything important about this project could be summed up in 3-5 seconds of screen time in Vol. 3.
Tier Three
Thor: Love and Thunder
Other than showing that Nebula has officially joined the team, the Guaridans’ time in Thor: Love and Thunder was entirely uneventful and, other than for continuity reasons, entirely unnecessary. Of course, the same might be able to be said about Thor: Love and Thunder itself, so it’s hardly the Guardians’ fault. However, if the film is entertaining at all, it is during the scenes on Indigarr when Thor and the Guardians help King Yakan take on the Booskan army led by Habooska the Horrible. Don’t go out of your way to watch it, but if you’re a completist, fast forward to this battle and then turn the TV off immediately.
While it’s not as extensive as other Ultimate Lists have been in the past, it’s still enough to keep you busy in the coming weeks as you prepare for the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 on May 5th!
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania‘s theatrical run had a less than stellar theatrical run as it ran out of steam pretty quickly after a big opening weekend in mid-February. Much of the dropoff has been attributed to the generally poor word of mouth around the film, which was essentially an offbeat sci-fi B movie dressed up as an MCU flick. Writer Jeff Loveness has been the target of significant ire from fans who have consistently criticized some odd edits and lack of stakes in the film’s third act. Interestingly enough, in an exclusive interview with Murphy’s Multiverse, Loveness confirmed that one part of the film’s ending was significantly altered from his original drafts; now, in a new interview, he’s revealed further changes to the film.
In an interview with Backstory Magazine, Loveness confirmed that he had written the death of a member of the Ant-Family into an early draft of Quantumania. “We were going to kill Hank at one point,” said Loveness, “and I was going to have him be, like, reanimated.” Loveness is a huge comic book fans and has written books for Marvel Comics. When he was hired for Quantumania, I was told that his understanding of the source material was key to Marvel Studios being brought on board, so it’s not too surprising that he was going to “reanimate” Hank Pym in a very comic book-y way. “His consciousness was going to live on through the ants, and he was going to be like mentally controlling them,” he explained before adding, “yeah, he was going to be almost like this hive mind of the ants, and I like that… that didn’t go too far.“
Given Loveness‘ admission that he liked his own idea, it’s hard to believe he was the one who cut the idea from the script and that it was likely done by the studio somewhere during the editing process. The revelation by Loveness continues to call into question just what went on between early drafts and even early screenings of the film and the final product. Reliable plot leaks suggest a much different cut of Quantumania existed at one point and set photos confirm that the final scenes of the movie were reshot roughly 6 weeks before release. While this news won’t stop the “bad writing” bandwagon from rolling, it’ll hopefully at least give some fans a reason to stop and think about who’s responsible for what when they see a film. Writers write. Editors edit. And someone else makes all the final decisions.
As the tides at DC continue to change, the sequel to one of the most successful DC films to date has gotten a new release date. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which was originally slated to release on Christmas Day, will now hit theaters on December 20th.
James Wan’s sequel, which will now now on a Wednesday rather than a Monday, will be going head to head in theaters with the sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife which recently began production.
Chapter 22 of The Mandalorian, Guns for Hire, ended exactly where most fans of the show predicted it would. Bo-Katan had reclaimed the Darksaber and reunited with her Mandalorian mercenary unit. It was a good day. However, all of that happened over the course of 4 minutes or so of the episode’s 45-minute runtime which gave director Bryce Dallas Howard plenty of time to explore some other avenues…and she did just that.
Over the past several weeks, Bo-Katan Kryze has steadily grown into a more central role in the ongoing narrative of the series. Her status as a “true” Mandalorian–a princess from House Kryze–who can now, as the Armorer said, walk in both worlds and her experience on Mandalore has her primed to lead her people into a new age of prosperity on the planet they have long thought was lost to them. Bo-Katan has a formidable task ahead of her in reuniting the Clans and returning Mandalore to its former glory and one thing that’s being made very clear is that even if she does succeed, it’s a strange new world out there.
Chapter 22 does its level best to illustrate just how different the galaxy has become since Bo-Katan last led Mandalore before the Great Purge. The episode’s opening sequence no doubt reminded fans of Star Wars: The Clone Wars of the rift that once existed between the Quarren and the Mon Calamari following the death of Yos Kolina. Kolina’s assassination set off a civil war on Mon Cala, one that saw both sides backed by larger galactic entities with the Separatists supporting the Quarren and the Republic supporting the Mon Calamari. If the opening sequence was meant as a subtle reminder of the scars of a galaxy torn apart by war for far too long, Christopher Lloyd’s cameo as Plazir-15’s still-a-Separatist-after-all-these-years Captain Helgait served as a much more coarse reminder.
Try as the Duchess and Captain Bombardier do to establish an opulent, shining example of how incredible the opportunities provided in the New Republic can be, Helgait’s considerable experiences with war won’t let them be. It’s the Star Wars equivalent of “the North remembers.” Bo-Katan’s trip to Plazir-15–which provided a shiny second chance for many of its inhabitants–worked brilliantly to remind the series’ central characters and audience alike that nothing will come easy in the New Republic. The Mandalorian has put some heavy work into highlighting some of the obstacles that the heroes will face on their quest to restore Mandalorian glory and Howard used Plazir-15 as an overt analogy of what lies ahead for Bo-Katan as she tries to claim her shiny second chance on Mandalore. Nothing–not a fleet, not a Darksaber and not even a mythosaur–will heal all the scars from all the wars that have ripped the galaxy asunder. In the Star Wars galaxy, peace can never be the status quo. It’s awesome that today was a good day because Bo-Katan and her Mandalorians are about to come face-to-face with a lot of bad feelings and a lot of bad days.
Though the project has long since completed filming and is now in post-production, the Star Wars streaming series Skeleton Crew continues to sound more promising by the day. Billed as an Amblin-esque adventure set in the Galaxy far, far away, Skeleton Crew has assembled quite the group of directors. Now a new report suggests another hot name has joined the list.
According to One Take News, Jake Schreier directed an episode of the series for Lucasfilm. Schreier Joins The Daniels and David Lowery on an impressive list of talented directors who have worked with creator Jon Watts behind the camera.
Skeleton Crew tells the story of four kids who find themselves lost in in the vastness of the galaxy trying to find their way home.
Official synopsis of Skeleton Crew via Lucasfilm
A year ago, Schreier was known more for his work on music videos than major projects. That all changed when Marvel Studios selected him to direct the 2024 film Thunderbolts, which will begin production this Spring. Schreier’s first major project, the streaming series Beef, hits Netflix soon and has already been the subject of a lot of positive critical buzz. Interestingly enough, Thunderbolts will serve as a bit of a Beef reunion for Schreier with star Steven Yeun and screenwriter Lee Sung Jin joining him on the Marvel Studios project.
Lucasfilm has not officially confirmed the team of directors for Skeleton Crew. However, it’s expected that the project will be a part of the upcoming Star Wars Celebration presentation on April 7th in London.
Bryce Dallas Howard returned to direct Chapter 22 of The Mandalorian and she brought some big names along with her. The episode, titled Guns for Hire, saw Din Djarin, Grogu and Bo-Katan head to the planet of Plazir-15 where they looked to enlist Axe Woves, Koska Reeves and their team of Mandalorian mercenaries into their quest to reclaim Mandalore. While the series Mandalorian leads found who they were looking for, they also met a trio of new faces who made surprising cameos in the episode.
The grandiose world of Plazir-15 is new to the Star Wars universe which gave Howard and creator Jon Favreau room to get creative and they did exactly that. Shortly after landing on the planet, Din, Grogu and Bo-Katan were escorted to a rather extravagant party. And who invited the Mandalorians to have a seat at the table, take a load off and sip on secretions? The planet’s rulers, The Dutchess and Captain Bombardier, played by Lizzo and Jack Black, respectively.
As the plot of the episode moved ahead, it turned out it had one more surprise cameo in store. Before Din and Bo-Katan would be allowed to meet with their fellow Mandalorians on Plazir-15, they had a small task to complete for the Dutchess and Captain Bombardier. Plazir-15, as it turned out, had recently experienced some unpleasant business with some rogue droids. To get to the bottom of the matter, Din and Bo-Katan met with the planet’s head of security, Captain Helgait, played by the iconic Christopher Lloyd. Though Helgait was revealed to be behind the droid attacks and exiled from the planet, he did live to see another day.
It’ll be interesting to follow both the reaction to the trio of cameos and any forthcoming information from Lucasfilm about them. For his part, Black has created a few social media videos expressing his fandom for Star Wars and, in particular, The Mandalorian. His 2022 May the Fourth Be With You and Revenge of the Fifth Tik Toks made quite a splash.
Chapter 22 of The Mandalorian is now streaming on Disney Plus.
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