Rumored to be in development ahead of Star Wars Celebration 2023, a Dave Filoni-directed New Republic-era event film was announced on April 7, 2023 as one of three brand new Star Wars films.
The untitled film will tell the story of “the escalating war between the Imperial Remnant and the fledgling New Republic” and “bring together many of the threads” of the New Republic era series such as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew.
Cast
During Star Wars Celebration Europe in April 2023, Lucasfilm revealed that The Bad Batch had been renewed for a third and final season. Though no specific release window was given, the animated series will stream on Disney Plus in 2024.
In January 2024, it was revealed that the final season of The Bad Batch was set to debut with a 3-episode premiere on February 21st. The 15-episode season will wrap up on May 1, 2024.
Here’s the double-whammy, as it seems that not only do we finally know what exactly Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy has been working on based on a script by Damon Lindelof, who sadly left the project recently, but also who is going to be the main star. It is none other than Daisy Ridley, who is set to return as the character of Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
The story will seemingly pick up 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker as she tries to rebuild the Jedi Order. It is ironic that after every trilogy someone is trying to rebuild the order somewhere, but it’s going to be interesting to see how they connect this story to the past while setting up a new future.
There’s no word if she’s actually the main star of the franchise or potentially just a side character. While the film has no official title just yet, they unveiled a timeline to help those put the pieces together when these projects take place across the wide Star Wars timeline, and it was given the simple name of “New Jedi Order “with a rather familiar logo.
It seems that they might be wrapping up the franchise that started with The Mandalorian, as during Star Wars Celebration it was announced that the one and only Dave Filoni is going to direct a Star Wars film. Now just that, but it’ll also seemingly wrap up everything that has been building up since the first season of The Mandalorian.
His involvement with a film was hinted at for some time now with a rumor dropping right before the Celebration event even kicked off. The question does remain if this will be a Disney+ original film given how it connects to the other entries, or if this is perhaps a cinematic release that just uses story bits from the various characters and brings them all together. We#ll have to wait to find out.
Source: Twitter
Star Wars fans have been doing some serious handwringing over the theatrical future of the franchise. Kathleen Kennedy did her best to ease those concerns at Star Wars Celebration 2023 by announcing multiple films, including one by director James Mangold.
Set before the Old Republic in a new era called Dawn of the Jedi which takes place 25,000 years before the event of The Mandalorian, Mangold’s film will follow the “first Jedi to wield the force” in what was called a “biblical epic.” The new film provides an opportunity for Mangold to break ground and really dig into the foundations of the Jedi Order. Canonical stories set during the High Republic era have recently revealed that the Jedi were just one of several factions of Force users in the galaxy, so it’ll be interesting to see if any of those come into play in Mangold‘s film.
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.
Here’s a rather surprising revelation. During the Star Wars Celebration event, we found out when the idea for Jon Watts‘s Star Wars project, Skeleton Crew, came together. While we initially expected that the first discussions happened while working on Spider-Man: No Way Home. Given that he was attached to direct Fantastic Four at the time and suddenly dropped out to tackle the Disney+ series.
As it turns out, he initially pitched the idea while filming the previous Spider-Man film, Far From Home. It seems it took some time for the project to come together but the core idea of a group of kids going out on an adventure throughout the galaxy but getting more than what they may have bargained for. Those lucky to attend the event also got a first glimpse at the series with this behind-the-scenes shot.
Source: Twitter
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.
Skeleton Crew starring Jude Law, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, and Robert Timothy Smith will stream on Disney Plus in late 2023.
The Acolyte has been quite a mysterious project for Lucasfilm. Not only was there a lot of curiosity about it being the first real disconnected story from a previous iteration in the franchise, but it also hinted at exploring an era that has yet to have been seen in live-action. Luckily, the latest Star Wars Celebration has arrived and we got a good look at what the future has in store.
Not only did they unveil a new and much cleaner logo for the series. But they also confirmed some of the castings that we can expect for the series. First off, one of their biggest additions was the breakout star Lee Jung-jae after his leading role in Squid Game. They also confirmed that Joonas Suotamo will be playing a Wookie Jedi.
Source: Twitter
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.”
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.
The Acolyte will stream on Disney Plus in 2024.
