Star Wars Celebration was the place for some groundbreaking announcements for the franchise going forward. The event brought news of the development of upcomingStar Warsshows likeAhsokaandSkeleton Crew,as well as reveals of brand-new movies that are in active development. At the Lucasfilm Studio Showcase panel on Friday, April 7, first looks atAhsoka, Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte,and more were shown, as well as a new trailer forIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Much was available only to attendees who managed to get a seat in the packed convention room hall, but the excitement surrounding the reveals has grown drastically, despite the relative exclusivity of the event.
In addition to those television series, three new movies were announced, including a Dawn of the Jedi project and a New Jedi Order film starring Daisy Ridley. Dave Filoni was also announced as the director of an upcoming movie that will serve as the climax of the stories being told inThe Mandalorianand its various spin-off shows. Ultimately, having the conclusion of these plot lines take place on the big screen with Filoni helming the project is a great idea. It allows theStar Warsfranchise to have a massive climactic movie event likeAvengers: Endgame.
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As stated previously, Daisy Ridley’s return to a galaxy far, far away was confirmed at the convention, something that has been rumored for a few months now. James Mangold was also revealed to be returning to work with Lucasfilm on a film centered on the very first Jedi and the discovery of the Force, a story that will essentially be the earliest tale inStar Warscanon. Mangold’snew film was certainly unexpected, although fans have speculated that a movie about early Jedi could come at some point.
Lucasfilm has made it known thatThe Mandalorianis building towards a huge concluding event, but it’s been unclear whether it would be a film released in theaters or a TV show on Disney+. The reveal that Dave Filoni will be leading the project was also relatively unexpected, as he has often lent his talents to the writing side of things rather than directing (at least when it comes to live action). Both of these things are huge developments for the future of the franchise,and have the potential to reinvigoratethe franchise for years to come.
Unfortunately,Star Warsmovies have been desperately lacking for a few years now. Countless projects have been announced, but never come to fruition. There hasn’t been a movie sinceThe Rise of Skywalkerin 2019, and whilethe TV shows since then have been received well(broadly speaking), the franchise would be smart to return to the big screen at some point. Therefore, the announcement of several new films is certainly welcome.
The finale event film directed by Dave Filoni is arguably the one that is most likely to come to fruition. The unfortunate reality is that fans question which movies actually end up happening because of so many projects falling through in the past. However, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, have been consistent with their output since teaming up together. Their collaboration on this project is a good sign.
The decision to make this finale event a feature film released in theaters is, as stated, a great idea.The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew,and more are all part of this Mando-Verse, and are all TV shows on Disney+. To connect all of these pieces and tell one huge-scale story means that Filoni and co. have to go bigger and broader. A movie is the perfect medium for that.This also means that the scale can continue to ramp up, something that has been happening since the first season ofThe Mandalorianin 2019. At that time, the show was just a bounty hunter with a baby, but it quickly scaled up to feature Jedi, dark side Force users, and iconic fan favorite characters.
That can be hard to top, something thatThe Mandalorianseason 3 is arguably facing right now. The focus is almost exclusively on the Mandalorian plot line, and there’s a relative lack of cameos from known characters. The latter was a common feature of season two, which has proved to be a divisive decision with fans and audiences. However, with the finale eventbeing a feature-length film, that problem is much easier to avoid. Creators can ramp up the action, excitement, and entertainment with the big budget of a movie. TV shows coming together to have a finale-type event is rare, but the other well known example is the Marvel Netflix shows coming together inThe Defenders. Many fans felt that that show lacked the excitement and stakes that it could have had, soStar Warsmight just be steering clear of that issue by opting to go bigger with a movie rather than a miniseries.
Despite these details, specifics are sparse on the upcoming film. Kathleen Kennedy did say that the movie is likely six or seven years away, so there’s plenty of time for more seasons of these popular shows before the main storyline concludes.
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