Star Wars Celebration is in full swing and with that comes big announcements from a galaxy far, far away. This year's official fan expo is back in-person for the second year after the COVID-19 pandemic shut it down in 2020 and 2021. It's being held in the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London.
Disney and Lucasfilm have kicked off the festivities with some big news about both movies and TV projects from the Star Wars universe, with some details about a movie starring a certain famous archeologist from this planet thrown in as well.
Star Wars Movie Announcements
Several projects that were previously announced by Lucasfilm, including a Rogue Squadron movie directed by Patty Jenkins, have been shelved. In their absence, we have details on three movies that now have the green light.
No release dates have been announced so far.
Untitled James Mangold Film
The first is a movie directed by James Mangold. He’s known for movies including Girl, Interrupted, Logan, and the upcoming Indiana Jones the Dial of Destiny (more on that one later).
It will focus on the most ancient era of the Star Wars timeline, highlighting the dawn of the first Jedi more than 25,000 years before the first movies.
In an interview with Variety, Mangold said of the project, “I just see this opening to make kind of a Ben-Hur or The 10 Commandments about the birth of The Force. The Force has become a kind of religious legend that spans through all these movies.”
Untitled Dave Filoni Film
Next up we have a movie from Dave Filoni, who Star Wars fans will know from his extensive work on TV projects ranging from animated shows like The Clone Wars and more recent live-action series including The Mandalorian.
This film sounds like something of an Avengers-style crossover event that incorporates characters from The Mandalorian, The Book of Bob Fest, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew. The movie will showcase the escalating conflict between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant in the lead-up to The Force Awakens.
Untitled Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Film
Our last film comes from Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy who is known for her Oscar and Emmy-winning documentary work and, most recently, Disney’s Ms. Marvel.
Her film will take place in a place previously unexplored on the Star Wars timeline: after the events of Episode IV: The Rise of Skywalker. Set 15 years after Rise, this film will follow Rey (Daisy Ridley) as she attempts to build a new Jedi academy and train a new generation of Jedi.
Star Wars TV Announcements
The TV projects in the Star Wars universe continue to blast forward at hyperspeed. Here's what we've found out so far.
Ahsoka
We finally got our first look at the highly anticipated new series, Ahsoka, which will premiere in August on Disney+.
The show stars Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano, the fan favorite character who is the former Padawan to Anakin Skywalker. In the show she teams up with characters from the various Star Wars animated shows including Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to take on some evil forces, including Grand Admiral Thrawn (casting unknown).
Check out the trailer here!
The Acolyte
For attendees at Star Wars Celebration, footage was shown of the upcoming series The Acolyte. Unfortunately for the rest of us, this video remains unreleased but we do have some new details on the show.
The thriller series stars Amanda Stenberg and Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae. It’s created by Russian Doll’s Leslie Headland and takes place 100 years before the prequel trilogy in the High Republic era.
Headland said she pitched the show as “Frozen meets Kill Bill” from the perspective of the villains, using samurai movies as inspiration. The footage shown reportedly featured shots of a Jedi temple, Stenberg fighting a character played by The Matrix’s Carrie-Anne Moss, and a group of Jedi lighting up their lightsabers in unison.
Andor
Footage from the second season of Andor was also screened for Celebration attendees, although this is also not yet being released to the public.
The show began filming in November and will wrap up at the end of this summer, with a tentative release date in August 2024.
The footage shown reportedly revealed Mon Mothma rallying a rebellion, Syril Karn who appears to have a higher profile in this season, and Cassian Andor with a new hairdo.
Skeleton Crew
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew has been described as an Amblin Entertainment-esque story in the Star Wars universe. Jude Law, who plays a Jedi in the show, was joined on stage by his young castmates Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, and Robert Timothy Smith.
The show, which screened footage exclusively to Celebration attendees, is created and executive produced by Jon Watts and Chris Ford.
The footage screened reportedly showed the child characters on speeders, attending school, and on spaceships with a tease of a familiar villain from The Mandalorian, according to Variety.
One Last Thing
While not related to Star Wars, Lucasfilm revealed the trailer for the next installment in their other iconic franchise, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The movie hits theaters June 30th.
Watch the trailer here:
