Lucasfilm Slate- Rogue Squadron, Ahsoka, Indiana Jones, and Many More

Lucasfilm unveiled an impressive slate of new shows and movies coming to Disney+ and theaters within the next few years, and we are here to break down every announcement.

During Disney’s Investor Call, many of the top brands at the Mouse House unveiled exciting new projects in the works. Marvel, FX, Hulu, Disney Animation, Walt Disney Feature Films, Pixar, Nat Geo, and many more got to show off what was coming within the next few years. Lucasfilm Ltd. brought plenty of new goodies for fans to get excited for.

While a certain subset of the internet likes to claim that ‘Star Wars is dead,’ it appears that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Despite the mixed fanboy reaction to The Rise Of Skywalker, Star Wars has been able to shrug it off due to the combined positive reaction to the final season of The Clone Wars and season 2 of The Mandalorian.

The new announcement of all these Star Wars projects (and other non-related Star Wars material) is showing that LucasFilm is expanding the sandbox in a big way. Star Wars can be for everyone and can corner niche markets to get larger fans all under the umbrella of a bigger franchise.

Let’s take a look at everything coming from a galaxy far far away, and some material a little closer to home.

The Mandalorian Season 3

Fans already know the third season of The Mandalorian is coming, but what is interesting here is Kathleen Kennedy revealed a date for the show’s third season premiere: Christmas 2021. Since Christmas doesn’t land on a Friday, that must mean we’ll get it sometime during the holiday season. That means fans will have to wait a whole year for the show to return. With one episode left to go before the season finale, one can imagine it will end with a big cliffhanger.

Ahsoka

It’s amazing to see the longevity of this character. When Ahsoka Tano was first introduced in 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, fans hated her with a passion. Yet over the course of the series fans grew to love her. Her appearance on Star Wars: Rebels was a big moment for fans, and it was fitting the final four episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars focused on her. Her appearance on The Mandalorian was one of, if not the biggest, moments in the series. Her episode very much felt like a backdoor pilot for a series.

Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are working together on Ahsoka, making it a spin-off series to The Mandalorian. It is being called a limited series, so this may not be around for multiple seasons. However it will be tied into The Mandalorian and the upcoming Rangers of the New Republic, meaning they could be building to an epic crossover event.

The logo on the series also hints at what the show may involve. The logo seems to indicate the return of The World Between Worlds, first shown in Star Wars Rebels. It is a pocket dimension that certain force users can access through certain portals, and allows the traveler across different points in time in space. Rebels main character Ezra saved Ahsoka from dying in a duel with Darth Vader using it. There is a chance they may explore this concept more in the series.

Rangers of the New Republic

The other Mandalorian spin-off, The Rangers of the New Republic, has been teased in various episodes during this season of The Mandalorian with New Republic Officer Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) appearing in two episodes. When he offered Cara Dune a New Republic officer’s badge, it gave a further indication of where Lucasfilm wants to take this property.

No word yet on who will be in the series. While conventional wisdom would suggest Cara Dune would be the lead, Gina Carano’s recent social media controversy has made her a difficult sell for Lucasfilm. It is possible that she could still be in the show, or her part may be reduced or swapped out for a new character.

Like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, Dave Filloni and Jon Favreau are also spearheading this storyline. It’s said this will ‘intersect with future stories and culminate into a climatic story event,’ meaning that this show will be closely connected with the other two above, and possibly lead to a similar event storyline as we see unfold on the CW Arrowverse shows.

Andor

While Cassian Andor meets his demise in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, fans will still get to see more of Cassian Andor in his own spin-off series. No word on how far before Rogue One this will take place. Star Wars fan favorites like K2SO and Mon Mothama will return to the series along with some new faces. This will explore some of Cassian’s earlier missions for the Rebel Alliance.

Disney released a sizzle reel that helps highlight how, despite being a television show, it will have the same scope and detail fans expect from a Star Wars movie. It’ll be 12 episodes. This isn’t uncommon for Star Wars, as the final season of The Clone Wars was also 12 episodes. So fans will get to enjoy this series over three months.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

While the prequels are often a mixed bag, one thing fans all agree on is they love Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. His series was announced last year at D23. Deborah Chow, who directed two episodes of The Mandalorian, will be at the helm of the series.

Fans now know this will take place ten years after Revenge of the Sith, so 9 years before A New Hope. Still no word on the plot, but the big announcement is that Hayden Christensen will return to the Star Wars universe as Darth Vader. This raises some questions, since many fans assumed that Obi-Wan and Vader hadn’t seen each other since their battle on Mustafar. Vader says he hasn’t felt Obi-Wan’s presence in a long time, and when he confronts him on the Death Star says ‘when I left you I was but the learner, now I am the master.’ It could explain how Obi-Wan knows Vader is still around after he left him to die on Mustafar. But the other explanation is that Vader and Obi-Wan never meet in the show, but are always just barely missing each other. They could also show flashbacks to see Obi-Wan and Anakin during the Clone Wars.