10 Star Wars shows will roll out on Disney Plus in the coming few years– and 9 of them were either revealed or discussed in December 2020’s Disney Investor Day livestream. Alongside these new series, two of which are spin-offs of The Mandalorian, we learned about two new movies. The most notable of these is Rogue Squadron, which is confirmed as the next theatrical release in the Star Wars saga for 2023.
Below, we’ll explain what we’ve learned about each of these this week, as well as what to expect from all the upcoming Star Wars projects we know about. Aside from Rogue Squadron, all of these are premiering on Disney Plus – and Rogue Squadron, of course, will also come to the streamer following its theatrical release, because that’s how Disney’s content funnel works.
Ready for more Star Wars than you ever asked for? Let’s get started…
The Mandalorian season 3
Little is known about the third season of The Mandalorian – we’ll probably find out more about next year’s events from the upcoming season 2 finale – but the next chapter in the story will arrive in time for Christmas 2021, Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy confirmed this week. Two spin-off TV shows are coming from executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni – you can read about these below. All three series will culminate in a ‘climactic’ event of some kind, likely a miniseries or movie-length episode.
Ahsoka
One of two spin-offs coming from The Mandalorian, this show will see Rosario Dawson reprise her memorable role as the Jedi Ahsoka Tano. Originally debuting in The Clone Wars animated series, Ahsoka made a thrilling move to live-action with the Mandalorian episode ‘The Jedi’ this season.
Her appearance in Mando suggested that she was on the hunt for the still-living Grand Admiral Thrawn – a villain introduced in Star Wars books long ago who was added to the newer Disney continuity with the Star Wars Rebels animated series. It’s expected the show will touch upon the epilogue of Rebels, which saw Ahsoka and the character Sabine Wren looking for the character Ezra Bridger.
Rangers of the New Republic
Another spin-off of The Mandalorian, this one is more of a mystery – some have speculated (somewhat jokingly) that it might be about the X-Wing pilots Trapper Wolf (played by director Dave Filoni) and Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee), both seen saving Mando from ice spiders in ‘Chapter 10: The Passengers’ and each appearing in other episodes. Hey, we’d watch it!
Obi-Wan Kenobi
The long-awaited Obi-Wan spin-off will feature the return of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, with a new showdown promised between Jedi Master and failed Padawan. It’s set 10 years after Revenge of the Sith. We were lucky enough to see behind-the-scenes footage on Obi-Wan Kenobi that wasn’t broadcast to the public this week – it didn’t reveal much beyond concept art and McGregor praising Christensen’s return.
But we did see an image of Kenobi fighting Vader. Expect them to age up Obi-Wan in this series – the Jedi Master looked noticeably older on what appeared to be a dewback creature in one piece of concept art. We saw a lot of images of planets, too, with it being confirmed that Tatooine is just the start of this story.
Deborah Chow, who made The Mandalorian episodes ‘The Sin’ and ‘The Reckoning’, is the director of this long-awaited show.
Andor
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The long-awaited prequel series to 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Andor has been described as a spy thriller by Lucasfilm. It’s been filming for three weeks in London, and when the crew of the show discuss it in the video above, they make no delineation between the show and a movie in terms of how it’s being made – which is exciting.
This show is set five years before Rogue One, and Bourne screenwriter (and Rogue One reshoot overseer) Tony Gilroy is the show’s creator. Stellan Skarsgard, Adria Arjona, Fiona Shaw and Kyle Soller are part of the show’s ensemble cast – as is Genevieve O’Reilly, who reprises her Rogue One and Revenge of the Sith role of Rebel leader Mon Mothma.
It’s 12 episodes long, according to the video above, with over 200 named cast members – this could be a step further than even The Mandalorian has pulled off in terms of scale.
Star Wars: Visions
This series of short films on Disney Plus will be composed of anime-style episodes, made by acclaimed Japanese creators. This should result in a bunch of fresh new angles on the Star Wars universe – similar, we suppose, to The Animatrix, or Halo Legends.
The Acolyte
Set at the end of the recently-debuted High Republic era of Star Wars, The Acolyte comes from the co-creator of Netflix’s Russian Doll, Leslye Headland. Not much was said about this show by Kathleen Kennedy in the presentation, other than it’s a “mystery thriller” set in a “galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers”. Past reports have suggested it’s a female-centric show with some martial arts stuff included, too. We can’t wait to hear more.
The Bad Batch
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A spin-off of The Clone Wars, featuring a popular group of specialist clone soldiers, The Bad Batch was announced earlier this year but debuted a trailer on December 10. It’s set immediately after Revenge of the Sith as the galaxy is overwhelmed with changes, and features The Mandalorian’s Fennec Shand, who appears twice in this trailer. Lucasfilm revealed in July that the show will release in 2021.
Lando
An ‘event series’ from writer Justin Simien (Dear White People), this show will focus on Lando Calrissian – though actor Donald Glover wasn’t confirmed to reprise his Solo role as the smooth-talking and hard-gambling Bespin administrator, Disney’s announcement video sure used a lot of footage of the actor. ‘Event series’ means miniseries – so expect just one season of this show. Could Alden Ehrenreich’s Han Solo pop up again too? This one is in its early stages, so you might have to wait a while.
Now, onto the movies…
Rogue Squadron
Directed by Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins, the next theatrical release in the Star Wars movies canon after The Rise of Skywalker will be Rogue Squadron – that’s coming in 2023. Rogue Squadron, of course, is the name of Luke Skywalker’s fighter pilots who fought in the Battle of Hoth, and were formed after the Battle of Yavin.
This film will be about a new generation of fighter pilots as they “earn their wings”, according to Kennedy, risking their lives in a “future era” of the galaxy.
Rogue Squadron also featured in author Michael A Stackpole’s X-Wing series of books from the Expanded Universe of Star Wars before Disney bought Lucasfilm. It was also the name of a series of video games released on the N64, PC and GameCube.
This movie will focus on pilots in the Star Wars universe, then, which means plenty of space battles – but everything else is pretty unknown at this point.
A Droid Story
Coming to Disney Plus, this co-production between Industrial Light and Magic and Lucasfilm Animation will feature R2-D2 and C-3PO alongside a new hero. Their mission? That’s a secret that only the droids know. Expect something light-hearted and fun. Lucasfilm confirmed it’s a film rather than a show on Twitter.
Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie
Having directed one of the best episodes of The Mandalorian (season 1’s finale, where Mando takes down Moff Gideon’s TIE Fighter), Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is also working on a Star Wars movie. This one was announced back on Star Wars Day, May 4, and surprisingly it’s coming after Rogue Squadron. It’s been described by Kennedy as “fresh, unexpected and unique”. Waititi is currently writing the film.