Star Wars Weekly: Yub Nub! (14/04/25 to 27/04/25)
Star Wars News worthy of a celebration...
Like many other Star Wars fans this weekend, I saw Revenge of the Sith in theatres for the first time since 2005.
Unsurprisingly, it was tremendous fun to see the final instalment of the prequel trilogy back up on the big screen. The story is still epic but tragic, the score remains amazing, the action is enduringly exciting, and the VFX are a lasting testament to the artists at ILM who developed so many new techniques for the prequels.
In other words, the movie holds up.
George Lucas designed his movies to be seen on the big screen in the best possible format. He changed the industry twice in his career, first with the pioneering effects work on the Original Trilogy, and then again with the digital revolution he pushed with the Prequels. The movies have a sense of scope and scale that draws in the audience, always with a fresh vision for what audiences hadn’t seen before.
And audiences responded. The reviews weren’t always kind to Episodes I-III, but audiences continued to show up in 1999, 2002, and 2005. And they’re still showing up twenty years later. The re-release of Revenge of the Sith brought in a whopping $42.2 million at the global box office this weekend, the second highest gross of the weekend. Pretty good for a twenty-year-old movie that can be easily streamed at home.
Part of this is nostalgia, sure. Despite the lukewarm response to the prequels from critics and audiences alike, the films have undergone a re-evaluation in the cultural zeitgeist in the last decade. As the kids who were fans of the films when they came out grow up and find their voices, suddenly being a fan of the prequels is cool. A re-release like this one, and The Phantom Menace’s 25th anniversary re-release last year, is now something to be celebrated. It’s a chance to relive the glory days of two decades ago, or, for those who found Star Wars after the prequels, to see it the way it was meant to be seen for the first time.
It also speaks, I think, to a growing desire for more Star Wars movies. It’s been almost six years since the last Star Wars movie was released. That may not seem like that much time in the grand scheme of things (there were 19 years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace after all), but given that we were treated to a Star Wars movie a year from 2015 to 2019, it feels a lot longer. And as lucky as we’ve been to have so much Star Wars storytelling on television in the intervening years, the success of the re-releases speaks to a desire for Star Wars to go back to its roots. Back to cinemas.
Thankfully, that seems to be the plan. A new Star Wars movie is in post-production right now, with another in pre-production and scheduled to begin shooting this fall.
So when we go back to cinemas in 2026 and 2027 to see a Star Wars movie, it won’t be for a familiar favourite. Instead, it will be for a new adventure, the kind that first made us fall in love with the galaxy far, far away to begin with. And, hopefully, it will inspire the same love and dedication that made Revenge of the Sith one of the biggest movies in the world again, twenty years after its release.
Star Wars Celebration News Round Up
The last Star Wars Weekly was just a few days before Star Wars Celebration kicked off in Japan, which means we have a lot to catch up on! I was on the ground at Celebration and flew home a day after it wrapped up, which is partly why we haven’t done this sooner. Since it’s been a week since the event wrapped, I suspect you’ve already heard most of the announcements, so we’ll focus on the analysis of the news this week. If you’re interested in reading more about my experience at Celebration, you can do so here.
Star Wars Starfighter Coming May 28th, 2027
One of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood for the past few months is that Shawn Levy is directing a Star Wars movie starring Ryan Gosling. Kathleen Kennedy even openly acknowledged the film’s existence in an interview a month before Celebration, even though Lucasfilm had never officially confirmed the project.
They finally did just that, with Kennedy and Dave Filoni co-opting the opening of the Mandalorian & Grogu panel to make the reveal. Both Levy and Gosling were on hand to reveal the title, Star Wars Starfighter, and release date (May 28th, 2027). They also confirmed that the film is set around five years after The Rise of Skywalker. Aside from the title announcement teaser, they didn’t have much else to say about the project and quickly ceded the stage back to Din Djarin and his Force-sensitive ward.
Levy did his best to quell any fan grumbling about this being another project announced with great fanfare but never actualized by announcing that filming was to begin this fall. Kennedy also confirmed that movies from Filoni, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinnoy, James Mangold, and Taika Waititi, as well as a trilogy from Simon Kinberg, are still in active development.
Interestingly, Starfighter bears some similarity, at least in concept, to the Rogue Squadron movie that Patty Jenkins was developing. Announced back in 2020, Rogue Squadron was meant to be Star Wars’ grand return to theatres in 2023 with the Wonder Woman director at the helm. Like so many other projects, it hit some serious snags during development and ended up being “shelved” (a nice way of saying cancelled for now, but leaving the door open for the project to come back—which Jenkins said it had last year, when she confirmed she was still working a script for the film for Lucasfilm).
Regardless, Lucasfilm is presenting this as a new project, but clearly, a movie about fighter pilots is something the company has wanted to do for a while now. I can’t help but wonder if some of the groundwork laid for Rogue Squadron factored into the plan to move forward with Starfighter as the next Star Wars movie. I don’t even mean story or characters, necessarily, but rather the technology for filming space battles.
We’ve seen how other Star Wars projects have make use of the Volume for space sequences. Maybe they’ve been working on ways of using it to ratchet up the intensity of the dogfights for this new movie.
Another interesting wrinkle in the Starfighter news was who wasn’t there for the announcement. The day before Celebration began, Variety reported that Mikey Madison, fresh off her Oscar win for Anora, had turned down an offer to star in the movie alongside Gosling.
We usually don’t hear about actors turning down roles, but because this is Star Wars, everything is a big story. Madison’s reasons for rejecting the part are unknown, but I can’t help but wonder if Star Wars is viewed as “risky” for young actors now. The fanbase is so wonderful in so many ways, but certain corners of it have a track record for treating cast and crew terribly. Maybe actors are deciding that the potential for backlash from the monetized outrage machine that has targeted the likes of Moses Ingram, Kelly Marie Tran, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, and Rian Johnson isn’t worth the risk.
Or maybe they just didn’t offer to pay her enough for her first big role after an Oscar win. Or there was another part she wanted to do more of that would have conflicted with the schedule for Starfighter. We may never know. But this is a high-profile rejection for a franchise that, at one point, could have nabbed any actor it wanted for as big or small a role as was available.
In any case, I was thrilled by the official announcement of the project and Gosling’s involvement. I had given up on expecting any big news about non-The Mandalorian & Grogu movies dropping during Celebration when there was no Lucasfilm Showcase panel on the schedule, so this was a very welcome surprise. And the prospect of a new Star Wars movie that isn’t a prequel, sequel, or spin-off, something we haven’t really seen since Rogue One, is thrilling. Bring on May 2027!
The Mandalorian & Grogu Teaser Shown Exclusively At Celebration
The movie that the opening panel was supposed to be all about finally got its moment in the sun after Gosling and Levy left the stage. Jon Favreau joined Filoni and Kennedy on stage to tease the movie, and the trio quickly brought out stars Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver to talk more about the film. Shortly after that, they were joined by the “real” Grogu.
Weaver’s involvement in the film, like Levy and Gosling’s movie, has been something of an open secret for months now. It was never officially confirmed before Celebration, but everyone knew it was happening. Weaver even spoke about the film in interviews despite the lack of official acknowledgement from Lucasfilm that she was in the movie.
Along with the confirmation, audiences at Celebration got their first look at Weaver in the film. First in a behind-the-scenes image and then again during the brief teaser that was shown exclusively to audiences at the convention.
The bulk of the teaser was a sequence where Din Djarin and Grogu infiltrate an Imperial Walker. The whole sequence is one extended shot, with our Mandalorian hero taking out the snowtroopers manning the walker. We then see a shot of the walker exploding, and then cut to Mando, Grogu, and Weaver’s character in the cantina at the New Republic base seen in season three of The Mandalorian. Weaver’s character chides the duo for being “meesy.” She also stops Grogu from using the Force to steal her snacks.
There is then a series of quick cuts showing brief looks at scenes like: Din and Zeb walking together (with the BDX droids from the Disney Parks in the background), Grogu swimming, Din riding a “chicken walker” on a snowy planet, and Grogu using the Force on a mouse droid. The only dialogue of this section is a voice-over from Pedro Pascal of Din introducing himself and Grogu. The trailer then ends with what appears to be a Hutt hyping up the crowd in a gladiator ring, while Grogu watches from the stands, eating popcorn.
Who that Hutt could be, we have absolutely no idea…okay, we actually have a pretty good idea of who it is, chef!
The main action sequence in the trailer felt reminiscent of season one of The Mandalorian—in a good way. This movie feels like it’s going back to The Mandalorian’s roots in the sense that it’s a thrilling, gritty romp through the galaxy. This was where Favreau always thrived, and with him at the helm (and the restoration of Mandalore plot seemingly complete), it feels like we’re getting back to that sort of storytelling.
I enjoyed season three well enough, and the story it told was the one I had hoped the series would tackle, but it didn’t resonate as well as I hoped, or as well as the first two seasons did. As the story of Din Djarin and Grogu shifts to the big screen, it makes sense to go back to what worked best on TV and then crank it up to eleven. That was the vibe I got from the teaser, and it’s left me feeling very optimistic about the film.
Maul: Shadow Lord Animated Series Announced
The hotly anticipated next full-length animated series turned out to be a much-hoped-for concept finally come to life. Darth Maul is getting his own series.
The 20th Anniversary of Lucasfilm Animation panel ended with the reveal of the new series, Maul: Shadow Lord. Matt Michnovetz will serve as Head Writer for the series, with Athena Portillo as producer. Both are longtime Lucasfilm animation veterans, having worked on The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch. Sam Witwer reprises his role as Maul from The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Solo: A Star Wars Story.
A teaser trailer debuted at the end of the panel, exclusively for the audience in attendance (though one shot was included in an online video celebrating the 20th anniversary of Lucasfilm Animation, which you can see below). Witwer revealed in a follow-up interview on the official Celebration livestream that Maul: Shadow Lord is set about one-year after The Siege of Mandalore (and Revenge of the Sith), with Maul working to regain his foothold in the Underworld now that the Empire has risen.
The trailer is action-heavy. It reveals that Maul still has some Mandalorians who remain loyal to him even after their defeat at the hands of Bo-Katan and the Republic in the final episodes of The Clone Wars. We also see Maul facing off with what appears to be Marrok, the Inquisitor from Ahsoka. And there is a red-skinned Twi’lek that Maul appears to be training, evoking memories of the cancelled Darth Maul video game that would have seen him training Darth Talon from the Legacy comics (a concept Lucas also considered for his version of the sequel trilogy).
The animation style is very similar to that of The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch, though it looks to have been made grittier. This fits tonally with Maul as a character, and the setting of the Underworld, as well as the general state of affairs of the galaxy.
One thing I’m curious about is if any of George Lucas’ unused concepts make it into the show. Lucas was developing a live-action series with the same setting and similar place in the timeline before selling Lucasfilm to Disney. We know some elements from that series, like Saw Gererra, have made their way into other stories. Combine that with Lucas’ interest in involving Maul in his sequel trilogy plans, and you have plenty of material to mine. Plus, with Dave Filoni overseeing the project, having learned from Lucas on The Clone Wars, he could help convert some of those ideas in ways that are true to what Lucas intended and fit within the world of the new series. This, of course, is just speculation at this point.
Maul remains a fascinating character, espescially since his resurection in The Clone Wars. We may know how Maul’s story ends, thanks to Rebels, but there is a lot of time in between the end of The Clone Wars and that point. Factor in what we know of Crimson Dawn from Solo and there’s lots of fertile ground for this series to exist in.
Maul: Shadow Lord is set to premiere in 2026.
Andor Season Two Preview
There was a big focus on Andor during Celebration, with its second season’s premiere taking place just days later. Most of the cast was on hand for the event, as was showrunner Tony Gilroy, and they all took part in a panel on Saturday morning.
The cast teased the upcoming season, but the panel was light on reveals until Diego Luna told the crowd that they would be screening the season two premiere right then and there. After the episode’s premiere there was a short teaser for the rest of the season. There weren’t a tonne of new reveals in that sizzle. One thing that stood out to me, however, was the return of Lonni, the rebel agent deep undercover as an ISB agent who spurred Luthen’s great speech about sacrifice in season one.
As for the episode itself, the world has seen it now so we won’t spend any more time on it here. If you want more Andor talk, you can read my review of the three episode premiere here.
Ahsoka Season Two Teases
After the Andor panel on Saturday, it was Ahsoka’s time in the spotlight. Filoni and Favreau were joined Ahsoka and Anakin themselves, Rosario Dawson and Hayden Christensen, to look back at the first season and offer some teases for season two.
The biggest reveal out of the panel was that Rory McCann would be taking over the role Baylan Skoll from the late Ray Stevenson. Filoni made the reveal as he spoke about how much the loss of Stevenson had affected him personally and how difficult it had been to imagine carrying on the story without him. An image of McCann in costume as Baylan was shown to audiences.
Additionally, Christensen confirmed that Anakin would return in season two. Filoni teased that the Mortis Gods, statues of which appeared in the seasone one finale, would factor into the next season. And, Filoni revealed that Admiral Ackbar would appear in season two and that he would be facing off against Thrawn in a battle of the commanders. Given that Ackbar and Thrawn never faced off in the original Thrawn Trilogy novels, this is a fun development for those who always wondered what would happen if the New Republic’s best tactitian went up against the Empire’s most notorious Grand Admiral. It should be pretty exciting.
What I’m not looking forward to, however, is the return of the “Ackbar should have done the Holdo maneuver” argument about The Last Jedi. This fan rewrite, in my mind, misses the whole point of Holdo’s character (and maneuver), and would have actively made The Last Jedi (a bold but imperfect film) worse. But I can’t control anyone else, so I’ll just be enjoying both Ackbar battling Thrawn AND Holdo smashing a hole in Snoke’s Star Destroyer and doing my best to ignore the noise.
The panel concluded with a 80s-style concept art teaser trailer that Filoni had commissioned since filming had not yet begun on the new season. Among the reveals in the trailer are that Zeb will appear in the new season. Seeing as Zeb already appeared in The Mandalorian season three (and will appear in The Mandalorian & Grogu) this was not a big surprise, but it was still a welcome one.
New Video Game, Star Wars: Zero Company Announced
In the hours leading up to Celebration, Lucasfilm got a head start on the announcements, revealing the title for the upcoming video game Star Wars: Zero Company. The game is a “single-player turn-based tactics game” from developper Bit Reactor in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games. The game is set during the Clone Wars and follows an “unconventional outfit of professionals for hire hailing from across the galaxy.”
A trailer for the game was revealed during a panel at Celebration. It gives players a sense of the tone and story of the game, as well as an early look at what the gameplay will eventually look like. Check it out above.
When discussing games, I always feel the need to state the following disclaimer: I am not a gamer. I don’t know anything about modern video games. The last game I played for any significant amount of time was The Force Unleashed II. I like the concept of the story, but I can’t really comment on the gameplay or genre. Thankfully, my friend Chris Abbott (aka Starrapter) is a gamer and he went to the reveal panel. He told me afterwards that this looked like a Star Wars game for gamers, and that it looked like the gameplay would present a fun challenge for players.
Zero Company will be released in 2026.
Star Wars Visions Presents: The Ninth Jedi Series Announced
The Sunday of Celebration began with a big preview for Star Wars: Visions Volume III. The panel gave attendees a look at each of the nine stories and revealed that the new season would drop on October 29th, 2025. A special trailer for the new season was also screened exclusively for fans at the panel.
Among the reveals for Volume III was that three stories from Volume I, “The Duel,” “The Village Bride,” and “The Ninth Jedi,” would be getting sequels. The titles of these sequels are “The Duel: Payback,” “The Lost Ones,” and “The Ninth Jedi: Child Of Hope.” The other six stories in Volume III are originals.
Additionally, on top of getting a sequel in Volume III, it was announced that “The Ninth Jedi” would be getting an entire spin-off series titled Star Wars Visions Presents: The Ninth Jedi in 2026. The announcement was made by Lucasfilm Senior Vice President James Waugh, who confirmed that writer and director Kenji Kamiyama would be returning to make the series.
“The Ninth Jedi” was my favourite of the Visions shorts from Volume I, so just getting a sequel was exciting enough. But getting a whole series was so beyond what I was expecting that I was excstatic. The Volume I story teased such a rich and fascinating take on the Star Wars galaxy and I’m very glad that Lucasfilm chose to continue the story in an ongoing way.
The Ninth Jedi series won’t be “canon” in the way that Andor or The Mandalorian & Grogu are, but that shouldn’t matter. Great stories are great stories, regardless of whether they “count” or not.
Star Wars Celebration Returns In 2027
The final announcement of Celebration was about Celebration.
Lucasfilm announced that the ultimate Star Wars party will return in April 2027 in Los Angeles. The event will be four days, running from April 1st to 4th at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It’s Celebration’s first American event since 2022 when Celebration was held in Anaheim. This the second time Celebration will be held in LA, having previously visited the city of angels in 2007.
Celebration 2027 will mark the 50th anniversary of Star Wars. The location also puts fans nearby to the Lucas Museum of Narative Art, which will open next year. Given the proximity the museum and the significance of the anniversary, I find myself hoping that George Lucas will make his return to Celebration. He last appeared at Celebration 2017 to celebrate Star Wars’ 40th anniversary. He also previously appeared at Celebration in 2005, 2010, and 2012.
More To Say, Have You?
We’ve covered the major announcements from Celebration, but that wasn’t everything announced over the three day event. Here are some of the other reveals from Celebration Japan:
A new trailer for A Pirate’s Fortune, the new story pack for Star Wars Outlaws was revealed. The new story pack sees Kay Vess team up with the legendary pirate Hondo Ohnaka, voiced once again by Jim Cummings. The new pack drops on May the 4th, 2025. You can see the trailer above.
LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past was announced. The four-part series, which premiere on September 19th, 2025, is a sequel to last year’s Rebuild the Galaxy series. The new season will see the return of Darth Jar Jar, voiced by Ahmed Best, and the debut of BrickHeadz Ahsoka, voiced by Ashley Eckstein.
New details about the Smuggler’s Run update were revealed at the Disney Parks panel. The updated version of the ride will tie-in with The Mandalorian & Grogu, and will have Hondo hire Din and Grogu to track down ex-Imperials for bounties from the New Republic. Riders will join the iconic duo for the mission in the Millennium Falcon. Updates the ride experience include the engineer being able to pick the planets you visit, which includes Bespin, Endor, Coruscant, the wreckage of Death Star II, and Tatooine.
It was announced that Cavan Scott’s mini-series The High Republic: Fear of the Jedi will end with a one-shot issue titled “The Beacon.”
And, Young Jedi Adventures, the animated series for kids, will be returning for a third season. The new season will premiere this Fall on Disney+ and Disney Junior.
Coming Soon
Always in motion is the future, but here’s a look ahead at what we can expect in Star Wars over the next seven days:
Episodes 4-6 of Andor season two will premiere on Disney+ on Tuesday April 29th, bringing us to the halfway point in the final season.
The High Repblic Adventures: Crash Zone trade paperback will be released on April 28th. The book will collect several one-shots by Daniel Jose Older from Phase III of the The High Republic.
Also releasing on April 28th is Crimson Reign (Omnibus), which collects all the issues from the Crimson Reigh crossover event from 2021-2022. This includes issues from the main Crimson Reign mini-series, as well as issues of Star Wars (2020), Bounty Hunters, Doctor Aphra (2020), and Darth Vader (2020).
A new kids book, This Is Rey, comes out April 28th. The book was originally meant to come out 2021, but was delayed several times.
The updated edition of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy will also hit shelves on April 28th. The new edition will include characters from Andor, Ahsoka, and beyond.
And on April 30th, four comic book issues will be released. They are: The High Republic Adventures: The Battle of Eriadu by Alyssa Wong, The High Republic: Fear of the Jedi #3 by Cavan Scott, Hyperspace Stories: Codebreaker #1 (starring Poe Dameron) by Ethan Sacks, and The Rise of Skywalker #3 by Jody Houser.
To the Japanese fans, organizers, and staff who helped make Celebration such a wonderful exeperience, thank you for welcoming us and for an amazing weekend! Arigatō!