The lore from the galaxy far, far away that we all love is about to expand even further. As per Lucasfilm and Disney, around 11 new shows and six new movies will be released over the next few years. The Clone Wars: The Bad Batch is the closest from the bunch to being released as it is set to premiere on May 4th (ironic), with The Book of Boba Fett likely coming out this December.
The new wave of Star Wars content is a stark contrast to what their fans are used to. There was 16 years between the release of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Episode I: The Phantom Menace and ten between the release of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Now, within the span of probably five years, we’ll get a handful of movies and an abundance of new shows. I refrain from guaranteeing that timeline of five years because only a Sith deals in absolutes.
The most notable of the shows set to release (aside from The Bad Batch) is Star Wars: Ahsoka and Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. The first will follow Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan, Ahsoka Tano on her adventure through the galaxy at around the same time as Din Djarin’s feature in The Mandalorian. The latter will take place 10 years after the events of Revenge of the Sith and will feature both Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor returning to their former characters.
While television shows are fantastic, it was on the big screen that Star Wars truly shined in the beginning. The most notable new addition to the line of Star Wars movies is Rian Johnson’s untitled trilogy that will, “introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored” as Lucasfilm announced back in 2017. Johnson was the writer-director for Episode VIII: The Last Jedi; the worst-rated Star Wars movie with an audience approval rating of 42 percent. The next closest movie was Episode II: Attack of the Clones with a 56 percent approval rating.
Many Star Wars fans are upset that Johnson will be at the reins for the franchise’s next trilogy instead of, who many claim to be, better choices such as Dave Filoni, Jon Favreu, and J.J. Abrams. While that is up to debate, one thing that is not is the significance of Kevin Feige directing a new movie alongside Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Feige is the uber-producer and head of Marvel Studios, the largest grossing movie franchise of all-time, valued at around $22.5 billion dollars. Star Wars is second at $10.3 billion. It’s over Star Wars, Marvel has the high ground!
If you’re like me, just watching Star Wars isn’t enough. I want to be a part of the galaxy. That’s why Lucasfilm Games purchasing exclusive rights to producing Star Wars video games is such a big deal. No company outside of Electronic Arts (EA) has produced a Star Wars video game since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, and during those eight years, the results have been… questionable. The most notable blemish on EA’s track record in that span of time is their treatment of Star Wars Battlefront II. In what seemed like a promising sequel to Star Wars Battlefront (2015 release), fans were instead greeted with paywalls and a “pay-to-win” system.
Even though EA rebounded by tearing down those walls and adding long-awaited content from the Clone Wars era, the ball was eventually dropped as they decided to cut off support abruptly late 2020 even though the game was flourishing.
Lucasfilm Games hopes to do its longtime franchise justice by creating video games fans around the world can enjoy for years to come. The most notable announcement they’ve made thus far is something fans have been practically begging for: an open-world game. What’s even better? This project will be in collaboration with Ubisoft; one of the best in the business at creating open-world games. The most notable titles to come from Ubisoft are Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six Siege.
In short: Star Wars’ future has never been brighter. To quote the beloved Anakin Skywalker… “This is where the fun begins.”
