The first thing you’re probably thinking is “this is a money grab, plain and simple,” and you’re not wrong. Businesses aim to make money. Disney is doing that, and I love it.
A little over two weeks before Christmas, a surprise announcement chock full of new Star Wars offerings was released by Disney and Lucasfilm. Plans for shows and movies made their way to the public and absolutely excited me. Let’s take a look at those (in order of my excitement).
Rogue Squadron
My favorite story, outside of the main Star Wars movies, will finally get some love. Now, early rumors say “new characters” so I’m not fully expecting them to crack open the Rogue Squadron novels and copy-paste that roster of characters for the movie, but I hope some of them make the big screen.
The story of a group of rebel fighter pilots who follow up the destruction of the second Death Star by hunting down the remains of the Empire produced a good number of novels that I actually read, growing up (not a big book worm). The fact that Patty Jenkins, the mastermind behind the recent Wonder Woman movies, is at the helm is just awesome. She grew up around fighter pilots, so she gets the feel of it all, which will (hopefully) make for an epic Star Wars movie.
Due in theaters Christmastime 2023 (yeah, I know, that’s far away).
A Taika Waititi Star Wars Movie
Yeah, that’s not the title, but the dude who created the masterpiece of Thor Ragnarok, and also had a hand in The Mandalorian, has been handed the reigns of an untitled Star Wars movie. Whatever it is, I cannot wait. Ragnarok might be the best Marvel movie. It had a terrific balance of story, drama, and humor and I would expect more of the same with whatever Waititi creates. To tell you of his personality, Taika responded to the official announcement by screenshooting it and sharing it on his Instagram page with the caption “Ugh, as a fan of Star Wars I’m so angry about what I am about to do to ruin it.” I have zero worries about him ruining anything as I’m sure he’s going to add quite a bit of value to the Star Wars franchise.
As for what I hope he focuses on in the Star Wars universe, as far as a story, I am keeping my mind open and looking forward to whatever he comes up with.
Due out TBA.
Ahsoka
I always enjoyed her character in Clone Wars and Rebels and now, with Rosario Dawson doing an awesome job in a Mandalorian cameo, I am very much looking forward to a live-action series about her. Some people have problems watching cartoons, so they didn’t know too much about the Togruta when she appeared on Corvus in season two of The Mandalorian and now they will learn much more about her.
I’m also very much excited about the rumored villain of the show who is one of my favorite Imperial characters who hasn’t been in a movie, yet. I really hope the people who make Ahsoka spend a decent amount of time on Thrawn, as well. He is a brilliant character as most of the Imperial officers have been know-nothing duds that consistently fail to stop the Rebel Alliance. Thrawn is not like that and I’m hoping the rumors are true.
The release date for Ahsoka is TBA
Obi-Wan
Ewan McGregor is back. Hayden Christensen is back. Obi-Wan Kenobi has always been a favorite character of mine so a series focused on him and his life on Tatooine excites me. The return of Hayden Christensen kind of confuses me as Darth Vader is all costume and mask and his voice is James Earl Jones…so why would it matter who’s under the suit? Unless there will be copious amounts of flashbacks and ventures into the missions that Anakin and Obi-Wan always talked in the movies about…and that really excites me.
I am a little leery as the book about Obi-Wan on Tatooine was really slow to get going and focused on lots of characters that I didn’t really care about, so I kind of hope it doesn’t go crazy with that in the series. My hopes remain high, though, because of how much Disney crushed The Mandalorian.
Obi-Wan is rumored to be released on Disney Plus later 2021 or early 2022.
The Bad Batch
Not for the cartoon-averse, but looking very interesting for those who loved The Clone Wars, this show will pick up where Clone Wars left off with a group of eccentric clone troopers who just knew how to win battles. It looks like the story will take place beginning with Order 66 and go from there, which I find very intriguing. Little is told of the clones who executed Order 66 other than passing mentions of them being phased out of the Imperial military, so thee stories and episodes should be pretty awesome. With Dave Filoni, the dude who made the Clone Wars and Rebels so amazing, at the helm, this show has some high expectations and I have no doubt Filoni will deliver.
This show actually has a time to look forward to as it is due out at some point in 2021.
Andor
The story of a dude who was a main character in Rogue One should be very different from a lot of Star Wars stuff already out. We met Cassian Andor on the mission to capture the Death Star plans with Jyn Erso. In his first scene he was meeting with a reluctant undercover informant on Jedha. The overarching tone of the scene was one of the Star Wars underworld. That’s definitely something that will be cool to see more of as, outside of The Hutts and the goings on in Solo, there’s not too much on screen about it. A series about Cassian may prove to be one about a dude who has to piece together bits and pieces of information from less than reputable sources in order to advance the rebellion inch-by-inch.
Diego Luna will reprise his character from the movie for the show and Alan Tudyk, the voice of K-2S0, will also be a big character. In case you need a reminder, K-2 was the re-programmed Imperial tactical droid that was bluntly honest in all situations, no matter how awkward. He should provide plenty of breaks from what may be a little bit heavier feeling Star Wars story.
Release of Andor is rumored to be early 2022.
So, yeah, all of these are a ways away. Of the ones I mentioned, and there are some more that I look forward to watching that I didn’t talk about here, the closest to being released is The Bad Batch. That does nothing to dampen my excitement, though, and I look forward to analyzing each show when we finally get to see them.
Sportsinnati 