Special Feature: May the Force (Fourth) Be with You, Always, on the TV

It’s May the 4th, so it’s a good time to post about Star Wars. It’s also a good day to acknowledge that the franchise isn’t in the greatest shape these days.

That’s not to say it’s in bad shape — not even close, actually. There’s plenty of Star Wars entertainment coming in the future, and the franchise still has millions upon millions of fans. But the combination of divisiveness towards The Last Jedi (some justified, some overblown) and especially the financial failure of Solo: A Star Wars Story caused Disney to readjust their movie schedule. Movies that spotlighted characters like Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi were reportedly cancelled, though films from TLJ’s Rian Johnson and Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are still coming.

It doesn’t appear they’ll be coming anytime soon, which is why Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger explained that the movies will be taking a break after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker releases in theaters this fall. The plan to make annual Star Wars movies was excessive to begin with, but it’s not like the franchise as a whole will go on hiatus. We’re getting not one, but two live-action TV shows on the Disney+ streaming service soon.

The most well-known upcoming show is The Mandalorian. This series will join stories like the campaign for Star Wars Battlefront II and animated show Star Wars: Resistance in being set after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi but before The Force Awakens. It will star a warrior whose outfit is similar to Boba and Jango Fett’s, a lone gunfighter in a tale set far from The New Empire.

The series will begin in Mos Eisley Cantina, the same bar-like location seen in A New Hope were Han Solo shot first, but will cover several more locations from there. A small preview was shown at the Star Wars Celebration in April, subsequently leaked through camera footage; but Disney still has yet to release it officially. Who knows what they’re waiting for, but they clearly want to keep everyone in suspense.

It’s a Star Wars show, so Disney has assembled a worthwhile cast. The Mandalorian himself will be played by Pedro Pascal, known for his parts in the aforementioned Game of Thrones and Nexflix series Narcos. He’ll be joined by well-known actors like Carl Weathers and Gina Carano, who will play Greef Carga and Cara Dune, respectively. Werner Herzog, Nick Nolte, and Bill Burr will also star in the series, though their parts haven’t been clarified yet. Jon Favreau will serve as lead writer and an executive producer, while Dave Filoni (of the animated shows before Resistance) will serve as one of the episode directors. Bryce Dallas Howard is also on board as an episode director, whose work should be interesting to watch.

The Mandalorian will debut with the launch of Disney+ this fall. Disney should provide the preview shown at the Star Wars Celebration for everyone else soon, along with longer previews before its debut.

The second live-action TV show coming to Disney+ is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story centered around Cassian Andor, with Diego Luna reprising the role. It will document Andor’s time in his earliest years during the Rebellion, and will be a spy thriller with missions to restore hope to a galaxy ripped apart by the tyrannical rule of the Empire. Alan Tudyk will also reprise his role as droid K-2SO from the film. Details are currently scant since the series isn’t due until sometime in 2021, meaning this was an early-bird announcement. Perhaps they plan to air it when new seasons of The Mandalorian are in production, to have a constant amount of new Star Wars TV episodes.

In animated news: The new season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars is still coming. This was initially confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con last year, with new episodes that should clear up plot threads left open when the series abruptly ended with the sixth season. A trailer for the new season was shown at the Star Wars Celebration, which previewed events like the Siege of Mandalore, a story thread that will heavily involve fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano. Story concepts previously shown through unfinished artworks and animatronics will be animated for this season.

The new season will run for 12 episodes and will air exclusively on Disney+, and is planned to arrive within the service’s first year — between November 12, 2019 and November 2020. That’s a heck of a timespan, which should give everyone time to finish the previous seasons. Well, assuming they’ll be available on the service, since the series was removed from Netflix last month. It would be silly if they weren’t available.

There’s no telling precisely how long a break Star Wars will take from theaters, but the Star Wars franchise as a whole clearly isn’t going anywhere. Disney can’t help but keep it around at all times, whether on the big screen or the small one. Let’s just hope they can maintain the quality.

P.S. Speaking of Star Wars: We sadly lost Peter Mayhew this week, who played Chewbacca from 1977 (A New Hope’s release) to 2015 in The Force Awakens. Rest in peace.