May the 4th Be with Disney+

Following Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s December 2019 release in theaters, it felt like Disney might — might — start relaxing their overall Star Wars schedule. Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared to realize that adhering to a schedule that nearly mimicked their Marvel releases did not benefit this franchise, as shown through Solo: A Star Wars Story’s disappointing box office gross. (Though it being tough to imagine anyone but Harrison Ford playing Han Solo didn’t help.)

Yet, it’s not too surprising that instead of relaxing on Star Wars media releases and spacing them out, they’re only applying that logic to movies. They’re now providing a slew of TV shows instead, all of which are either airing on or coming to Disney+. The Fourth is truly with us, always, on the television more than previously suspected.

The Mandalorian, that “Baby Yoda” show, is the biggest one thus far, which proved just how much demand there was for a live-action Star Wars show. It’s edgier than the average mainstream Star Wars work, with a bounty hunter as its main character in a tale that takes place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, exactly what a certain subset of fans wanted. That it’s a well-written and entertaining show didn’t hurt, even though some episode times were peculiarly shorter than the average live-action TV episode despite the season itself being only eight chapters.

The first season ended with a proper resolution, but also on an intriguing enough note to build anticipation for the next season. There are still far more stories to tell within this period, after all, though this Star Wars story is hardly the only one that occurs between the sixth and seventh movie episodes. The second season fortunately finished filming just before the Coronavirus pandemic gripped the world, so it should start airing in the fall if there are no delays in the post-production process. Probably-legitimate rumors say Ahsoka Tano will be featured in this season, making her first live-action appearance, with Rosario Dawson playing the role. Expect the marketing campaign to kick off soon.

Meanwhile, a documentary series on how the first season was made was released on Disney+ today to commemorate the May the 4th occasion. It won’t hold anyone off for the second season, but it’s something, right? Right.

The second live-action Star Wars series coming is one previously profiled: A prequel to Rogue One, with Diego Luna reprising the role of Cassian Andor alongside Alan Tudyk again voicing droid K-2S0. Details about this are still shrouded in mystery thanks to how early its production remains, but Stellan Skarsgård and Kyle Soller are in final negotiations to join the cast. The show is due to start in 2021, barring any very possible delays.

The third show featuring Ewan MacGregor reprising the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi is still happening, despite constant rumors about its cancellation popping up. The series was, in fact, put on hold, but was subsequently put back on track after finding a new writer. Still, it seems like this series is still in the planning stages, and isn’t scheduled to begin full development until early 2021. It will be even longer before this one surfaces, let alone airs.

Further showing how it’s no joke that the TV shows have replaced movies in Star Wars’ busy schedule: There’s now a fourth show in development. This will be a female-led series with Russian Doll’s Leslye Headland serving as showrunner and head writer. No details are known outside how it will take place in a different timeline compared to other Star Wars works, which alone is intriguing enough.

There’s less news on the animated front. The seventh season of Clone Wars wrapped up today, as did Star Wars Resistance with its second season in January. If any news about future animated works is coming, it might have to wait until after the worst days of the pandemic (the first wave, anyway) have subsided.

That, or they’re waiting until the full launch the upcoming High Republic era, revealed earlier this year. This will be Disney and Lucasfilm’s first significant effort to break away from the Skywalker Saga era, with stories that will occur 200 years before The Phantom Menace. This is what they should have done after acquiring the series from George Lucas, instead of making successors to films with well-contained stories; but the marketing power behind familiarity proved too hard to ignore. It’s still not being spaced far enough from the Skywalker era, but this was done so the new era won’t be totally unfamiliar to the larger audience. Characters like Yoda can still appear, though probably not as a baby.

Phase One of this era will involve a series of novels coming this summer, but it will eventually expand to other media. The question is how long that will take. The female-led series from Headland could be one of these, along with the just-announced film from Taika Waititi.

Anyway, enjoy Star Wars stuff on Disney+ today, especially if you’re a fan. Just make sure you also do your part by not by not making “Revenge of the Fifth” an actual thing. If you don’t heed my very wise advice and try it anyway, don’t get sued.