Star Wars Celebration 2022 has officially ended, but the event has left plenty for fans of the series to digest regarding the future of the franchise. With appearances from the main stewards of the Star Wars franchise, including Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Jon Favreau, among a host of other special guests, audiences were treated to interviews, new footage from series, and much more.
While the future of the Star Wars franchise looked unsure in the direct aftermath Obi-Wan Kenobi. There was a lot of news concerning all things Star Wars at this year's celebration, but here are the ten biggest reveals.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Is Coming In 2023
The series that truly began the Star Wars Renaissance under Disney's ownership of the franchise, The Mandalorian is the jewel is the Star Wars crown presently. Debuting in 2019 at the first live-action Star Wars series, the show has grown into a cultural phenomenon, at least partially due to the fan furore over Grogu (or Baby Yoda as he is more affectionately referred to). With two seasons currently airing on Disney+, fans have been waiting quite a while for the third season of The Mandalorian.
Season two of The Mandalorian aired in 2020, and while a third season was quickly announced, fans have been patiently waiting ever since. Din Djarin, the titular Mandalorian, did make an appearance in The Book of Boba Fett to tide fans over in the interim, but the return of his solo series was yet to be confirmed. During Star Wars Celebration 2022 it was officially announced that season three of The Mandalorian will begin streaming on Disney+ in February 2023, with confirmation coming from the show's official Twitter.
The Mandalorian Season 3 Is Going To Mandalore
One of the most iconic locations in the Star Wars mythos, and one not yet actualized in live-action, Mandalore is the ancestral home of the warrior race of Mandalorians. Fans of the Clone Wars series will be very familiar with the location and its importance to the Mandalorians. Fans unfamiliar with the animated series will only know the location through its mentions by Bo-Katan and others in The Mandalorian.
During a presentation during Star Wars Celebration 2022, series creator Jon Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni previewed the new season along with of the cast, including Pedro Pascal and Giancarlo Esposito. In footage shown to of the audience, Din Djarin was show slying towards the ruins of the Mandalorian homeworld. Din Djarin decision to return to the Mandalorian homeworld will presumably put him on a collision course with Bo-Katan over ownership of the Darksaber and the right to rule Mandalore. Fans will see whether this, or other predications for season three, will transpire when The Mandalorian returns in 2023.
Jon Favreau Knows How The Mandalorian Will End
One of the major criticisms levelled at the Star Wars sequel trilogy was that whole thing wasn't planned out from its inception. Major plot points and mysteries introduced in The Last Jedi. The culmination of this in The Rise of Skywalker satisfied no one and made for an extremely ill-conceived and executed trilogy of films. The creators of The Mandalorian clearly don't want the series going in that direction.
Speaking with Collider during Star Wars Celebration, Favreau noted "we all know where everything's going to end because of when the time period ends". Favreau's mention of the time period ending is a direct reference to the rise of the First Order and the canonical future of the franchise. Whether or not this quote means that the whole series is mapped out to its conclusion seems unlikely, but Favreau clearly has an idea about where the series is going and how it's going to end.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Disney+ Series Announced
One of the biggest surprises of the whole Star Wars Celebration event was the surprise announcement of a new Star Wars series titled Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Co-created by Return of the Jedi and the collapse of the Galactic Empire.
Reports of the series leaked before its official announcement, with insiders describing the series as Stand By Me in space. This makes perfect sense since Skeleton Crew is the name of a collection of short stories, published in 1985, by Stephen King, the author of the short story upon which Stand By Me was based.
Ahsoka Series Is Coming In 2023
Ahsoka was first announced in December 2020 as a spin-off of The Mandalorian, where Ahsoka Tano, played by Rosario Dawson, made her live-action debut. The character of Ahsoka Tano has been present in the Star Wars universe since the beginning of the animated Clone Wars series, but Ahsoka marks the character's first solo outting.
Ahsoka is set to debut in 2023, although an official confirmation date has not yet been revealed. With season three of The Mandalorian set to begin airing in February 2023, it can be assumed that Ahsoka probably won't launch until summer 2023, around the time of May 4th Star Wars celebrations.
Ahsoka Series Set To Feature Major Star Wars: Rebels Characters
Apart from confirmation that Ahsoka is set to debut in 2023, Star Wars fans in attendance glimpsed their first look at the series in a short teaser shown. One of the most exciting things revealed in the footage shown (as reported by Star Wars: Rebels characters Sabine Wren, confirmed to be played by Natasha Liu Bordizzo, and Hera Syndulla.
Another character hinted to feature in the series through a mural shown in the footage is Ezra Bridger, the Jedi whose disappearance at the end of Rebels is set to heavily influence the plot of Ahsoka.
Andor Coming August 2022
The next Star Wars to premiere on Disney+, after the widely successful Obi-Wan Kenobi, is Rogue One character Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna (who also serves as executive producer), Andor takes place five years before the events of Rogue One and sets the stage for the events of the film.
The series will contain twelve episodes, with the first two debuting on August 31st. Andor has been in the works for a long time at Lucasfilm, with the series first announced back in 2018 (as reported in Deadline). The series went through some delays, and was particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but is finally set to launch soon.
Andor Is Getting A Second, And Final, Season
Another announcement made during the Star Wars Celebration event was that Andor would get a second twelve-episode season, which is set to film soon. Series creator Tony Gilroy (in an interview with ComicBook) revealed that the series would get a second, and final, season of twelve episodes that bring the show directly to the events of Rogue One.
Describing the scale of Andor as "huge", Gilroy stated that the original five-season plan for the show didn't work with where the events led to and decided to cut back on the length for the purposes of the story. This decision to cut back on the length will definitely help to streamline A New Hope. No details were given about when fans can expect Andor season two, but with the first yet to air, it probably won't release until late 2023, or even 2024.
Liam Neeson Returning To Voice Qui-Gon Jinn In Star Wars: Tales Of The Jedi
One of the new animated series announced during the event was Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, an anthology series developed by Dave Filoni and Charles Murray. Set during the prequel era, the series will focus on two different Jedi characters from that period: Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku.
Not much else was revealed about the series other than the revelation that Liam Neeson will return to voice Qui-Gon Jinn, one of the most powerful Jedi in the Star Wars canon, for the first time since his appearance in the animated Clone Wars series. Whether or not Neeson's Qui-Gon will appear in live-action form is something that has been speculated in the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series, but is yet to be confirmed as of now.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Revealed
One of the major announcements outside the cinematic realm of Star Wars during the Star Wars Celebration was the official announcement of a sequel to the highly lauded Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor reunites fans with Cal Kestis and his trusty droid companion BD-1 as they escape the Empire and those seeking to destroy the last remaining Jedi.
Not much else has been revealed about the game or the gameplay, except that the story takes place five years after the events of the original game, and that the game is set to release sometime in 2023.
