New Star Wars Theatrical, Streaming Releases Revealed at ‘Celebration’ Event; How to Stream Franchise Now
It’s been an anxious time for Star Wars fans of late. There have been no movies from the franchise scheduled for theatrical release since “Rogue Squadron” was shelved in September. Much of the talk around Disney since then has been about cutting costs, and paring back streaming budgets.
Disney CEO Bob Iger did promise the company would be looking toward successful intellectual properties like the Marvel and Star Wars franchises as a way to stem losses and start increasing revenues. Iger insisted the company had a commitment to quality over quantity, but there was certainly no lack of new Star Wars content announced at the “Celebration” event held Friday, April 7 in London.
There will be several more Star Wars series coming to Disney+ in the next few years, as well as new movies destined for theaters. The headlining event was the release of a new trailer for the live-action series “Ahsoka,” which will feature many characters and storylines from the animated TV series “Rebels.” The character first appeared in live action during Season 2 of “The Mandalorian.”
Watch the New ‘Ahsoka’ Trailer
There were a few more clips of new Disney+ shows previewed at Star Wars Celebration this year, but none of them have been released to the public. Attendees were treated to footage from Season 2 of the tense action/thriller series “Andor,” which is due to be released in August 2024. The audience also got a first glimpse at “Skeleton Crew,” a new show which will feature Jude Law as an original Jedi character.
Another Disney+ Star Wars series “The Acolyte” got a tease at Celebration, as well. This series will be set further back in the Star Wars mythos than any live action series to date, a time before the prequel trilogy. It will star “The Hate U Give” actress Amandla Stenberg, as well as Lee Jung-jae, who won an Emmy Award for her performance in “Squid Game,” and Carrie-Anne Moss from “The Matrix” films. The show will draw inspiration from such seemingly disparate sources as “Kill Bill” and “Frozen,” as well as the films of Akira Kurosawa. (The original Star Wars film from 1977 was essentially a remake of Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress.”)
There will be new Star Wars movies on their way to cinemas in the near future, as well. A total of three films were announced, each set in a different era of the Star Wars universe. Even these will have a connection to the franchise’s streaming presence on Disney+, however; one of the films will be set in the New Republic era shared by TV series like “The Mandalorian” and “Ahsoka,” and will connect plotlines from all of them. Daisy Ridley will reprise her role as Rey in another of the films, which will explore the beginnings of a new Jedi order. The third film will be set during the dawn of the Jedi.
If all that news has whet your appetite to watch a thrilling space battle or lightsaber duel, you may want to know where to stream all the Star Wars movies and series that have been released since 1977. There’s only one place to see them currently: Disney+. A Disney+ subscription is available for as little as $7.99 per month if you don’t mind watching with ads. The Disney Bundle is your real bargain though; you can get ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu for just $9.99 per month.
Disney+
Disney+ is a video streaming service with over 13,000 series and films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic, The Muppets, and more. It is available in 61 countries and 21 languages. It is notable for its popular original series like “The Mandalorian,” “Ms. Marvel,” “Loki,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” and “Andor.”