Few franchises in history have as rich a connection to their toys as Star Wars. It’s why, whenever a new Star Wars project is announced, the reveal of its toys can be such a big deal.
In recent days, fans not only got a new trailer for the latest Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu, but also a reveal of its first wave of toys. The disconnect, however, was that the toys were largely based on things we saw in the first trailer, and now we’re wondering which characters, if at all, we’ll get toys of from the second trailer. Especially since Star Wars toys do not come out as frequently or as rapidly as they have in the past.
Below, we’re going to break it down. We’ve got The Mandalorian and Grogu toys we’re definitely getting, and then 11 that we either probably will or probably won’t, for various reasons.
The Mandalorian and Grogu – Of course. They’re the main characters in the film. Obviously, their toys would be the first onto shelves. Also, there have been several toys of each character over the past few years, so making them is not a difficult task.
Colonel Ward, played by Sigourney Weaver – Weaver’s character was in the first trailer, so it’s no surprise that she’s in the first wave. Plus, was Lucasfilm really going to deny fans the Alien/Star Wars crossover possibilities?
Rotta the Hutt – This one is a little shocking. Everyone’s favorite “Swole Hutt,” voiced by Jeremy Allen White, is a character we’ve never seen as a toy. Hutts are usually big and gross, but Rotta is jacked. It requires the toy manufacturers to do a whole new sculpt, which is not always something that happens. Case in point, there are often more Stormtrooper figures out there these days than main characters
Zeb Orrelios – The Star Wars Rebels star appeared briefly in some live-action projects, but now, finally, he gets his full due here. Toys are already on the way, as they should be.
Grogu with armor – The new trailer reveals how, at least in one case, Grogu will wear his large, beskar insignia outside of his robes. That feels like a very easy variant to make, so, of course, it’s already on the way.
Martin Scorsese’s character in The Mandalorian and Grogu – Lucasfilm
We’ll probably get these toys…
Red Astromech – No, that’s not R2-D2. The new trailer has a brief shot of a red astromech droid rolling up to an X-Wing, and though we don’t know whose droid this is, again, it feels like a very easy reskin of previous astromech droids. So we’d imagine that comes out too.
Martin Scorsese – Arguably the biggest reveal in the latest Mandalorian and Grogu trailer is that legendary director Martin Scorsese is voicing an Ardennian character in the film. It’s unclear how large his role is, but Ardennian toys were made for Solo, so it wouldn’t be too much work for manufacturers to tweak that.
Embo – The Clone Wars bounty hunter was a pretty big reveal in the latest trailer, and since he’s a character that has been around a while in animation, it would be a pretty huge miss to not put out some toys. You have to assume they’re coming, right? Right? (Insert Anakin and Padmé meme here.)
Bigfoot Mouse Droid – Surely there’s a real name for it, but if ever there was a Star Wars item made to become a toy, it’s the all-terrain mouse droid that Grogu explodes in the trailer. There’s no guarantee it’s released, but it feels like it should.
What is this gorgeous creature in The Mandalorian and Grogu? – Lucasfilm
We’re probably not getting these toys…
The Twins – We didn’t get toys of the Twins when they first appeared in The Book of Boba Fett; why would we get them now? Oh, sure, there’s also the small problem of them just becoming two huge blobs of plastic, so maybe they’re not the most appealing toys, but we think they’d be cool to have.
Baby Rodian with Speed Pram – There is a baby Rodian (affectionately called “Baby Greedo” by some) in the film, so you’d imagine a toy version would be a no-brainer. Especially since the character has an apparently superpowered baby pram that Grogu takes. However, we have a feeling this is a character that only shows up for a second, so while we’d love to put them on our shelf, we aren’t holding our breath.
Dejarik characters – Something The Mandalorian and Grogu is doing for the first time is bringing characters from Dejarik, the holo-chess game first played in A New Hope, to life. The latest trailer shows a Mantellian Savrip ripping off a door, and while it would be super cool to see these as toys, we imagine these characters are large, hard to get right, and not prominent enough to make. Even if it would be amazing to try and create a live-action Dejarik board.
The Dragonsnake – Undoubtedly, the coolest moment in the new trailer is the reveal of Din Djarin standing opposite a mysterious white dragonsnake. We’ll find out eventually if these are the same species that appeared in The Clone Wars, but, as gorgeous as this design is, and as much as we’d love to display one, it doesn’t seem very toy-friendly.
The Anzellan Coaster – For a brief moment in the trailer, we get a look at Grogu riding in a vehicle piloted by three Anzellans, the same species as Babu Frik. There are plenty of Anzellan toys, but we are talking about a package deal with three of them, Grogu, and a vehicle. It would be awesome but is probably a bit much.
Pessimistic mystery species – We don’t yet know the specific species name of this character, but in the trailer, he’s the one who says to Grogu, “Are you scared? You should be.” He’s not quite a Dug. Not quite a Hysalrian. We’ve reached out to Lucasfilm to clarify. But, since it’s not something that’s immediately recognizable, we sincerely doubt toys are coming.
The arrival of a new Star Wars movie in theaters (and a new Star Wars animated series) isn’t the only major milestone of 2026 for the galaxy far, far away—the year is also a major anniversary, marking 10 years since we met the crew that helped steal the Death Star plans in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Since then we’ve had plenty of books and comics to honor the legacy of Rogue One‘s vision of the Star Wars galaxy (and Andor!), but now Marvel is revisiting this vital era of the Rebellion with a series of special anniversary comics.
io9 can exclusively reveal that Marvel will mark Rogue One‘s 10th anniversary with five new one-shot comics set just before the events of the movie, focusing on a key group of characters from the film. Jyn Erso, Saw Gerrera, Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus, Darth Vader, and, of course, Cassian Andor will each get their own special issue, detailing a moment in their lives just before Rogue One brings them all crashing together.
“From the moment the first images of Cassian, Jyn, Saw, Baze, and Chirrut were revealed fans have wanted to know more about the brave outsiders who risked everything to help combat the Galactic Empire and its terrifying superweapon, and to learn more about what Vader was doing before A New Hope,” Lucasfilm senior editor Robert Simpson said in a statement provided to io9. “We always knew the end of Rogue One wouldn’t be the end of their stories, and we’re so excited for fans to get these glimpses into their pasts.”
The various stories will take readers to both new and familiar locations, the latter drawing on a couple of key locations from Rogue One. Jyn Erso’s story, from Ethan Sacks and Ramon Rosanas, will be set on Wobani, the world we met her imprisoned on in the movie, where she was liberated by the Rebellion. Cassian’s, meanwhile—from Ben Percy and Luke Ross—will manage to sandwich itself into the even tinier gap between the end of Andor season 2 and where we meet him in Rogue One, fleshing out his arrival at the mining colony of Kafrene.
“Rogue One changed Star Wars. The grit and gravity of the tone. The doomed and selfless heroism. The Jedi-less cast of broken, grounded characters. There wasn’t a lightsaber in sight, but there was plenty of blasters, bloody knuckles, and scarred hearts. I have so much love for the original trilogy, but Rogue One has become my favorite of the films. So I was thrilled to be part of this 10th anniversary celebration,” Percy told io9 of his involvement with the new comics before offering a tease of his Cassian story.
“When we first meet Cassian Andor, he kills Tivik, a rebel informant, in cold blood. I remember looking around the theater, because I could not believe what I was seeing. That moment on the Ring of Kafrene truly made me understand how different this film was going to be, and I knew I wanted to go exactly there for this opening issue,” Percy continued. “Because there’s a lot happening around the edges that we don’t see. I’m paired on this with the brilliant artist Luke Ross and we’re giving you the story of what leads up to that unforgettable, character- and franchise-defining moment. Get ready for bounty hunters, stormtroopers, Krennic, K2, and whole lot at stake for both the rebellion and the Empire.”
As well as a series of stark main covers by David Marquez, each issue will also have some variant covers from an array of artists. Check out a few of the covers below—including comics icon Walt Simonson returning to Darth Vader!—as well as solicit information for each issue.
STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE – CASSIAN ANDOR #1
Written by BENJAMIN PERCY
Art by LUKE ROSS
Main Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ
Variant Cover by JOSEMARIA CASANOVAS
On Sale 5/6
CASSIAN ANDOR’S FINAL MISSION BEFORE HE MEETS HIS ULTIMATE HEROIC DESTINY!
Before the heist that shook the galaxy, a lone Rebel operative walks into danger. Cassian Andor infiltrates the lawless maze of Kafrene, racing against troopers, bounty hunters and time itself in a tense espionage thriller.
STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE – JYN ERSO #1
Written by ETHAN SACKS
Art by RAMON ROSANAS
Main Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ
On Sale 6/3
A PRISONER OF THE EMPIRE. A CHANCE AT HOPE.
On the toxic Wobani fields, Jyn Erso’s brutal routine shatters when an unlikely crew begs the infamous slicer “Liana Hallik” to help pull off an impossible escape. Can Jyn outwit Imperial security droids, tower cannons, and incinerators long enough to crack the code—and keep a frightened young prisoner alive? Will a leap of faith heal old scars from Galen, Lyra, and Saw… or will Wobani claim Jyn’s future before the Rebellion ever can?
STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE – SAW GERRERA #1
Written by MARC BERNARDIN
Art by GABRIEL GUZMAN
Main Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ
On Sale July 2026
WITNESS THE ACT OF REVOLUTION THAT WAS TOO MUCH FOR THE REBELLION!
After proving himself in the Clone Wars, Saw Gerrera was a soldier for the cause of freedom and was willing to do anything to secure it — including leading a mission deep into Imperial territory. At stake: a source of information that would provide a tactical advantage that could shift the balance of power in the Rebels’ favor! But is the price to be paid for that information too high?
STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE – CHIRRUT & BAZE #1
Written by STEPHANIE PHILLIPS
Art by KIERAN MCKEOWN
Main Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ
On Sale August 2026
A STRIKE AGAINST THE EMPIRE…BUT AT WHAT COST?
Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe attempt a covert mission to sabotage a kyber mine that has been overtaken by Imperial forces. But when something unexpected stands between them and their objective, the mission becomes far more complicated than they expected. To succeed, faith will be tested and an impossible choice must be made!
STAR WARS: ROGUE ONE – DARTH VADER #1
Written by CHRIS CONDON
Art by LUKE ROSS
Main Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ
Variant Cover by WALT SIMONSON
On Sale September 2026
WHEN NEGOTIATIONS FAIL, THE EMPIRE SENDS IN ITS ATTACK DOG – DARTH VADER!
Director Orson Krennic’s negotiations with the gem-rich planet of Harreld have hit a standstill. Its leader, Harqque, refuses to allow the Empire to mine its rare kyber deposits for use in the Death Star’s deadly super laser. But when the Emperor catches wind of Krennic’s failure, he sends his most trusted acolyte – Darth Vader – to ply the kyber from Harqque by any means necessary.
Marvel’s Rogue One one-shots begin releasing in May with Star Wars: Rogue One – Cassian Andor #1.
Much of what the next Star Wars movie to hit theaters is really about remains a mystery to us, especially as we’ve not seen anything really concrete from The Mandalorian and Grogu since its teaser trailer five months ago. But one thing is always certain with the galaxy far, far away, mystery or otherwise: a new Star Wars movie means new Star Wars action figures, and io9 has an exclusive look at what to expect from Hasbro’s return to the Mandoverse.
In just a couple of months, Hasbro will kick off the fully armed and operational merchandising campaign for The Mandalorian and Grogu with a bumper set of figures in its six-inch Black Series line. Of course, a movie called The Mandalorian and Grogu needs a new Mandalorian and Grogu for you to play with, and that’s exactly what you get in this deluxe set (retailing for $35) that includes a plethora of gear for Din Djarin—and, of course, a new articulated Grogu sculpt designed to be nestled, climbing on his back.
Hasbro Star Wars The Black Series The Mandalorian and Grogu
As well as Grogu, the set comes with Din’s backpack, his trusty blaster pistol, a new rifle, a small knife to slot into his boot (and an extra hand to hold it), and, most intriguingly, a new weapon in the form of a short sword. It’s no Darksaber, but it’ll get the job done either way.
You’ll need some bad guys for Din to use all that gear on, so of course the Imperial Remnant is happy to provide for the bulk of the rest of the initial Mandalorian and Grogu figures. A Remnant Stormtrooper and a Remnant AT-AT Driver will provide updated takes on the iconic foot soldiers of the Empire, with dirtied-up paint decos (they’re the Remnant, after all, and the Empire can no longer afford armor polish in a post-Endor world). While the AT-AT Driver comes with a blaster pistol, the trooper comes with an E-11 rifle as well as a removable pauldron and ammo pouch that can be mixed and matched to break up your army-building forces.
Hasbro Star Wars The Black Series Imperial Remnant Stormtrooper and Imperial Remnant AT-AT Driver
They’ll also be joined by a brand-new trooper design for The Mandalorian and Grogu: the Remnant AT-RT driver. Yes, it seems like the Empire has found a few old Clone War-era walkers around to use in the movie, and they’ll be driven by these unique troopers who blend elements of Snow Trooper and Shore Trooper designs in a hodgepodge of armor pieces. And if that weren’t enough troopers, Target will also be home to its own exclusive version of the standard Remnant Stormtrooper, who is even worse for wear than the rest of their comrades, with chunks of their arm and leg plating swapped with brown replacement parts.
Hasbro Star Wars The Black Series Imperial Remnant AT-RT Driver and Imperial Remnant Stormtrooper (Target Exclusive)
It’s a bad time for the Imperial Remnant, so it’ll be even worse when they face off with the last figure of the wave: Sigourney Weaver’s New Republic Colonel Ward. Clad in an X-Wing pilot suit (as we got to see in images shown back at Celebration Japan last year), Ward comes with a removable helmet and… sadly nothing else, so she’s going to have to rely on the fact that she’s Sigourney Weaver in an X-Wing pilot suit to dazzle her action figure foes into submission.
Hasbro Star Wars The Black Series Colonel Ward
While they’re all expected to release sometime in spring ahead of The Mandalorian and Grogu hitting theaters on May 22, you’ll be able to get your hands on special versions of each of the main figures in this initial wave a couple months ahead of the film. Both exclusively in-store at Walmart and Target in the U.S. and at Hasbro fan channel retailers around the world, there’ll be “First Edition” variants of the deluxe Mandalorian and Grogu, the standard Remnant Stormtrooper, the Remnant AT-AT Driver, the Remnant AT-RT driver, and Colonel Ward in white packaging, which will release on March 22 in limited quantities. The packaging is the only difference for the variants, so you won’t be missing out on anything else… other than the chance to own action figures for a brand-new Star Wars movie a little earlier than some, that is!
The first wave of The Mandalorian and Grogu Black Series figures will go up for pre-order starting tomorrow, February 13, at 1 p.m. ET at both Hasbro’s own Pulse website and at other participating retailers (Target’s exclusive Remnant Stormtrooper will also go live for pre-orders at that time).
It may be just four months or so away, but much of The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars film since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, remains shrouded in mystery. But after we got a very broad teaser that leaned more on Star Wars familiarity than telling us what’s up with our titular heroes, people would’ve expected that our next look at the film would at least give us a little more of an inkling about what’s pulling Din and his ward back into the fight. But don’t expect that just yet.
During the Super Bowl, Lucasfilm released the latest teaser for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Set after the events of the streaming series’ third season, the movie follows up on Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and the youngling Grogu after their retirement to Navarro in the wake of the re-liberation of Mandalore, and Din’s newest job working as a freelance agent of the burgeoning New Republic. This teaser, however? It’s still vibes, it’s just this time it’s in the snow.
The new teaser comes after practically months of silence since the initial trailer, a tactic that The Mandalorian is more than familiar with, maintaining an air of secrecy for as much as possible in the run-up to each season’s debut on Disney+. Even as the new film draws even closer, it looks like we’re still going to have to wait and see what makes this film worth heading out to theaters for instead of a fourth season on Disney+.
The Mandalorian and Grogu, which also stars Sigourney Weaver as New Republic officer Colonel Ward, and Jeremy Allen White as Clone Wars character Rotta the Hutt, hits theaters May 22.
Last January, Michael J. Foxreceived a presidential medal of freedom in recognition of his Parkinson’s advocacy work from outgoing president Joe Biden. In USA Today, he wrote about how the incoming Trump administration could help find a cure for the disease he was diagnosed with in 1991 at age 29. They’d be wise to take the actor turned advocate seriously: His Michael J. Fox Foundation has funded more than $2.5 billion in Parkinson’s research over the last 25 years, raising more than $100 million in research annually. “Our foundation directs more money towards Parkinson’s research than the federal government,” Fox tells Vanity Fair. When asked for an update on working with President Donald Trump a year later, Fox retorts, “He’s busy with Greenland. More pressing concerns, I guess.”
If all goes to plan, Fox says he’ll soon meet with US Department of Health and Human Services head Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “I’m going to Washington next month and hopefully talk to Kennedy and find out what the government’s game plan is on addressing brain research in general and taking a more serious approach to some of these things that are soluble,” he says. “It’s just a weird disease. We always say genetics loads a gun and environment pulls the trigger. We’re trying to figure out what’s biological and what’s chemical.”
In season three of Shrinking (which premieres on January 28), coping with a Parkinson’s diagnosis fuels Fox’s storyline opposite Harrison Ford, who plays a therapist living with the degenerative brain disease. At this point in the conversation, a stoic, but engaged, Ford interjects: “Michael raises more money for and has done more Parkinson’s research than almost anybody in the world.”
Ford in season three of Shrinking.Kevin Estrada/Apple TV
Fox in season three of Shrinking.Courtesy of Apple
“It’s a credit to our great people,” Fox replies. “It’s frustrating to know we’re putting everything we can into it, and it would be nice to have the government behind us, but it seems that they’re involved in other things that have less impact on peoples’ lives.”
In 2004, Fox and Ford were photographed shaking hands at a charity event where Nancy Reagan advocated for stem cell research in finding a cure for illnesses like Alzheimer’s, which afflicted her husband, Ronald. “I’m sure I was very excited to see Harrison,” says Fox, glancing across the Zoom screen at a smiling Ford. “And Nancy Reagan—she was a force.” The former first lady was one of few conservatives at the time to publicly support embryonic stem cell research, which Republican lawmakers are still fighting to restrict at the federal level. Fox supports stem cell research in finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease. “For someone like Mrs. Reagan to step outside of political or ideological groupings and just speak to what she believes…is tremendously valuable,” he told reporters at the 2004 event.
Fox poses alongside Ford and his wife Calista Flockhart at a 2004 charity event honoring former First Lady Nancy Reagan, who advocated for stem cell research in the study of diseases like Parkinson’s.Vince Bucci/Getty Images
After playing the conservative son of former-hippie parents on Family Ties, then a know-it-all political strategist on Spin City, Fox returns to his TV roots in Shrinking, which last year earned Ford the first Emmy nomination of his career. Given Fox’s longtime friendship with series creator Bill Lawrence, whom he previously worked with on Spin City, the invite felt overdue. “It was a short and profane conversation,” Fox recalls. “I said, ‘You’re doing a fucking show about Parkinson’s with Harrison fucking Ford, and you don’t call me?’” Ford tilts his head back with a chuckle.
“Well, I’m calling you now,” Lawrence said, to which Fox replied, “‘No, I’m calling you.” It was a fitting moment, as Lawrence has “a history of pulling me back out of retirement,” Fox says. “I did Scrubs [which Lawrence created] in the early ’00s after I’d retired from Spin City, and so I knew he’d make it happen. He always was a talented kid. Talented kid.” Fox shakes his head, “He’s what, 60 years old?” (Lawrence is 57; Fox is 64.)
Although nearly two decades younger than a now 83-year-old Ford, both men, and their characters on Shrinking, grapple with their mortality. “We’re on the same shitty train to sucksville,” Fox’s character, Jerry, says to Ford’s character, Paul, as both men await Parkinson’s treatment. Later in the season, the curmudgeonly Paul finds renewed zest for his profession—and strategies for living with his diagnosis—when he provides therapy to other people with Parkinson’s disease, including Gerry. “The thing about therapy is it’s a talking cure, but there’s no talking cure for Parkinson’s, so those two worlds have always had an uneasy relationship,” Fox explains. “I couldn’t have gotten through Parkinson’s without therapy, but you find yourself educating the therapist as much as they’re educating you. You have to paint a picture of the ground you’re living on. And it’s very hard to explain to people.”
Last week, almost seven years after Galaxy’s Edge opened at Disneyland, Lucasfilm and Disney Parks announced sweeping changes to the land that by and large amounted to a singular conclusion: Disney was throwing its hands up and going, “Fine, have the Star Wars you know.”
It marks the final slash in what has really been a death by a thousand cuts since Galaxy’s Edge made big promises to deliver more than just the Star Wars we knew: a whole theme park land experimenting with storytelling ideas and theming to make audiences feel like they were whisked away to the galaxy far, far away for real, instead of simply going to Star Wars Land. Some of those cuts came in the ideation process, planned ideas and interactions that never made their way to opening day. Some came in drips and drabs, like the acquiescence to providing the food and drink in the land with more plain names compared to the Star Wars names they launched with, or less use of Star Wars terminology in interactions between cast members and the public.
Then there was the arrival of characters from The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, only for things to get more explicitly weird when the Mandalorian version of Luke Skywalker started showing up. As time went on, and Galaxy’s Edge‘s setting between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker became less of a contemporary moment, the way the continuity and story of the land—and the planet Batuu that was created for it, fleshed out in reams of comics, novels, and games—started being treated less as its own thing and more as a snapshot in time that could, in turn, open Galaxy’s Edge to having different eras of Star Wars exist within its setting at a given moment, at the expense of the unique story and worldbuilding Galaxy’s Edge had put at its core.
In many ways, this was always something of an inevitability. When I first visited it in late 2019, I was struck by both how excellently Galaxy’s Edge felt like it had created something that was like stepping into a different world with its heady mix of sound design, architectural tricks, and commitment to the theme, and by how utterly unsustainable that commitment was going to be, given the expectations the average Disney parks visitor was going to have of a Star Wars theme park land. If anything, it’s a miracle that it’s taken Disney almost seven years to restrain itself from shoving Darth Vader in there, that it held on so long to the land’s original vision, even as that vision was slowly carved away and diminished in time.
But something that was an inevitability can still suck when it finally happens, and it really sucks to see the experimental edge of Galaxy’s Edge give way to broad nostalgia for a singularly specific kind of Star Wars. And it especially sucks that Disneyland is going about that process in what feels like the most half-hearted way possible.
Although still significant in what they represent, much of what’s being done to transform Galaxy’s Edge to a celebration of the original movies is broadly cosmetic. Only Rey will remain out of the current crop of sequel-era characters that roam Galaxy’s Edge; although Chewbacca and R2-D2 currently appear with her, they will now be transferred to the original trilogy crop of characters, including the aforementioned Vader and Imperial Stormtroopers, and Luke, Leia, and Han, who will wander Galaxy’s Edge‘s primary thoroughfares—leaving Rey isolated on the fringe of the area near the queue for Rise of the Resistance. Much of the land’s original soundtrack and ambience, which included new work composed by John Williams and is pumped throughout the land to make it feel like a more lived-in space, will be replaced by Williams’ classic compositions from the original trilogy.
Only one of Galaxy’s Edge‘s storefronts—the awkwardly fascistic merchandise hub of First Order Cargo, home of the Disneyland-branded roleplay handcuffs—will be updated with the change, rebranding as “Black Spire Surplus,” a military salvage store that now sells items from the Galactic Civil War. The TIE Echelon parked beside it, unique to the park and developed by early teams working on what would become The Rise of Skywalker? That’s now been hand-waved as suddenly being an Imperial-era ship, part of his grandfather’s legacy that Kylo Ren was obsessed with, so now it’s totally fine if Darth Vader stands near it instead.
There will be no significant changes to the land itself when the transition begins at the end of April; neither will there be immediate changes to either of its rides, which will remain themed around the sequel trilogy (for a little while, at least—Millennium Falcon:Smugglers Run will eventually receive a new ride story inspired by The Mandalorian and Grogu that will replace the original theming, timed with the release of the film on May 22). It’s equal parts an almost complete demolition of what Galaxy’s Edge was as its own, unique place in the Star Wars universe as it was first envisioned, and yet also somehow lackluster, like Disney is simply ignoring the intentionality of what came before it and shoving original trilogy characters into it and calling it a day.
Sure, it’s not entirely reasonable to expect Disney to close down Galaxy’s Edge so it can demolish a bunch of things and bring in some more original trilogy designs (although it wouldn’t be surprising if it made some tweaks eventually, like swapping the Falcon‘s radar dish back or replacing the Resistance-era starfighters with their Alliance counterparts) now that it’s been open to people for years. And at the very least, canonically speaking, having the original trilogy characters wandering around will be set up by a new comic book series from Marvel, Echoes of the Empire, exploring what brought the Empire and Alliance to Batuu decades prior to the Resistance and First Order’s interest in the planet.
Even then, what Galaxy’s Edge has lost over the years—and will lose even more significantly when these changes come in—isn’t so much being destroyed but more being painted over, with a small acquiescence to the original and innovative ideas that were once envisioned in it pushed to the edge. For all the fanfare that the changes will see Galaxy’s Edge embrace all eras of Star Wars, it’s clear the embrace will now be much tighter around the familiar and the nostalgic, rather than the new.
Either way results in a loss of that experimental commitment that made the whole idea so captivating in the first place, and maybe that would sting less if Disney had simply decided to level it entirely and start over.
This year, after a nearly seven-year hiatus, Star Wars returns to the big screen. It’s the third-largest window ever between live-action films in the franchise, with the two longer ones being the 16 years between Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace and the 10 years between Revenge of the Sith and The Force Awakens.However, this latest wait feels wildly different, and it made us wonder, is there a correct, tried-and-true amount of time that should pass between Star Wars movies?
To put the current seven-year wait in context, we must look to the past. The reason those two longer windows were so long is that, in both cases, Star Wars was basically over. After Jedi, and again after Sith, George Lucas all but closed the book on the story. This time, though, that wasn’t the case.
In 2019, The Rise of Skywalker may have been the end of “The Skywalker Saga,” but no one considered it the end of Star Wars. Everyone knew it was coming back. It was just a question of when. So even though seven years is shorter than 16 and 10, it somehow carries more weight. Between Jedi and Phantom, as well as Sith and Force Awakens, people surely continued to talk about Star Wars, but it was more aspirational and hypothetical than anything else.
Part of that is because it’s what fans had become used to. During the times of both the original and prequel trilogies, waiting and debating Star Wars movies was the name of the game. Three years passed between the first, second, and third films of each trilogy, giving the filmmakers time to make the movies and fans to wildly obsess over them. That got taken up another level in the years leading up to The Phantom Menace, especially with the advent of the internet. And yet, Lucasfilm still waited three years between each movie even then, which let audiences sit with one film as they anxiously awaited the other.
The anticipation surrounding Star Wars was arguably the best part of Star Wars. Then Disney came on board.
The beginning of The Force Awakens. – Lucasfilm
Starting with the release of 2015’s The Force Awakens, fans got five Star Wars films in five years. And, while most of them had a full year in between, in the case of Solo, it was a mere six months. Two new Star Wars movies six months apart. It’s still unfathomable. And that time crunch took a lot of the fun out of it. Rumors, trailers, magazine features, all of it was so condensed and homogenized that it lost its luster. It was so much Star Wars so fast that excitement, understandably and inevitably, began to wane. So, by the time The Rise of Skywalker came out, we were a little burned out. That the movie failed to meet expectations didn’t help either.
Of course, that was just the beginning. After The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars didn’t stop. It pivoted to a whole new medium. Beginning with the late 2019 release of The Mandalorian, Star Wars became a streaming franchise. Now, in addition to not having to wait too long, we didn’t even have to leave our house. No lining up. No advanced tickets. No communal experience at all. Just new Star Wars, every few months, in a bubble. And it was a lot of Star Wars.
Between 2019 and today, Lucasfilm released seven live-action shows, with 10 seasons between them, as well as six animated shows with about 18 seasons between them. (And that’s not even counting new episodes of The Clone Wars.) New Star Wars had become as regular as breathing, and, with that, some of the magic has gone away.
The Mandalorian and Grogu – Lucasfilm
Which brings us to this year. In May, The Mandalorian and Grogu will become the first Star Wars movie released since 2019. Then, next year, it’ll be followed up by Star Wars: Starfighter. We can all agree that seven years is too long for what is essentially just another random chapter to the story. But we can probably also agree that after seven years, suddenly getting two seemingly unrelated, standalone films in back-to-back years is falling back into that dangerous old pattern. Maybe these two films, especially if they’re good, will make it work this time. Maybe seven years of waiting gives them success like The Force Awakens and Rogue One. But maybe it doesn’t.
And, with new leadership now in control of Lucasfilm, the franchise is reportedly pivoting back to being a primarily theatrical experience. We would be very surprised if a movie a year doesn’t once again become the norm. It would almost have to, especially with nearly a dozen movies in various stages of development.
So what’s the magic number? Is there a magic number? Well, three years seemed perfect, but we don’t think that’s happening again. One year, on the other hand, is probably too often. Can Disney and Lucasfilm really afford to wait two years between Star Wars movies? Probably not. But, we think, it would be a good thing in the long run.
Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as president of Lucasfilm. Although she will continue as a producer for several Star Wars projects, including upcoming movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, the company will now be helmed by a duo in Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan. It’s a big changing of the guard for Star Wars fans, and marks the start of a fresh chapter for the sci-fi universe.
Before taking over at Lucasfilm, Kennedy had seen great success as a producer with a couple little films you may have heard of: E.T. and Jurassic Park. She became Lucasfilm’s president in 2012 when the company was acquired by Disney. At that point, it had been several years since the last Star Wars movie; Revenge of the Sith closed out the generally panned prequel trilogy in 2005. Fans’ best option for Star Wars content was The Clone Wars, a standalone film and animated series which were well-regarded but primarily popular among the hardcore devotees rather than reaching the widespread cultural relevance of the prior feature films.
During Kennedy’s tenure, Star Wars returned to the big screen with The Force Awakens in 2015. Although that J.J. Abrams-led trilogy was also a roller coaster for many fans, it marked a renaissance for the franchise. Lucasfilm embarked on two standalone movies in Rogue One and Solo, which generated yet more buzz and more money for the company. Star Wars got the full cinematic universe treatment, with critically acclaimed live-action television projects and several new video games. The world fell in love with Baby Yoda. Ewan McGregor finally got to don his Obi-Wan Kenobi robe in a better vehicle. The franchise was back in the mainstream, with the budgets and expectations of media behemoth Disney at its back. No matter your feelings on the current state of Star Wars, it’s an impressive accomplishment by Kennedy and a big legacy that she leaves behind at Lucasfilm.
So now that Lucasfilm has arguably ended this phase on a high note, what’s next? Dave Filoni moving into the top spot isn’t much of a surprise. He’s long been seen by fans and seemingly by the company as George Lucas’ spiritual successor. Filoni was also the showrunner on The Clone Wars back in the day and has been involved in some capacity with many of the recent TV series, most notably The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. All that history means his new role of President and Chief Creative Officer is pretty expected, and the Star Wars faithful likely feel that they are in good hands.
As the title implies, Filoni will be responsible for the artistic side of the operation, while as Co-President, Lynwen Brennan will be in charge of the business side. Brennan may be a less familiar name, but her tenure with Lucas’ businesses dates back to 1999 when she joined the legendary effects studio Industrial Light & Magic. Dividing the art and the commerce can yield good results if the two are able to find a good synergy. Star Wars has proven that it’s a moneymaker even when the films and series aren’t particularly well-received, but here’s hoping that Filoni and Brennan will each be able to maintain high standards for Lucasfilm and the Star Wars fandom.
It’s official. Kathleen Kennedy is leaving Lucasfilm. And, in a new interview talking about the decision, the producer offered updates on several Star Wars movies that may, or may not, be coming in the future.
“Jim Mangold and Beau Willimon wrote an incredible script, but it is definitely breaking the mold, and it’s on hold,” Kennedy told Deadline. “Taika [Waititi] has turned in a script that I think is hilarious and great. It’s not just my decision, especially when I’ve got a foot out the door. Donald Glover has turned in a script. And as you have read, Steve Soderbergh and Adam Driver turned in a script written by Scott Burns. It was just great. Anything’s a possibility if somebody’s willing to take a risk.”
Oddly, two films that Kennedy doesn’t mention are the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Rey movie and the Dave Filoni Heir to the Empire movie, both of which were announced along with Mangold’s film in 2023. That’s very, very discouraging.
More encouraging is what she has to say about Simon Kinberg’s new trilogy which, though being reworked, is still moving ahead. “[Kinberg] is working right now,” Kennedy said. “He wrote something that we read in August, and it was very good, but not there. We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment, which he finished literally about four weeks ago. And it’s a very detailed treatment, like 70 pages. And so he is expected to give us something in March.”
So with The Mandalorian and Grogu coming out this year, and Star Wars: Starfighter (which Kennedy says was meant to be a standalone but could, potentially, be sequalized) out next year, what movie is coming next? It won’t be Kennedy’s call anymore, but there are additional thoughts. “Mangold’s is really on the back burner as is Soderbergh’s,” she said. “I think the ones by Taika and Donald are still somewhat alive. That’s going to really be up to the new team to figure out. I know that [new Lucasfilm heads] Dave [Filoni] and Lynwen [Brennan] are very much on board with what Simon’s doing, and that would be a new trilogy. In the timeline of things, that takes you well into 2030 plus. So that’s really what’s up next.”
It seems like it’s good news for fans of Taika Waititi and Donald Glover, but bad news for fans of James Mangold and Rey Skywalker. What do you make of the quotes?
“When we acquired Lucasfilm more than a decade ago, we knew we were bringing into the Disney family not only one of the most beloved and enduring storytelling universes ever created, but also a team of extraordinary talent led by a visionary filmmaker – someone who had been handpicked by George Lucas himself, no less,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a press release. “We’re deeply grateful for Kathleen Kennedy’s leadership, her vision, and her stewardship of such an iconic studio and brand.”
With Kennedy stepping down from Lucasfilm to focus on more general film production, her previous duties will now be split between the two Lucasfilm mainstays. Filoni, as President and Chief Creative Officer, will handle the more creative side, while Brennan, the longtime head of business at the company, will handle logistics. Her title is Co-President. Think of it sort of like things are being handled at DC Studios, with James Gunn handling creative and Peter Safran handling the more day-to-day things.
“When George Lucas asked me to take over Lucasfilm upon his retirement, I couldn’t have imagined what lay ahead,” Kennedy said. “It has been a true privilege to spend more than a decade working alongside the extraordinary talent at Lucasfilm. Their creativity and dedication have been an inspiration, and I’m deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together. I’m excited to continue developing films and television with both longtime collaborators and fresh voices who represent the future of storytelling.”
Kennedy got her start as an assistant to Steven Spielberg and quickly established herself as a formidable creative force. Over the last 50 years or so, she produced many of the best and top-grossing films of all time, such as Gremlins, The Goonies, Poltergeist, Back to the Future, E.T., and the Indiana Jones series.
Lucasfilm founder and Star Wars creator George Lucas thought so highly of Kennedy that he hand-picked her to run Lucasfilm as he sold it to the Walt Disney Company in 2013. Since then, she’s been responsible for the successful relaunch of the franchise, both on the big screen and its new renaissance on streaming, too.
And though Kennedy will remain on board for a bit, overseeing The Mandalorian & Grogu, Star Wars: Starfighter, and more, all eyes now move to Filoni. Also a disciple of Lucas himself, Filoni made a name for himself with fresh, exciting storytelling in Star Wars animation before making the shift to live action. His success there hasn’t been quite as impressive, with many feeling he’s a bit too reliant on past stories and nostalgia rather than bold, forward choices. But few people on the planet know or understand Star Wars as he does.
“My love of storytelling was shaped by the films of Kathleen Kennedy and George Lucas,” Filoni said. “I never dreamed I would be privileged to learn the craft of filmmaking from both of them. From Rey to Grogu, Kathy has overseen the greatest expansion in Star Wars storytelling onscreen that we have ever seen. I am incredibly grateful to Kathy, George, Bob Iger, and Alan Bergman for their trust and the opportunity to lead Lucasfilm in this new role, doing a job I truly love. May the Force be with you.”
Filoni is currently working on the second season of his show, Ahsoka, so don’t expect him to fully make the pivot for a while. Once he does, though, the movies and shows he puts into production will say a lot about how he views the future of Star Wars. There are certainly plenty of options on the table.
What do you think of Kennedy stepping down and putting in Filoni and Brennan? Let us know below.
You’ve heard of blue milk. You’ve seen green milk. You thought that was it. However, starting this week, Disney is introducing a third milk to its Star Wars theme park selection. One that would make the cast of Mean Girls proud.
Yes, that’s right. It’s pink. Pink milk will be on the menu starting Thursday, January 8, at the Milk Stand inside Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge exclusively at Disneyland in California. No word on what this specific drink’s flavor profile is, but thankfully, we won’t have to wait long to find out. (We’re guessing something more citrus-y, like pink lemonade, though.)
Pink is officially our mood. 🥛🌌 Pink milk will be arriving at Milk Stand in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at @Disneyland on Jan. 8💗 pic.twitter.com/OJKP1ZynIM
Now, we know what you must be thinking. “No one drinks pink milk in Star Wars. Where is this coming from?” Well, that’s only sort of true. According to Wookieepedia, pink milk was briefly introduced in the 2023 Marvel Comics book Sana Starros #1, which followed the exploits of the would-be wife and smuggler friend of Han Solo. In that book, the pink milk comes from animals called po’acksters. And before you ask, yes, that comic (and every comic released now) is canon. Pink milk is real.
From there, a few additional questions remain outside of the taste. Will pink milk be a permanent thing? Will it show up at the Milk Stand at Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios in Orlando? (A Disney Parks spokesperson confirmed that it’s just in Disneyland “at this time.”) And, most importantly, where will it rank among the other milks? Personally, I prefer blue milk on a hot Disneyland day. io9 editor James Whitbrook prefers green milk, just like Jedi Master Luke Skywalker on the shores of Ahch-To. Could pink milk rival either of those?
And while this is a relatively minor change in terms of what’s happening at Galaxy’s Edge, a much bigger one is coming in a few short months. In May, the ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run is getting its first, long-awaited, new mission. Previously, and until then, fans have been able to fly the Falcon to Corellia, inspired by Solo: A Star Wars Story. But in May, you’ll go on a new mission alongside the Mandalorian and Grogu, inspired by the new movie The Mandalorian & Grogu,both opening on May 22. Will there be pink milk on this mission? We’ll find out soon.
The price for a PS4 copy of the relatively obscure Star Wars racing game, Star Wars Racer Revenge, has dramatically increased in the last few days because of the game’s use in the latest PlayStation 5 jailbreak, Eurogamer reports. The PS2 game was originally released in 2002, and was ported to PS4 by Limited Run Games in 2019. Its role as a key ingredient in the jailbreaking process was announced on December 31.
Interested jailbreakers need Racer Revenge to jailbreak PS5 12.00 firmware because of a bug in the game’s Hall of Fame feature, according to Eurogamer. The bug makes it possible to inject new code into Sony’s console, and because the PS5 is able to load and play PS4 discs, Star Wars Racer Revenge is an easier method to pull the jailbreak off. Retail releases of games are a common way to execute exploits and hacks because, unlike digital copies, they can’t be directly patched.
While the PS4 version of Star Wars Racer Revenge was available for anywhere between $14.99 to $37.50 when it went on sale originally, used copies are currently listed for as high as $411 on eBay. Sellers are naturally trying to capitalize on the game’s new position in the jailbreaking meta and raising the price accordingly. Of course, it helps that there’s only a small number of copies to go around.
As the company’s name suggests, Limited Run Games releases old games in limited quantities as collector items. The company only ever made 8,500 copies of Racer Revenge per its own data, so the game is already rare in some sense, and now expensive to boot while there’s interest in the PS5 jailbreak.
A new year brings with it plenty of traditions, but one of the most threatening to our wallets each passing year is that, after months of relative peace and quiet, Lego just decides to put out tons of new sets every January 1. There are over 150 new sets hitting shelves today, so here’s our roundup of the biggest and best.
January is one of the most important release months for Lego, so it’s no surprise that we’re getting releases from practically every line the brick-builder makes sets for, from brands like Star Wars and Marvel to staples like the Architecture, Ideas, and Icons lines. There are plenty of heavy hitters all over, but of course, one big highlight is Lego marking the end of Stranger Things yesterday with its lavish new set based on the Creel estate—a big set among plenty of big sets landing today. Read on for our breakdown of all the big releases coming starting today!
Lego is getting a little late on the Crossworlds collab train with its latest Sonic sets (or is it just chasing after its own Mario Kart sets?), as Silver, Knuckles, and the main man all hit the road.
Lego Minecraft Sets
Minecraft‘s offerings this month include sets big and small, as well as a few fun non-traditional builds, like a display model of a pixelated fox and another small diorama replicating the many environments of the game’s biomes.
The Architecture line gets a bit clever with its latest diorama, an artsy wall-art-style rendition of the Parisian skyline, featuring notable highlights like Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, and more centered around the Eiffel Tower at its core. ($80, available here)
After many years away, Stranger Things Lego is back in style in time for the show’s final episode. Not only is there the lavish Creel House, packed with fun features and minifigures inspired by the final season of the show, but if you aren’t quite in the mood for such a pricey set, there’s also a new set of BrickHeadz figurines inspired by the last episodes.
Lego Marvel Super Heroes Sets
After many a quiet month, the Marvel line is back in a big way this month with something touching every corner of the Marvel multiverse, from plenty of Spidey sets to movie stalwarts and a lavish new buildable Iron Man.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner now, so the latest addition to Lego’s vast array of community-supported sets is a perfectly fitting set of little birds nestled on a branch to gift to your loved one. ($50, available here)
Lego Ninjago Sets
The year 2026 is a big one for Ninjago, as it looks back on 15 years of sets with a nostalgic wave that mixes up sets inspired by the latest season of the Dragons Rising show and recreations of classic sets complete with special bonus anniversary minifigures.
We’ve finally reached a year with a Star Wars theatrical release on the way for the first time in almost seven years, so it’s unsurprising that the Mandoverse is firmly the focus of this new wave—but Grogu aside, there’s fodder from the prequels and sequels to go with it, including a new buildable BB-8 to celebrate 10 years since his debut in The Force Awakens.
The latest Lego Art set takes a bit of a sideways step away from replicating iconic artwork from history with this original piece inspired by Japanese spring, with an idyllic view of Mount Fuji and a small temple alongside a 3D waterfall seeping out of the frame. ($140, available here)
Lego Disney Sets
The theme of the latest Disney princess sets is not minidolls, but mini… minis: little chibi brick-built figurines that give the feeling of almost like a little vinyl toy compared to the BrickHeadz/Funko comparison. But aside from the world of princesses, there are a few highlights, like a new buildable Olaf.
Lego Speed Champions Sets
It’s not too often that Speed Champions dips into licensed genre collabs, but this month’s wave has not one, but two: for kids, there’s a Champions-scaled build of Cars‘ Lightning McQueen, while for the kids at heart, there’s the latest Lego spin on the iconic DeLorean from Back to the Future.
Lego’s latest wave of blind-box minifigures is perhaps somewhat controversial to anyone who dreaded the costume animal representation showing up as part of past waves… because this one is all about them. Fish, peacocks, monkeys, parrots, dogs, and dolphins, oh my—a veritable ark’s worth! ($5 per box, available here)
The year 2025 was jam-packed with must-see genre entertainment. io9 covered an extensive range of pop culture across film and television, including major releases from Marvel Studios, DC Studios’ big Superman arrival, Netflix heavy hitters like Stranger Things, and awesome anime.
Beyond the screen, io9 kept you updated on the latest in theme parks and immersive experiences, as well as the latest in collectibles, toys, books, games, and comics.
To close out 2025, we’ve compiled our staff picks, highlighting our most treasured stories and sharp coverage that defined the world of genre entertainment this year.
The Director of Good Boy on Creating Horror From a Dog’s Point of View
By Cheryl Eddy
Most dog owners can recall at least one instance where their pup has reacted to a seemingly invisible presence. Are they picking up a sound pitched higher than our hearing? Sniffing out the memory of a dropped piece of food? Or perhaps… using their canine super-senses to detect something supernatural?
Good Boy, the feature debut of director and co-writer Ben Leonberg, takes that idea and runs with it, following Indy (played by Leonberg’s own dog) and his owner, Todd (Shane Jensen), as they move into the former home of Todd’s late grandfather. It’s a gloomy, dark, isolated place, and—as Indy soon realizes—it appears to be teeming with unquiet spirits. [Read more]
The Superman We Need Right Now: A Report From the Set of James Gunn’s New DC Film
By Germain Lussier
When Superman started kissing the football on a stick, it all clicked together. The day was June 24, 2024, and io9 was in Cleveland to watch the filming of James Gunn’s Superman. At the end of a giant battle over the streets of Metropolis, the Man of Steel knelt down to kiss and profess his love to an inanimate object that special effects would later transform into his dog, Krypto. That little dash of heartfelt weirdness, in the middle of a massive action scene, did a near-perfect job of showing what the film’s cast and crew had been trying to articulate all day: this is not just a unique, new Superman, it’s James Gunn’s Superman. [Read more]
In Sinners, Honesty Leads to Freedom
By Justin Carter
Sinners is the type of movie where nearly every scene could be considered a standout moment on a technical, writing, or performance level. For me, there’s two moments—one utterly sincere and raunchy, the other delightfully meta—that speak to one of the film’s core themes.
In the first, burgeoning blues guitarist Sammie (Miles Caton) is getting intimate with singer Pealine (Jayme Lawson) and proceeds to get on his knees. He’s about to employ the advice his older cousin Stack (Michael B. Jordan) gave to him about pleasuring a woman earlier in the film, and just as Pearline’s about to politely decline, Sammie looks up at her and says: “You’re beautiful, and I want to taste it.” He’s clearly taken with her, and says this with the earnestness of someone who believes in what he’s saying. [Read more]
What’s the Story Behind Tron: Ares? Our Report From the Set
By Germain Lussier
“I have to ride a lightcycle.” That was my first thought last year when the invite arrived to visit the set of Disney’s new sequel, Tron: Ares. It seemed like a logical request. When you think of Tron, you think of lightcycles. They’re a huge part of both 2010’s Tron: Legacy and 1982’s Tron. And yet, I had to wonder, were there even lightcycles in this movie? What exactly WAS this movie? Coming out 15 years after the last one, with basically a whole new cast, it seemed any concept of what the film could or would be was entirely up in the air. I had questions. I wanted answers. And, perhaps, a ride on that lightcycle. [Read more]
I Love the Moment That Everything Changes in Gundam GQuuuuuuX
By James Whitbrook
The latest entry in the Gundam franchise, GQuuuuuuX, is built around one of the most fascinating premises a mainline Gundam show has had in years. To get there, we’re asked to cast our minds back over 45 years to the original 1979 anime—and in doing so, we’re also asked to consider a pretty hilarious idea.
The vast majority of Gundam GQuuuuuuX—as covered in its prequel/compilation movie GQuuuuuuX Beginning, out in American theaters today for a limited run—is predicated around the fact that the show is in fact set in an alternate version of Gundam‘s “Universal Century” timeline. The primary timeline of the original Gundam and its direct successor series, among others in the franchise, GQuuuuuuX‘s version of events asks us to consider another outcome. What if the antagonistic forces of the original series, the secessionist space colony Zeon, actually managed to win the war against Earth? [Read more]
7 Reasons Why The Nightmare Before Christmas Is Not a Halloween Movie, 4 Reasons Why It Is
By Sabina Graves
Every year, it seems that Halloween creeps in earlier than before, and with it, its Pumpkin King, Jack Skellington.
Take the Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland; it’s a haunted house with ghosts that, as soon as Halloweentime arrives at the Disneyland resort at the end of summer, becomes inhabited by Jack and the people of Halloweentown. However, they’re not there for Halloween; they’re there to make Christmas. There’s the rub, because the once cult and now very mainstream holiday staple from the mind of Tim Burton and director Henry Selick is about one holiday taking over another. [Read more]
Bryan Fuller Reveals the Inspirations for His Dark Fairytale Feature Debut
By Sabina Graves
He’s best known for his acclaimed genre TV shows, but Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) is making his feature film directorial debut with Dust Bunny, a coming-of-age storybook fantasy with his signature twist.
The film reunites the Hannibal series creator with star Mads Mikkelsen. He plays a hitman hired by a young girl named Aurora (Sophie Sloan), who wants his help to hunt the mysterious and monstrous Dust Bunny tormenting her apartment.
In a recent conversation with io9, Fuller talked about how the feature got the big screen treatment after previously being pitched as an episode of the Steven Spielberg-produced Amazing Stories series for Apple TV, and what it was like working on it with genre great Sigourney Weaver. The cult-fave creative mind also opened up about how he feels in regards to some of the projects he’s been attached to that have fallen through—as well as his excitement for a project yet to be announced. And yes, we even got a few details about his potential Silence of the Lambs limited series. [Read more]
Birds of Prey Deserved Its Full, Chaotic 15 Minutes of Fame
By Justin Carter
It always sucks when something that’s pretty good and was clearly well made just doesn’t hit the way it seems like it should’ve. This is particularly true when it comes to movies; think of a film you saw that was surprisingly enjoyable and how it didn’t really get a fair shake for whatever reason.
Plenty of examples come to mind for me, but one of the first is Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. Originally released on February 7, 2020, under its initial (and funnier) title, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), the film’s a bit of a tangled knot. You may remember it first seemed like a solo vehicle for Margot Robbie’s Harley post-Suicide Squad 2016, then somewhere along the line, it also may have become something for the popular, usually women-starring B-list superhero team, and then ended up being… kind of both? [Read more]
Castlevania: Nocturne Writers Talk Religion, Revolution, and Black Representation
By Isaiah Colbert
Castlevania: Nocturne returns with its second season on Netflix, sparking online discussions about video game references, animation enthusiasts sharing their favorite action clips, and Alucard babygirl posts in its wake. However, a new season also brings the resurgence of pearl-clutching and Gamergate-adjacent rhetoric concerning Black representation, which should be celebrated in the Powerhouse Animation series instead.
To address and preempt criticisms from those who deride the inclusion of Black characters in the video game series as “woke,” we talked to Black Castlevania: Nocturne writers Testament and Zodwa Nyoni, and executive producer Clive Bradley, about how they enriched Konami’s fantastical source material setting with real-world events and the Black experience. [Read more]
How Fionna and Cake Reflects the Legacy of Adventure Time
By Sabina Graves
Season two of Fionna and Cake has arrived on HBO Max, taking Adventure Time fans into a new world—and it’s one that’s finally established as its own universe, thanks to Prismo breaking the rules and making the Ice King’s fan fiction real.
The first season’s ending metatextually had Fionna and friends fight to make their world canon, and there’s now more to explore in its earned existence and how it might cross over into Adventure Time‘s Land of Ooo.
But don’t get the premise twisted, Fionna and Cake isn’t just fan service to sneak back into Adventure Time territory completely. In a conversation io9 had with producer Adam Muto, we discussed how the creative teams aim to make their beloved character variants stand on their own and, yes, sometimes stand with the legacy faces to take on new interdimensional threats. [Read more]
A Love Letter to Cobra Kai, One of the Greatest Sequels Ever
By Germain Lussier
When I first watched Cobra Kai, I stopped it five minutes in. This is a true story. I started the first episode and was so absolutely blown away by what I was seeing, I almost didn’t believe it was real. Since I was about five years old, I’d been a massive fan of The Karate Kid franchise, and here I was in my 30s watching the same actors from those movies tell this dynamic, awesome, follow-up story. There was no way this show was this good. It was impossible. [Read more]
Tony Gilroy Looks Back on Taking Shit Seriously in Andor
By James Whitbrook
Tony Gilroy is a man with a vision. That vision guided him from the extensive reshoots of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story all the way to a Disney+ series about one of that film’s heroes, Cassian Andor—and finding in it a critical acclaim unlike anything the galaxy far, far away had seen in a generation.
He’s also a very frank man who knows when that vision can potentially turn on a dime—as it did one day while filming the series in Scotland, when the writer, director, and showrunner realized that his grand plan for Andor wasn’t going to work. [Read more]
Andor‘s Tony Gilroy and Genevieve O’Reilly Break Down Mon Mothma’s Pivotal Dance
By Sabina Graves
During io9’s interview with showrunner Tony Gilroy and star Genevieve O’Reilly, who plays Mon Mothma, the duo broke down the last moments of the third episode of this week’s drop. Gilroy also discussed how framing these pivotal years as three-episode mini-movies came about. [Read more]
Andor‘s Finest Hours Just Delivered a Huge Gut Punch
By Sabina Graves
What it takes to sustain a rebellion is brought into question in this week’s episode arc of Andor, which covers what happens two years before the main events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and the original Star Wars saga. Thematically it’s time for the rebels to figure out if they want to just fight or actually win, as tensions come to a head on Ghorman in what’s probably the most gut-wrenching watch of the series, and perhaps even Star Wars as a whole. [Read more]
Who Was Syril Karn?
By James Whitbrook
“Who are you?” is the question that haunts Syril Karn for his entire life. From the moment we met him, prim and proper security uniform modified to be just so, a sense of purpose in a vast and uncaring universe has been at the core of understanding what makes Syril tick. The journey that took him across the galaxy reached a climactic moment in Andor‘s penultimate arc this week, and raised that haunting question once more. But the answer is more complicated than mere villain in Andor‘s narrative, doubting or otherwise. Because even as the hero of his own story, the man we know Syril to be, until the very end, is shaped less by himself and more by the systems and structures that made a tool of him. [Read more]
They Just Gave Kleya a Goddamn Gun
By James Whitbrook
There’s a scene in the ninth episode of Andor‘s second season where Vel Sartha, inspecting a table full of requisitioned weaponry at the Rebellion’s Yavin base, picks up a blaster and asks whose it is. Except, that’s not what she asks, raising the pistol into the air in front of a crowd of new recruits. What she actually says is “Who belongs to this?”
I was thinking a lot about that line an episode later, when, as she infiltrates a hospital in a desperate attempt to end the life of the man who saved hers as a child, Kleya Marki, one of Andor‘s standout characters, slips a tiny blaster with one hell of a kick out of her purloined nurse’s scrubs and calmly executes an ISB tactical officer. And then does it again. And again. It’s the climactic, tense moment of an episode that builds up to this singular moment of emotional and dramatic release as she tearfully turns off Luthen’s life support. In many ways, Kleya’s whole life, one torn apart by the Empire, and rebuilt out of her hatred of it, is leading to this moment, and this moment of infiltration and execution is just the final flourish. [Read more]
Vinland Saga Creator Makoto Yukimura Looks Back on Writing His Pacifist Viking Epic
By Isaiah Colbert
Anime and, by proxy, manga are typically viewed through a lens where violence begets violence, and the only hero is one with attention-grabbing hairdos, the ability to power up, and the capacity to punch things even more brilliantly. Very rarely is the traditional hero’s journey, whether in shonen or its older brother genre, seinen, predicated on having its hero question the nature of violence as a catch-all solution, rather than a spoke that keeps the cycle spinning. Then again, not every manga series challenges that notion so brilliantly as Vinland Saga. [Read more]
Revolutionary Girl Utena Is as Lynchian as Shojo Anime Has Ever Been
By Isaiah Colbert
Over the years, critics and everyday people have come to identify media as “Lynchian,” in reverence for how video games, movies, and TV shows evoke the dream-like quality of the late auteur David Lynch. Although most media described as Lynchian takes its inspiration from seminal works like Twin Peaks through referential nods, no show completely embodies the ephemeral vibe of Lynch’s opaque-yet-piercing style of storytelling quite like the similarly influential shojo anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena. [Read more]
Deep Space Nine Understood the Fantasy of Spies—and Their Reality
By James Whitbrook
In just under a week, the next Star Trek project arrives in the form of Section 31, a streaming movie starring Michelle Yeoh diving into the titular black ops organization—one that, at least in all the footage we’ve seen so far, puts an emphasis on the glitz and glam of secret agent work. There’s action, there’s dazzling costumes, there’s even, perhaps most surprisingly in the context of it all, direct Federation oversight, like a co-worker with a stick up their ass who’s here to stop you from having fun. [Read more]
The Leftovers Is Still One of TV’s Great Miracles
By Cheryl Eddy
Losing a loved one brings pain no matter the circumstances. Not knowing what happened to them only adds more agony. That grief and confusion is what propels The Leftovers, but on a global scale—leading to three fascinating, thought-provoking, audacious, cigarette-filled, and often miraculous seasons of TV.
At the start of the first episode, it happens: two percent of the world’s population vanishes into thin air. The amount of missing isn’t huge, but it’s significant. The people who lost someone dear are personally wounded, but nobody escapes being touched in some way by the event, which leaves humanity with an infuriating array of mystical questions. Why did those who left get “chosen”—and why were those who didn’t go get left behind? Was God or some other cosmic being involved? Where did they go? Will they ever come back? And will it happen again? [Read more]
The 6 Biggest Moments in the Shocking Foundation Season 3 Finale
By Cheryl Eddy
Foundation season three has come to an end, but it still feels like there’s so much story left to tell. Thank goodness Apple TV+ confirmed just yesterday that season four is on the way! But before we ponder what’s next, we must discuss the season finale.
“The Darkness” was… well, a lot sure did happen, didn’t it? [Read more]
Stranger Things Lets It Rip to Kick Off Its Final Season
By Sabina Graves
The conclusion to Netflix and the Duffer Brothers’ pop culture phenomenon Stranger Things begins with an epic first volume that’s now streaming for your binging pleasure.
Action and horror propel the return to Hawkins in volume one as our heroes race to find Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), hoping to vanquish him once and for all. In the time since the Upside Down ripped open in season four, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) has been training with Hopper (David Harbour) to strengthen her powers. Seeing Eleven’s growth into a strong as hell young woman from her early days throwing bullies off her friends is such a joy. Clearly, that’s thanks to Eggo waffles. [Read more]
Why Gainax’s Gunbuster Pose Is More Than Anime Rule of Cool Reference Fodder
By Isaiah Colbert
Anime of the late ’80s has an undeniable impact that extends beyond the medium into movies, TV shows, and video games. Many of the homages are to 1988’s Akira, which existed before Western culture had a grasp of what anime really was or could be. The “Akira slide”—an iconic shot of Kaneda sliding sideways on his bike in the 1988 movie adaptation of Akira—has become an icon of anime culture, referenced over and over in numerous cartoons and films, western and Japanese, ever since, including Jordan Peele’s Nope, Tron: Ares, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, amid an ocean of other Akira nods.
While Akira references are rife in new media like Naughty Dog’s Intergalactic, letting fans know that the creators are aware of its rule of cool, it’s hard not to feel a bit like the buck stopped at aping aesthetics for easy internet referential brownie points over carrying over its core narrative themes. Although most pop culture nods (Scavengers Reign aside) borrow Akira‘s surface style without echoing its thematic depth, every homage to fellow 1988 anime film Gunbuster‘s iconic arm-cross pose endures as a timeless gesture of steeled resolve wrapped in a badass stance. [Read more]
Meet Freddy Fazbear and Friends at Halloween Horror Nights’ Five Nights at Freddy’s House
By Sabina Graves
Take a look inside the Five Nights at Freddy’s house at Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights. It looks like a real Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza location right out of the mind of game creator Scott Cawthon and Emma Tammi’s cinematic adaptation.
io9 was invited to a behind-the-scenes walkthrough of the Hollywood attraction based on the video game and Blumhouse film franchise, opening at HHN ahead of December’s Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. Creative director John Murdy took us through to highlight the incredible work done between Horror Nights, Cawthon, and Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. [Read more]
How Science Fiction Became the Key to This Year’s Most Buzzed About Concert
By Germain Lussier
2001: A Space Odyssey. Star Wars. Star Trek. Tron. Blade Runner. Akira. The Fifth Element. Interstellar. Superman. Flash Gordon. The Matrix. That sounds like a list of the greatest sci-fi films of all time, but actually, it’s a list of the films mentioned during a discussion about the inspirations behind the Backstreet Boys’ popular new residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This past July, one of the biggest boy bands of all time celebrated 20 years of their iconic album, Millennium, at the technologically advanced venue, with two months of sold-out shows that generated a ton of buzz and interest. As a result, two more months of shows were recently added, and io9 spoke to Baz Halpin, CEO and founder of Silent House, about it. [Read more]
KPop Demon Hunters and Expedition 33 Are Having a Moment
By Justin Carter
Have you watched KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix or played Clair Obscur: Expedition 33?
Chances are the answer is “yes,” and if not, you’ve certainly heard of them: both were released earlier this year to fairly glowing reviews (if not outright critical acclaim) and performed very well commercially. The latter, a turn-based RPG from newcomer Sandfall Interactive, will likely pick up some awards at year’s end, while Netflix is planning to go all in on KPop. Along with talks of sequels and an ever-growing wave of merchandise, the streamer submitted the mid-movie song “Golden” for Academy Award consideration. Both may also wind up jumping to live-action; Expedition had a movie announced months before the game’s release, while Netflix is reportedly mulling over a remake with human actors. [Read more]
Epic Universe’s Monster Lore Gives Us the Best Possible Dark Universe
By Sabina Graves
When you visit Epic Universe’s Dark Universe, you get hints of a story that’s so mysterious you’ll want to keep coming back to learn more. In Darkmoor Village, where monsters and humans co-exist—barely—the relationship between the villagers, the mad scientist in her castle with her monsters, and the vampires below is a very fragile menagerie of the macabre.
When io9 visited Darkmoor during Epic Universe’s opening week, we couldn’t help but wonder if the dense canon introduced would offer some insight into Universal’s abandoned Dark Universe film franchise. It turns out that some elements in the attractions, details in the land offerings, and immersive interactions echo what was once supposed to herald an Avengers-like assembly of the Universal Monsters on the big screen. [Read more]
Death Stranding 2 Is Hideo Kojima’s Most Refined and Relentless Vision Yet
By Isaiah Colbert
When Hideo Kojima—the man fashioned into a video game auteur out of his work on Metal Gear Solid—launched his debut title under the newly formed Kojima Productions in 2019, Death Stranding arrived shrouded in mystery and hype. Every Death Stranding trailer was full of cryptic imagery and spectral apparitions, and its stacked cast featuring Norman Reedus, Léa Seydoux, and Mads Mikkelsen set expectations sky-high. It was also the first title to come from the creator following a messy and public exodus from Konami. Would Kojima once again rewrite the rules of game design?
Upon release, Death Stranding didn’t disappoint so much as it defied prediction. At its core, it was an immersive, slow-burning post-apocalyptic courier simulator. Players took control of Sam Porter Bridges, a pulp comics-esque naming convention of a protagonist suffering from aphenphosmphobia, an extreme fear of being touched, tasked with completing a herculean cross country trek across haunted landscapes by plagued eldritch horrors with the help of a baby in a container on his chest—avoiding environmental hazards and balancing parcels on every available piece of real estate on his body to “reconnect America.” Reductively, Death Stranding is regarded in gaming circles as a “triple-A” indie game, with a weird (but not overly confusingly dense) world-building serving as the connective tissue propelling every careful footstep on Sam’s odyssey. What Death Stranding lacks in conventional thrills, it made up for with sheer conceptual weight. [Read more]
Walt Disney Returns as a Surreal Animatronic for Disneyland’s 70th Anniversary
By Sabina Graves
As of this week, Walt Disney returns to his original Magic Kingdom, with a little help from the magic-makers at Imagineering.
Through the audio-animatronics technology Walt Disney introduced when he opened Disneyland 70 years ago, the evolution of the show robots has gone from static positioning with some movements, as first seen on the singing birds in the Enchanted Tiki Room, to a roaming animatronic of Uncle Walt. Stationed in the Main Street Opera House, the (m)animatronic is the crown jewel of the Walt Disney – A Magical Life show, where he, along with the help of Disney CEO Bob Iger as the program’s narrator, gets to sit and stand front and center to share his story in his words. [Read more]
Ghost of Yotei Is a Stronger, Self-Assured Sequel
By Justin Carter
There was a moment early on in Ghost of Yotei where I knew it’d won me over. As Atsu, I wasn’t hunting down the Yotei Six who killed my family and left me for dead back in my youth; I was taking on a simple bounty who’d managed to get the better of me. I was all set to watch him plunge his katana in my back and restart the swordfight. Instead, a wolf jumped in out of nowhere, biting him and granting me full health so I could get back up and resume the fight and get my bounty. [Read more]
The Best Disney Park Ride Overlays, and Where to Find Them
By Sabina Graves
Seasonal and promotional ride overlays are now ways to draw in more people to revisit beloved attractions at Disney’s parks or give passholders a reason to come back over and over. Over time some have had more longevity than others, as the most popular overlay continues to be Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday, which has Jack Skellington and friends take over the West Coast haunt with his spooky Christmas shenanigans. Meanwhile, the haunted version of Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy seems to have exorcised its spirit—it just might have been a tad too scary, while Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain stays beating out the rest. [Read more]
Mass Effect 2 Helped Change What Being an RPG Meant
By Justin Carter
The Mass Effect series has always held a special, and often divisive spot in fans’ hearts. BioWare’s sci-fi RPG saga blew up with its first game back in 2007, and its sequel took the franchise to bigger, more mainstream heights. In the years since that game’s release, it’s cast a long shadow—not just over its own franchise and creator, but the larger RPG space, particularly those from western developers. [Read more]
Back to the Future Returns to Universal Studios Hollywood With an Incredible Immersive Experience
By Sabina Graves
With Back to the Future: Destination Hill Valley, Universal delivers on the promise of bringing you into the movies in a new, impactful way. The immersive experience is a triumph and you won’t want to leave.
You get on the studio tour and it becomes a time traveling tram that drops you into the moment that Marty McFly arrives and through the events of Back to the Future on the courthouse square where the Robert Zemeckis film was shot. Through roaming actors portraying George, Lorraine, Biff, and Doc, we get to see iconic moments recreated and be a part of them. I got to chat with my childhood crush George McFly and turned into a total shy mess as he asked if I was going to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance. The storytelling propels forward as you are able to encourage him to ask Lorraine to go with him and help with his writing before we see the hilarious hijinks of Lorraine hitting on Marty, her future son who she wants to go to the dance with. Biff shows up and causes mayhem while fans spectate and quote along. [Read more]
Deus Ex Did Good Work, and I Wish It Could Do More
By Justin Carter
For as many long-running franchises were born during the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era—your Assassin’s Creeds and Borderlands, to name a few—some old series tried making a return. Among those was Deus Ex, a series of cyberpunk role-playing games which just turned 20 years old and had an unfortunately short-lived return with a duology that under better circumstances, would’ve been a trilogy. [Read more]
Books, Art, and Toys
The full package – Regal Reobot
The Story Behind the Funniest Indiana Jones Prop Replica You’ve Ever Seen
By Germain Lussier
Indiana Jones is always on the hunt for rare antiquities. He’s found the Golden Idol, Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail, and so much more. All of which makes prop replicas of those things rather obvious. But, for the Indiana Jones fan who wants to be like their favorite adventuring archaeologist and get something more rare and specific, how about a clothes hanger? [Read more]
For Sale: One Book of the Dead, Slightly Used
By Cheryl Eddy
That little getaway in the woods sure would have been much less eventful if Ash Williams and his pals hadn’t decided to read passages out of that creepy old book someone left behind. But we’re so glad they did—thereby awakening the forces of darkness, sparking the events of The Evil Dead and its sequels, launching Bruce Campbell into the goofy action hero pantheon, and giving horror fans endless delights over the past 40-plus years. And now, you can own the actual prop that started it all! [Read more]
You Have to Check Out These Insanely Detailed Pop Culture Sculptures
By Germain Lussier
Play-Doh is not generally considered a pathway to a career in art, but it was exactly that for Brad Hill. Years ago, the aspiring artist was gifted the popular children’s toy and, as a thank you, molded some of it into a head. “I was like, ‘Oh wait. That’s kind of fun,’” Hill said. “Every day, I’d just wake up and sculpt a head out of Play-Doh. And I thought, ‘Well, this isn’t sustainable.’” He was wrong. Fifteen years later, Hill’s work has gone all over the internet, and this week he’s having a retrospective art show featuring not just brand new work, but pieces from throughout his still blossoming career. [Read more]
Being a Manga Letterer Is More Than Having a Fun Job
By Isaiah Colbert
When people read manga, they often focus on the Instagram caption-worthy one-liners and larger-than-life illustrations that fill their pages. What usually goes unnoticed in picking up a manga is the work that goes into its lettering and graphic design, done by the folks who pour their craftsmanship into typesetting popular Japanese manga for Western audiences.
We spoke with professional letterers Brandon Bovia (The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All, Dragon Ball Super, Kaiju No. 8), Evan Hayden (Battle Angel Alita, Land of Lustrous, Akira), Sara Linsley (Kamudo), Aidan Clarke (Otaku Elf, Neo Faust, Les Miserable), Barri Shrager (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?), Kyla Aiko (Dandadan, Gokurakugai, RuriDragon), and Finn K. (Shinobi Undercover, Dear Anemone) about the challenges of typesetting the best manga in the world. [Read more]
How the Grinch Stole Modern Christmas
By Sabina Graves
He’s a meme one, Mr. Grinch, or at least that’s the current pop culture identity of the iconic Dr. Seuss creation.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the beloved illustrated Seuss book that many of us first experienced as a story read to us as children, initially became a cultural phenomenon thanks to its timeless themes about how Christmas can be found not only in gifts but also in the hearts of all—even the grumpiest of green meanies. [Read more]
If you’re looking for excellent 2025 releases to watch while you’re home for the holidays, look no further than Netflix. Warner Bros.’ (almost) new owner has several fantastic original films now streaming, from Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and the George Clooney-starring Jay Kelly to Jyn Erso and Owen Lars (Felicity Jones and Joel Edgerton) in Train Dreams, as well as KPop Demon Hunters and more.
The best of the bunch, though, might be Rian Johnson’s third Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) returns to solve another murder, with a star-studded cast and more twists and turns than ever. It’s our favorite of the bunch, and part of that is a perfect Star Wars joke that comes about halfway through the film.
We won’t spoil how the film ends, but this does involve a mid-movie reveal.
About halfway through the film, we learn that Cy (Daryl McCormack) is the son of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). In a flashback, we watch the social media-savvy Cy tell his father about how they can use social media to make him into a celebrity. Possibly even the president. “Together we can build a real empire, as father and son,” Cy tells Wicks. We then cut to the present, where Father Jud (Josh O’Connor) says what the audience is thinking. “Like in Star Wars?” Cy then replies, “Yeah, exactly, like the Rebels.” And Jud gives him that look of, “I think you mean Empire, but we’ll let it go.”
In the context of the film, the joke works because it’s funny and tells us a bit about Cy, Wicks’ plan, and Jud’s understanding. But it also works on another level.
Before the Knives Out films, writer-director Rian Johnson made a little film called Star Wars: The Last Jedi. That film was, in some circles, wildly misinterpreted. People were mad that Luke Skywalker sacrificed himself, when that was the most Jedi thing he could have done. People were mad about the long scene at Canto Bight, when it was crucial to Finn’s journey. People were mad at Snoke being killed, when that was the exact type of bold storytelling that made The Empire Strikes Back everyone’s favorite Star Wars film. The list goes on and on.
And so, Johnson putting in a joke about this man wildly misinterpreting Star Wars feels very pointed. Maybe even cathartic. Cy is an idiot, and, well, maybe Johnson feels similarly about other people, too. Or, maybe, Star Wars just works differently depending on who is watching it. Whatever the case, having such a quick aside become so layered is pure Rian Johnson.
See that joke, and many others, in one of the best films of 2025, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,streaming on Netflix.
Just in time for the holidays, Star Wars is celebrating in style with a cutesy recreation of the iconic Death Star trench run from A New Hope rendered as if it was painstakingly made out of gingerbread. But a simple festive sweet treat, this ain’t: it’s the first in a volley of shorts for a new animated miniseries, Star Wars Minis.
Lucasfilm has released the first of the shorts, a brief side-by-side comparison of the trench run sequences from the original Star Wars with the gingerbread recreation. It’s very cute, from the gingerbread cameos of Luke, Han, and Vader, to the gumdrop proton torpedoes fired to destroy the battle station (which blows up with a suitably adorable cookie aftershock ring).
But the short is really just a herald for a new series of similarly ideated shorts called Star Wars Minis, which will be less festively inclined. An accompanying behind-the-scenes video from ILM frames the new shorts a series of ways to explore beloved moments from across Star Wars film and TV in new styles and materials, utilizing new technologies developed by ILM.
Have no fear about “new technologies” just yet, in the wake of Disney’s attempts to embrace generative AI before the tech bubble bursts: Star Wars Minis looks to be modelling things actually crafted by ILM first, from printed, chibi-fied models of C-3PO and R2-D2 to hand-knitted crochet dolls of Yoda, Grogu, and more. The latter style definitely seems to be the focus of this teaser, with knitted riffs on multiple scenes from Phantom Menace, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, as well as The Mandalorian rendered in digital fuzzy felt.
It’s a fun way to create short little Star Wars riffs, especially with fun technological solutions to deliver them on a similarly smaller scale.
Star Wars: Starfighter is getting ready to hit the ground running.
Filmmaker Shawn Levy took to Instagram on Thursday to celebrate the forthcoming feature having wrapped filming. Ryan Gosling stars in the movie that Disney is set to release theatrically on May 28, 2027.
Levy shared a photo of himself jogging along the set. He added the caption, “That’s a wrap! Headed into #Starfighter post-production like…”
The director previously marked the start of the shoot in September by sharing a photo of Gosling and co-star Flynn Gray posing in costume with the Mediterranean Sea behind them. “Somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea #Starfighter,” Levy captioned that image.
Plot details for Star Wars: Starfighter have not yet been revealed, although the stand-alone movie is set roughly five years after the events of 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was the last title from the franchise to hit theaters. Director Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian & Grogu is set for theatrical release on May 22, 2026, as a spinoff to the Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
“The reality is that this script is just so good. It has such a great story with great and original characters,” Gosling told the audience earlier this year at Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo. “It’s filled with so much heart and adventure, and there just really is not a more perfect filmmaker for this particular story than Shawn.”
Jonathan Tropper wrote the script for the movie that Levy has been developing since 2022. Levy and Kathleen Kennedy serve as producers.
Levy’s recent directorial credits include Disney’s massive hit Deadpool & Wolverine and Netflix’s The Adam Project.
Star Wars has a beloved and peculiar history with racing games, from the iconic Racer and its sequel to the bizarre Super Bombad Racing. That legacy is growing next year with the release of a brand-new racing game, Galactic Racer.
If you thought Fate of the Old Republic was going to be the only shocker from the galaxy far, far away at the Game Awards tonight, Lucasfilm and Fuse Games announced Star Wars: Galactic Racer, a new racing game set after the events of the original Star Wars trilogy.
Described as a “runs-based” racing game, Galactic Racer will see players cast as Shade, a racer who joins the Galactic League, an underground racing circuit bankrolled by the criminal syndicates of the Outer Rim. There, Shade finds a rival in Kestar, who wishes to use the criminal pull of the League to further his own power. Also, Sebulba’s here! Somehow, everyone returned.
As well as a single-player story campaign, Galactic Racer will also feature a PVP mode where players build their own repulsorcraft and reputation alike against other players.
“From the beginning, Star Wars has drawn inspiration from racing culture, from podracing to high-speed chases across the galaxy,” said Douglas Reilly, Lucasfilm Games VP said in a statement. “With Star Wars: Galactic Racer, the team at Fuse Games has captured that spirit and elevated it into a wholly new form of racing adventure. We can’t wait for fans to experience it.”
Galactic Racer releases for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and X, and PC sometime in 2026.
(CNN) — Disney is taking a $1 billion equity stake in OpenAI, while also striking a deal that would allow its famous characters be used on Sora, the AI company’s video generation platform.
Disney’s investment in OpenAI is the first such major licensing agreement for Sora.
Under the agreement, users of OpenAI’s shortform video-generating social media network Sora will be allowed to make videos using more than 200 Disney animated characters. Those characters including Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Disney Princesses like Ariel, Belle, and Cinderella, characters from Frozen, Moana, and Toy Story. Animated characters from Marvel and Lucasfilm, including Black Panther and Star Wars characters like Yoda are included as well – although the agreement does not include any talent likenesses or voices.
Users of OpenAI’s popular chatbot ChatGPT will also be able to ask the bot to create images using the Disney characters.
“The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry, and through this collaboration with OpenAI we will thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works,” Disney CEO Robert A. Iger, CEO said as part of a statement.
OpenAI, which has come under scrutiny for copyright violations – and also for striking massive ‘circular’ deals leading to fears of an AI bubble – said the deal shows how the creative community and AI can get along.
“Disney is the global gold standard for storytelling, and we’re excited to partner to allow Sora and ChatGPT Images to expand the way people create and experience great content,” said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. “This agreement shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to promote innovation that benefits society, respect the importance of creativity, and help works reach vast new audiences.”
Shortly after the announcement, Iger and Altman both sat down with CNBC’s David Faber, during which the Disney boss stressed that the deal “does not, in any way, represent a threat to the creators.”
“In fact, the opposite, I think it honors them and respects them, in part because there’s a license fee associated with it,” Iger said, later adding that the goal is to “continue to honor, respect, value the creative community in general.”
Iger also stressed that the deal allows Disney to “be comfortable that OpenAI is putting guardrails essentially around how these are used,” adding that, “really, there’s nothing for us to be concerned about from a consumer perspective.” Altman, too, stressed the presence of guardrails, telling Faber that “it’s very important that we enable Disney to set and evolve those guardrails over time, but they will, of course, be in there.”
The deal is exclusive, per Iger, at least in part. The Disney CEO hinted that “there is exclusivity, basically, at the beginning of the three-year agreement,” but remained mum on what that means. Asked if OpenAI is pursuing similar deals with other companies, Altman said, “I won’t rule out anything in the future, but we think this alone is going to be a wonderful start.”
Disney has previously sued AI companies for using their intellectual property. On Monday, the company sent Google a cease and desist letter, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The cease and desist letter claims the company’s AI products, including its image and video generating products Veo and Nano Banana, are infringing Disney’s copyrights “on a massive scale,” by allowing users to create images and videos depicting their characters. The letter alleges that Google has “refused to implement any technological measures to mitigate or prevent copyright infringement.”
In response, a Google spokesperson said they have “a longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Disney, and will continue to engage with them.”
More generally, we use public data from the open web to build our AI and have built additional innovative copyright controls like Google-extended and Content ID for YouTube, which give sites and copyright holders control over their content.”
Disney had already sent similar cease and desist letters to Meta and Character.AI. In June, Disney and Universal sued AI photo generation company Midjourney, alleging the company violated copyright law.
This story has been updated with additional developments and context.
Last week, Lucasfilm shocked the world with the announcement that its plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Wars with a theatrical re-release would mark the first official re-release of the original theatrical cut of A New Hope for the first time in decades. But the legacy of tweaks George Lucas has made to Star Wars is as long as Star Wars‘ existence itself… and what “original” actually means has been changing, from a certain point of view, from the very beginning.
No one, least of all Lucas, could have predicted the way Star Wars would change pop culture as we knew it when it first released in 1977. The movie that made it to theaters was one of a thousand compromises, with things tweaked and cut and given up on as Lucas strove to realize his ambitious ideas on screen. The moment Star Wars hit theaters, the director was not done pushing what he could change, emboldened by its immediate success—establishing a long history of his revisits to the movie that changed his career forever. Here’s a timeline of the changes made, from 1977 to the film’s latest version streaming on Disney+.
1977
After Star Wars‘ release in May of 1977, multiple changes were made between its initial launch and the film’s wider theatrical run later in the year: four visual errors in the film were corrected, including new laser effects and explosions during the Millennium Falcon‘s escape from Mos Eisley, a recomposition of the matte painting used to depict the exterior of the Massassi temple on Yavin IV, and changes to the cloudscape in the shot of the Rebel fighters leaving the base to assault the Death Star. The last change made didn’t affect the film itself, but its closing credits sequence, which was completely redone with new formatting and spacing.
Lucas also made multiple dialogue and audio changes between the 35mm Dolby Stereo and 70mm 6-track audio versions of the films, and the mono mix created in the summer of 1977. The changes were minor compared to audio tweaks to come over the next 50 years, largely adjusting the timing of certain lines of dialogue and effects, rather than radically changing anything outright, although some voiceover lines were altered for characters like Stormtroopers and C-3PO. Perhaps the most identifiable differences include a complete re-recording of Shelagh Fraser’s lines as Aunt Beru, done out of a belief by Lucas that her original takes sounded too British, and a correction so that Luke accurately says, “Blast it, Wedge, where are you?” during the Death Star assault, rather than cursing Biggs (that will become important later!).
1981
The first significant change to Star Wars is when it officially becomes A New Hope. Re-released in theaters after the launch of Empire Strikes Back a year prior, Star Wars‘ opening crawl was updated to include the subtitled “Episode IV: A New Hope” to match Empire‘s own use of the episodic titling. There were several other updates to the opening crawl beyond this most obvious one: a new starfield background was used, to match Empire‘s, as was the Star Wars title card, and a minor alteration in the crawl to capitalize “Rebel” in its second paragraph.
Those were not the only tweaks for the re-release, though: the opening shots of the Tantive IV‘s pursuit were recomposited to remove some visible bordering, as were slight changes to some effects like engine glow and the positioning of planets in the background of the chase.
1982-1993
A New Hope‘s first home releases also included some minor changes. The initial VHS, Betamax, and CED releases of the film used the 35mm Dolby Stereo audio track, removing a C-3PO line added in the mono mix when R2-D2 displays the Death Star’s internal layouts, where the protocol droid explains that shutting down one of the station’s tractor beam generators would free the Millennium Falcon. The limitations of CED and Laserdisc as a format meant those initial releases in particular also had a peculiar change: the film was sped up to fit on a singular disc, cutting its run time from 121 minutes to under two hours.
The laserdisc releases of A New Hope utilized a newly remastered audio track, but there were further changes in various iterations for the laserdisc release of the film over the remainder of the 1980s and early 1990s. The 1988 widescreen laserdisc release of A New Hope in America was based on the master used for a Japanese release from 1986, which had been adjusted to account for Japanese language subtitling. Attempting to correct the changes ultimately created an issue where the viewable section of the screen shrunk over the course of the film, but this was corrected in a 1992 re-release.
A 1993 laserdisc release of the entire trilogy, dubbed The Definitive Collection, used yet another newly supervised audio mix for A New Hope, this time incorporating elements from all three original Dolby Stereo, 6-track, and mono mixes, including the latter’s dialogue changes. These same editions of the film were rereleased on laserdisc and VHS in 1995, marking the last time the “original” versions of all three films would be available in a widely accessible format for another decade.
We’ve reached the big one: the release of the Star Wars special editions. Beyond remastering and restoration of all three films for fidelity’s sake, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi all received a swath of cosmetic updates to their visual effects, incorporating new, reworked, and extended shots that utilized CGI (including some that incorporated tie-in elements from other parts of the since-established Expanded Universe tie-in media, such as the presence of swoop bikes and Dash Rendar’s Outrider in Mos Eisley from Shadows of the Empire).
But perhaps more infamously, each film also received some narrative tweaks and additions, many of which are still debated to this day. We’ll stick to A New Hope, as that’s what we’re focusing on here: two significant added scenes include Han Solo’s encounter with Jabba in Mos Eisley, now featuring a CG recreation of the character’s appearance from Return of the Jedi (deleted scenes from the original film that this footage was taken from portrayed Jabba as a human, leading to an awkward addition here where Han “accidentally” steps on Jabba’s tail while walking behind him) as well as a brief appearance by Boba Fett in the background, and a scene added to the Yavin IV base where Luke and Biggs reunite with each other, giving the latter’s death during the Death Star assault more dramatic weight. The Special Edition cut also restores the “Blast it, Biggs” line change initially corrected in the mono mix of the film, presumably to further display Luke and Biggs’ bond.
Then there is, of course, the most debated tweak of all: the Special Edition adds an initial shot fired by Greedo during his cantina encounter with Han, moments before Han pulls the trigger on his own blaster to kill the bounty hunter, to create an impression that Han acted in self-defense rather than pragmatism. We’re not going to get into it, but we will revisit it over the course of the rest of this timeline, because people will spend years getting angry about it.
2004
The original trilogy’s first DVD releases, based on the Special Editions, incorporated further changes beyond remastering for the format, altering some of the additions from the 1997 releases while also providing some connective elements to the prequel trilogy, in full swing at the time of the release.
In the case of A New Hope, many of the changes are broadly audio-based, tweaking the effects on certain lines of dialogue or incorporating new sounds at certain moments—perhaps most significantly in terms of audio was a total rework of the voice filter used on Darth Vader, to better align A New Hope with the rest of the original trilogy—as well as corrections on color grading errors introduced in some sequences, like a pinkish hue over the scenes depicting Luke and Obi-Wan’s arrival in Mos Eisley. A newly updated CG model of Jabba to replace the one used in the Special Edition’s additions was also included, and for the first time, English language signage seen throughout the film was replaced with Aurebesh typography, marking a radical overhaul of the history of the written word in Star Wars.
Then, of course, Tatooine is also the home of another change: the Han and Greedo encounter is altered yet again so that the two fire almost simultaneously (although Greedo is still, by the blink of an eye, the first to pull the trigger). No one continues to be satisfied by this.
2006
The 2004 DVD cuts of the original trilogy were re-released for a limited time two years later, with one significant addition. As well as newly remastered versions of the 2004 editions, each release came with a bonus disc containing the so-called original versions of the films, available for the first time in a home format since 1995.
In actuality, these versions weren’t quite the originals. Although A New Hope reinstated the original, pre-1981 opening crawl from a remaining print, the rest of the audio and visual presentation was derived from the versions made for the 1993 laserdisc transfers of the original trilogy released as The Definitive Collection. Until 2027, this will remain the last official release of any version of the pre-Special Edition versions of the film.
The saga’s release on Blu-ray for the first time introduced yet further changes beyond those included in 2004 and 1997. Again, these were broadly audio tweaks rather than anything particularly significant (such as Obi-Wan’s krayt dragon call to scare off the Tusken Raiders, changed again from a tweak made in the 2004 mix—the same scene includes an awkwardly framed piece of rock placed in front of R2-D2 in the small alcove he initially hides from Obi-Wan in).
That doesn’t mean the Han and Greedo scene doesn’t get yet further tweaks, though. A few frames from the moment of blaster fire are shaved off, bringing the timing of the altered scene back closer in line to the original, even as it keeps the near-simultaneous, Greedo-first tweaks introduced in 2004. No one continues to be satisfied by this.
2019
The launch of Disney+ in the United States brought with it yet another alteration of the film, part of a process to restore the film to 4K streaming quality. The streaming version of A New Hope arguably contains some of the slightest alterations to the post-Special Edition version of the film released over the course of the 21st century, broadly adjusting color correction issues on scenes introduced in the 1997, 2004, and 2011 releases.
That does not mean the most-tweaked scene in Star Wars history got off scott free, however. Now Han and Greedo’s encounter climaxes with an awkward cut to Greedo shouting “Ma Klounkee” before he fires. The scene otherwise maintains the pacing of the 2011 iteration, although it also removes a very brief visible shot of the Greedo dummy before it violently explodes. Not only does no one continue to be satisfied by this, they’re mostly comedically confused, birthing a new Star Wars meme in the process.
2027
That brings us back to last weeks news of that the previously announced 50th anniversary screenings of A New Hope will now not just arrive earlier in 2027, but with a version of the “original” film. As with everything we’ve gone through above, what that means with Star Wars certainly remains in flux, and Lucasfilm has yet to provide any kind of details about this release beyond its existence. A statement released by the studio has simply described it as “a newly restored version of the classic Star Wars (1977) theatrical release.”
We’ve got two years before we find out what the galaxy far, far away’s latest definition of “original” is.
