We thought we saw the last of Kylo Ren, aka Ben Solo, in Star Wars, but he almost came back. In a new interview, Adam Driver reveals he recruited none other than Steven Soderbergh to make a movie that would’ve followed the character after The Rise of Skywalker, but ultimately high-level Disney executives killed the idea.
“It was called The Hunt for Ben Solo and it was really cool,” Driver told the Associated Press. “But it is no more, so I can finally talk about it.” Wait, what? It’s true. io9 confirmed Driver’s story with an independent source.
“I had been talking about doing another [Star Wars movie] since 2021,” Driver said. “Kathleen (Kennedy) had reached out. I always said, ‘With a great director and a great story, I’d be there in a second. I loved that character and loved playing him.’” So, Driver talked to his Logan Lucky collaborator, the Oscar-winning Soderbergh, who outlined a story with writer Rebecca Blunt which was pitched to Lucasfilm executives.
They liked the idea and hired frequent Soderbergh collaborator Scott Z. Burns to write a script. Driver said it was “one of the coolest (expletive) scripts I had ever been a part of.”
Classic Star Wars character, Lucasfilm’s approval, killer director, and script. What went wrong?
“We presented the script to Lucasfilm. They loved the idea. They totally understood our angle and why we were doing it,” Driver said. “We took it to [Disney executives] Bob Iger and Alan Bergman and they said no. They didn’t see how Ben Solo was alive. And that was that.”
Driver even said that they wanted to make it smaller and more affordable than most other Star Wars movies. “We wanted to be judicial about how to spend money and be economical with it and do it for less than most but in the same spirit of what those movies are, which is handmade and character-driven,” Driver said. “Empire Strikes Back being, in my opinion, the standard of what those movies were. But he is, to me, one of my favorite directors of all time. He lives his code, lives his ethics, doesn’t compromise.”
In the same piece, Soderbergh said, “I really enjoyed making the movie in my head. I’m just sorry the fans won’t get to see it.”
So are we, Steven. So. Are. We.
This story was updated after publication when we got independent confirmation of its veracity.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is not a Star Wars museum. George Lucas is adamant about that. But imagine the riots if the state-of-the-art showplace opened and contained not one scrap of the galaxy far, far away? Even Palpatine wouldn’t dare pull a troll on that level, and Lucas himself is very aware of the optics.
In a new interview the Wall Street Journal conducted with Lucas and his wife and collaborator Mellody Hobson, the outlet described the Lucas Museum as spotlighting “a sprawling lineage of artists that the filmmaker feels deep kinship with, from Stone Age cave painters to masters of futuristic fantasy,” including “a collection Lucas started 60 years ago with the comic art he could afford in college. Among the 40,000-plus pieces are 160 works by Norman Rockwell, whose vignettes of American life are the epitome of narrative art for Lucas.”
The galleries are arranged “around themes like family, love, work, and play, with artworks that explore the myths and stories that bind society.”
Like, say, the stories of Star Wars, which have certainly united (and just as often divided) fans for decades?
After noting that Lucas is the museum’s curator (“Earlier this year, the experienced museum director who’d been hired to oversee curation stepped down after Lucas opted to do the job himself”), the WSJ reported that “one inaugural exhibit will feature the designs of Star Wars vehicles.”
Yep, just the one so far. We did know there’d be a Naboo Starfighter on hand, among other Lucas-adjacent pop culture items—but apparently, we’re lucky to be getting any Star Wars at all.
“It’s one gallery out of 33. And I did it grudgingly,” Lucas explained.
And that’s because he’s no dummy: “I didn’t want people to come to the museum and say, ‘Where’s the Star Wars?’”
You can learn more about the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art at its official website, which does not yet list a specific opening date other than 2026.
“This story happened a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. It is already over. Nothing can be done to change it.”
In a single paragraph prefacing his take on the events of Revenge of the Sith, Matthew Stover got Star Wars. As resonant now—in the week the Revenge of the Sith novelization launched its own celebratory, deluxe edition—as it was upon release 20 years ago, Stover’s adaptation has maintained a legendary status among Star Wars fans for good reason.
It goes beyond a typical movie tie-in retelling (the book came out over a month before the film’s release), fleshing out details from either earlier script drafts or left to interpretation by the final film. Its increased interiority adds extra layers of depth to our main characters, amplifying the tragic misinterpretations and misunderstandings that propel Revenge of the Sith‘s broader story of betrayal and loss. And of course, Stover’s own knowledge of the Expanded Universe at the time put him in stark contrast to George Lucas’ own belief that the extended material and his own films were distinctly separated things, letting the writer drop in mentions and connections that more closely enmeshed over a decade of comics and books into the climax of the prequel saga.
This doesn’t make it inherently better than the film itself, but simply an alternate point of view of its narrative, an enrichment of a similar text rather than a supplanting of it. But that also ties into the actual thing that makes Stover’s novel so compelling and fun to read, even all these years after the film has been burned into the canon of Star Wars (both what Stover was working with at the time and the rebooted interpretation of it all): Revenge of the Sith‘s novelization treats Star Wars as a historical myth it has been for generations and, more crucially, as a fantastical fable that envisions its characters as larger-than-life archetypes of their genre—in this case, a tragedy.
From the very moment the book begins, Stover is playing with this idea that what is being told to you, the audience, is a piece of history, with an immutable essence at its core that makes the inevitability of its sadness all the more compelling. And yet beyond that core, it mythologizes its retelling of these events with a heightened, fantastical sense of the surreal. The interweaving between moments of second- and third-person narration feels at times like a Greek chorus and at others like an intimate envisioning of the events being described to you. Stover’s work is at its best when it dives deep into the abstract: characters fall away from simply being who they are and take on grand, conceptual identities, avatars of darkness and light and emotion itself, drawing upon the stories of the Expanded Universe to reframe Palpatine’s machinations as the culminations of thousands of years of cyclical conflict between good and evil while making you feel like you’re reading the latest chapter of some long, majestic epic.
Multiple times throughout the book you are told what it feels like to be one character or another, rather than having that information communicated to you by their actions or even by the interior dialogues, broadening and blurring the lines so that it’s less like you are getting a straight explanation of these supposed ancient, immutable events and more like an almost hazy retelling, made grandiose by both flowery prose and a feeling as if this story has been told and retold and heightened by the passage of time, transforming from history into myth itself.
Star Wars as fantasy over science fiction is an idea that has been baked into the story of the franchise from the very beginning, of course. There are spaceships and blaster rifles, but it’s a story of space wizards and their diametrically opposed magics of dark and light—the story of Star Wars is as much one as it is the other. Stover’s mythopoetic framing of Revenge of the Sith plays into that fantasy by doing what the very best Star Wars material does: treating the franchise by its opening crawl of being a long, long time ago, a piece of history that these stories are documentation of.
A lot of some of the best Star Wars stories of the past few years have taken this idea in a more grounded sense. The brilliant Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by Dr. Chris Kempshall last year took Star Wars‘ story and made it a literal historical text, an analysis of its world and narrative as if looking at it as a piece of real-world history, and engaged the audience to think about the Star Wars universe as such. Likewise, Andor treated Star Wars‘ history in its examination of the rise of resistance to the Empire as a direct parallel commentary to our own past (and, more grimly, the ways that history can be repeated).
But the most similar thing to Stover’s work on Revenge of the Sith is perhaps another prequel source in The Acolyte, with its Rashomon-esque retelling of the events that drove apart young sisters Osha and Mae Aniseya, asking us as an audience to not implicitly trust everything we’re seeing, that stories can in fact take on a mutability and heightened emotionality rather than perceiving a definitive truth. These all still come at the same idea from different perspectives: what does it actually mean that Star Wars is a history decided a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away? Does it mean treating it as we treat our own? Does it mean mythologizing it as a fable, a story of conceptual heroes and ideas that can be twisted and reinterpreted in retelling across generations?
What has made Star Wars so enduring as our own modern cultural myth is that it can be approached in both of these ways, and more, if we’re willing to trust in those interpretations beyond what is a canonical truth and what isn’t. And it is in turn what makes Stover’s Revenge of the Sith so compelling now, as it was 20 years ago. Something like these events may have happened a long time ago, but what we’re reading now is just one interpretation of many, transcended into a myth decades in the making.
To celebrate his legacy, we’re taking a walk down memory lane with a collection and reminder of the best of a career filled with all-time bests, but in particular his work from across the realms of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror (plus a few more we couldn’t resist).
Okay, we’re cheating a little to start off—but it’s too perfect not to include here. This Dark Tower art wasn’t for a Dark Tower movie but instead for use in the opening of the 2007 King adaptation The Mist. Thomas Jane’s David Drayton, an illustrator himself, is seen working on this hypothetical movie poster before things kick off.
Just another absolute icon of ’80s poster work—there’s just so much going on here, and all of it good, but Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton standing tall over it all is priceless.
In many ways, Struzan is as Star Wars as any concept artist or designer was to the galaxy far, far away: his poster work, from the original’s re-release all the way to the special poster he crafted for The Force Awakens post-retirement, is some of the most defining imagery of the whole franchise. We’re focusing on theatrical posters here, but we’d be remiss not to mention the dozens more illustrations Struzan did to cover the books of Star Wars‘ expanded universe (including that sumptuous cover to the wonderfully infamous Courtship of Princess Leia).
Struzan first started painting this artwork for Blade Runner‘s original theatrical release in 1982, but it was ultimately passed on, leaving the piece unfinished for nearly two decades. When Ridley Scott returned to Blade Runner to release the director’s cut of the film, he went back to Struzan to ask if the piece could finally be completed, giving it the spotlight it deserved.
Struzan also provided this classic depiction of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy for Hocus Pocus‘ 1993 release.
If Struzan became part of Star Wars through his posters, then he is the Indiana Jones series. Struzan’s style perfectly captures the romanticized adventure of Indy, and his poster work defined the visual language of the series for so many people. Unfortunately, Struzan was firmly into retirement and couldn’t work on Dial of Destiny, but like with Star Wars, he illustrated tons of ancillary work for the series, including book covers and artwork for the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV series. A special shoutout, however, has to go to his iconic poster for the iconic Indy ride at Disneyland, Indiana Jones Adventure.
Struzan illustrated the posters for the whole Back to the Future trilogy, cleverly building on his idea for the first film to slowly incorporate more and more characters and detailing as the movies progressed—making for a set that any poster collector simply can’t just own one of.
There are so many fun textural details to Struzan’s work on the early ’90s classic, which, like so many of his best posters, draws on tons of elements from the film itself—but that treasure map backing is just absolutely perfect.
If Struzan was iconic for his ability to capture movie star likenesses—actual human beings—then seeing him turn that craft to the Muppets across several of their most beloved movies was a true delight.
And again, playing against type—a singular figure, no likeness to capture—Struzan ultimately made one of the most chilling and iconic horror movie posters of all time.
The Goonies poster, much like the film itself, has grown in appreciation with time, especially with its very clever setupconveying Struzan’s usual montage of figures in a unique way.
Struzan became solid friends with Guillermo del Toro, star Ron Perlman, and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola after he was commissioned to develop the poster for the original Hellboy movie, even if it was ultimately never used. He returned in a roundabout way for The Golden Army, providing its incredibly striking SDCC-exclusive poster in 2008.
Sure, say what you will about the movie. But if this isn’t a damn good poster—another SDCC exclusive, this time for 2011. Struzan could capture Harrison Ford at any age.
Another case for Struzan making magic out of a film that hasn’t had the warmest of pop culture histories, Return to Oz is another wonderful example of Struzan turning his prowess towards less-human subjects and still delivering something incredible.
Saving one of the very best for the last of our walk through Struzan’s archives, the E.T. poster is one of the purest examples of what made the artist’s work timeless: evoking that sense of wanderlust and romantic nostalgia with every brushstroke.
At New York Comic Con today, Lucasfilm lifted the lid on a swath of new books and comics coming from the galaxy far, far away—including a brand-new story featuring Rey and Leia set during the climax of the sequel trilogy era.
Legacy, written by Madeleine Roux, will pair the young Jedi and the scion of the Skywalker family in a story set shortly after the events of The Last Jedi, as the duo go on a mission to repair Rey’s damaged lightsaber. Filled with regrets over the death of Luke Skywalker and the seemingly final embrace of the Dark Side by Kylo Ren, the new master and apprentice find themselves heading to the planet Tython and its ancient Jedi temple for answers for the path forward—and forced into a trial by fire when the First Order is hot on their trail and intent on extinguishing the light of the Jedi from the galaxy once and for all.
But Legacy was not the only novel announcement at the panel. Star Wars will receive its first novel explicitly marketed as a romance: Eyes Like Stars. It will be penned by Ashley Poston, but little else was revealed about the new YA book, due out in the summer of 2026, outside of it being set a year and a half before The Force Awakens.
Other highlighted book announcements included a new look at The Art of Star Wars: Andor, which received a newly updated cover (it’s due out May 2026), as well as a series of Mandalorian-themed children’s activity books, such as sticker and coloring books, as well as a rhyming board book called You’re My Little Grogu!
On the comics front, Marvel debuted first looks at covers for upcoming issues in its ongoing Jedi Knights and Legacy of Vader series, but it did offer one surprise new announcement: a Jar Jar Binks one-shot comic that will pair the manic Gungan with Ahmed Best’s other big Star Wars character, Jedi Master Kelleran Beq. Co-written by Best himself alongside Jedi Knights‘ Marc Guggenheim, the standalone comic will release on February 11, 2026.
Elsewhere in comics, tied to the upcoming release of Star Wars: Visions‘ third volume, Viz Media announced its latest Visions manga, Tsukumo. Created by the creative team behind the smash hit Ultraman manga (which was the source material for Netflix’s animated series), Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi, the manga will follow a new masked Jedi in the wake of Order 66 as he follows two droids to a mysterious “Droid Paradise” while being hunted by the rising Empire. It’s set to hit shelves July 14, 2026.
BEING NEW BALLOONS TO ONE OF THE POPULAR SHAPES EVERY YEAR IS THAT DARTH VADER BALLOON. BUT THE FUTURE IS ACTUALLY UNCERTAIN, AS THAT BALLOON IS AT THE END OF ITS LIFESPAN. SO NOW THERE’S AN EFFORT TO KEEP THE TRADITION ALIVE. PEYTON SPELLACY JOINS US LIVE FROM THE PARK WITH MORE ON THIS STORY. HEY, PEYTON. HEY, GOOD MORNING TODD, I WANT TO SHOW YOU YODA IS BEING SET UP RIGHT NOW. NOW, HIS COUNTERPART, DARTH VADER, IS NOT SO LUCKY. LIKE YOU SAID, HIS FLYING DAYS ARE NUMBERED. BUT FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES, HE’S BEEN LOOMING LARGE OVER BALLOON FIESTA PARK. HE’S A FAN FAVORITE FROM THE GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY. BUT THIS CREW SAYS HIS FLYING DAYS AREN’T OVER WITHOUT A FIGHT. THE BALLOON IS 19 YEARS OLD. IT’S REALLY A LONG TIME FOR A SHAPE, AND SO WE WE REALLY EXPECT WE CAN CONTINUE THE STORY. BENOIT LAMBERT HAS BEEN FLYING THE STAR WARS SPECIAL SHAPE SINCE 2007, AND SAYS FROM THE MOMENT HE SAW THEM, HE KNEW THE FORCE WAS STRONG WITH HIM. BUT TIME, EVEN FOR THE DARK SIDE, HAS TAKEN ITS TOLL. YOU CAN SEE IT START TO BE HARD BECAUSE THE FABRIC STARTS TO BE DEFLATED ON THE NECK, BUT IT’S PART OF THE PROCESS. DARTH VADER MAY BE GROUNDED, BUT HIS CREW ISN’T THROWING IN THE LIGHTSABER YET. THEY’RE FUNDRAISING TO REBUILD IT BECAUSE IT’S MORE THAN JUST A BALLOON. IT’S THE SHOW EVERYONE’S LOOKING FOR. WE HAVE 100 TROOPERS AROUND MY BALLOONS. DARK SIDE. IT’S THE KIDS THAT’S SEEING THE KIDS SEE ACTUAL CHARACTERS IN REAL LIFE. BUT IT’S NOT JUST FOR KIDS. FANS OF ALL AGES ARE DRAWN IN. COME ON, EVEN THE BIG KIDS COULD GET SOME BIG KIDS. I SAW THE STORMTROOPERS WITH THEIR LIGHTSABERS AND THEIR GUIDES AND I WAS LIKE, WE NEED TO FOLLOW THEM. KATRINA’S A FIRST TIMER AT FIESTA, BUT THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH HER. I EVEN HAVE A TATTOO RIGHT HERE WITH THE DEATH STAR IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SUNFLOWER. AS SOON AS I GET SOME TIME, I’M GOING TO GET ONLINE AND I’M GOING TO DONATE TO YOU GUYS BECAUSE I THINK THIS IS SOMETHING MAGICAL THAT WE NEED TO SEE EVERY YEAR. THAT PASSION, GIVING THE CREW HOPE THAT ONE DAY SOON THE SITH LORD WILL RISE AGAIN. DO YOU THINK HE’LL MAKE A RETURN? I HOPE SO, YES. THAT’S MY PLAN. YES. IF YOU WANT TO SEE THESE CHARACTERS ALONGSIDE DARTH VADER, YOU CAN DONATE ONLINE. WE HAVE THAT LINK ON OUR WEBSITE, BUT FOR NOW, LOOKS LIKE DARTH VADER AND YODA WILL BE FLYING. MAYBE STATIC, MAYBE YODA WILL BE FLYING OVER HERE AT OUR ONE MARKER REPORTING LIVE
Darth Vader balloon faces uncertain future as fans rally for its revival
The Darth Vader balloon, a fan favorite at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for nearly two decades, faces an uncertain future as its fabric deteriorates, prompting efforts to keep the tradition alive.Beniot Lambert, who has been flying the “Star Wars” special shapes since 2007, said, “So the balloon is 19 years old. The fabric starts to behold. So we are planning a way to continue the story.”Lambert noted the toll time has taken on the balloon, saying, “You can see it start to behold because the fabric starts to be deflated on the neck. But it’s part of the process.”Despite the challenges, the crew is determined to rebuild the balloon, recognizing its significance beyond just being a balloon.Video below: ‘Star Wars’ opens in theaters”We have 100 troopers around my balloons,” Lambert said.The balloon’s appeal extends beyond children, drawing fans of all ages. One first-time attendee, Katrina Bustillos, shared her excitement, saying, “I saw the stormtroopers with their lightsabers and their guides, and I was like, we need to follow them.”Bustillos, who has a tattoo of the Death Star, expressed her commitment to the cause, saying, “As soon as I get some time, I’m going to get online and I’m going to donate to you guys, because I think this is something magical that we need to see every year.”The crew remains hopeful that the Sith Lord will rise again, with Lambert expressing his optimism, “Do you think he’ll make a return? I hope so. Yes, that’s my plan.”
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —
The Darth Vader balloon, a fan favorite at the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for nearly two decades, faces an uncertain future as its fabric deteriorates, prompting efforts to keep the tradition alive.
Beniot Lambert, who has been flying the “Star Wars” special shapes since 2007, said, “So the balloon is 19 years old. The fabric starts to behold. So we are planning a way to continue the story.”
Lambert noted the toll time has taken on the balloon, saying, “You can see it start to behold because the fabric starts to be deflated on the neck. But it’s part of the process.”
Despite the challenges, the crew is determined to rebuild the balloon, recognizing its significance beyond just being a balloon.
Video below: ‘Star Wars’ opens in theaters
“We have 100 troopers around my balloons,” Lambert said.
The balloon’s appeal extends beyond children, drawing fans of all ages. One first-time attendee, Katrina Bustillos, shared her excitement, saying, “I saw the stormtroopers with their lightsabers and their guides, and I was like, we need to follow them.”
Bustillos, who has a tattoo of the Death Star, expressed her commitment to the cause, saying, “As soon as I get some time, I’m going to get online and I’m going to donate to you guys, because I think this is something magical that we need to see every year.”
The crew remains hopeful that the Sith Lord will rise again, with Lambert expressing his optimism, “Do you think he’ll make a return? I hope so. Yes, that’s my plan.”
Toy collectors always have two dates circled on their calendars: San Diego Comic-Con and New York Comic Con. That’s because the company with some of the biggest licenses in the world, Hasbro, always has a ton of incredible reveals of what fans will want to be picking up over the next few months.
Hasbro just finished its 2025 New York Comic Con panel and it didn’t disappoint, giving us some really popular Marvel characters, as well as fan-favorite deep cuts, and then a nice wide spectrum of Star Wars too. Below, we break it all down.
Marvel Legends
Marvel’s Apocalypse
“Inspired by Apocalypse’s appearance in the X-Men ’97 animated series, this 6-inch scale action figure will tower over most Marvel Legends characters at 12 inches tall and features over 25 points of articulation.” It costs $120 and is now available to pre-order on Hasbro Pulse. Expected ship date: fall 2026.
World War II Logan
“This collectible 6-inch scale Marvel figure is detailed to look like the character from Marvel’s X-Men and Wolverine comics. The Wolverine (WWII Logan) action figure is fully articulated with premium design and poseable head, arms, and legs. This Marvel action figure set comes with 7 accessories, including 3 alternate hands, alternate head, knife, satchel, and weapon accessory.” It costs $28 and is available to pre-order at 1 p.m. ET on October 10 on Hasbro Pulse. Expected ship date: fall 2025.
Multiple Inhuman Packs
Here we’ve got a pair of two-packs. There are the Medusa and Gordon figures, and the Black Bolt and Triton figures. Each set costs around $60 and is available to pre-order at 1 p.m. ET on October 21 on Hasbro Pulse. Expected ship date: fall 2025.
So Much Spider-Man
Three new Spider-Man universe figures are on the way. There’s Spider-Man 2099, Cardiac, and the Dark Avengers Spider-Man. Each costs $28. The Dark Avenger preorders at 1 p.m. ET on October 10 (with an expected ship date of fall 2025), while the other two are on October 29 (with an expected ship date of spring 2026), all at Hasbro Pulse.
And so much more…
Those are our favorites, but there were a ton of other Marvel Legends announcements. There was Phantom Rider, Warbow, Enchantress, Werewolf by Night, and Iron Man: Mark 72, too. They all cost $28 and will be available to pre-order at 1 p.m. ET on October 10 on Hasbro Pulse. Expected ship dates: fall 2025.
Star Wars
Moving to a galaxy far, far away, here’s what Hasbro has for Star Wars.
Black Series Boba Fett
“This Star Wars Hasbro action figure is detailed to look like Boba Fett from Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett. This figure comes with a removable helmet, a blaster accessory, a rifle accessory, and a jetpack with a removable rocket.” It costs $28 and will be available to pre-order at 1 p.m. ET on October 10 on Hasbro Pulse. The expected ship date is early 2026.
Black Series Darth Vader (Duel’s End)
“This Star Wars Hasbro action figure is detailed to look like Darth Vader from Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi. Comes with Vader’s signature red Lightsaber for dynamic posing on fan shelves.” It costs $28 and will be available to pre-order at 1 p.m. ET on October 10 on Hasbro Pulse. The expected ship date is early 2026.
Black Series Purge Trooper and Patrol Trooper
“This Star Wars Hasbro action figure set is detailed to look like a purge trooper and a patrol trooper from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. These figures come with two blaster accessories, a riot shield, and a shock baton with removable shock FX.” This one also pre-orders on October 10, but at 10 a.m. ET exclusively at Walmart. It’s out in 2026.
The Vintage Collection
Finally, here are two new additions to the Vintage Collection: Padme Amidala and Shaak Ti. Each costs $20 and will be available to pre-order at 1 p.m. ET on October 25 on Hasbro Pulse. The expected ship date is early 2026.
Just like each generation has its own trilogy of Star Wars films, every generation also has its own trilogy of Star Wars art. If you grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, for example, the work of Greg Hildebrandt and Roger Kastel was your favorite. For those of us who grew up in the 1990s and beyond, Drew Struzan was the man. Not only did he do the main art for the prequel trilogy, but he also did brand-new posters for the Special Editions of the original trilogy. And those images are not only some of the most iconic in the history of Star Wars, but they’re also getting a brand new limited release this week.
Bottleneck Gallery and Acme Archives have teamed up with Struzan to release limited-edition, screen-print versions of his legendary art for the original Star Wars trilogy. Three perfect posters that, when put together, make an epic image of everything good about Star Wars. They’ll be released in three separate limited editions starting at noon ET today, October 8, on BottleneckGallery.com, and here’s the breakdown.
First is the main edition. Three 24×36 inch screen prints in an edition of 750. These cost $85 each or $245 for the set.
Next are the art prints, variant editions without the titles. These are also 24×36 inch screenprints, but in an edition of 350. They cost $100 each or $290 for the set.
Finally, there’s a “brushstroke variant edition” that has a little bit of a rough-around-the-edges, painting look. These are 24×36 inch giclées and cost $260 for the set.
Now, we know what you are thinking because we thought the same thing. Those do not look like the posters we remember. The art is the same, but these have larger, more traditional title treatments instead of the gold ones created for the original Special Edition posters. Which certainly is a bit of a disappointment in terms of 1:1 nostalgia. But there are a few things to consider here.
One is that Lucasfilm is pretty strict with officially licensed items like these. For example, you can’t release an official poster that says “Raiders of the Lost Ark” anymore. It’s always got to be “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Vomit. We know. And so, we assume it’s similar to Star Wars. For the most part, Lucasfilm doesn’t really acknowledge the “Special Editions” as “Special Editions” anymore. They are just, at least for now, the only editions. So that’s probably why we get these classic logos instead of the gold ones from 1997.
Plus, Lucasfilm is famously stingy about credit blocks on products like these, and if you released these posters with the original gold logos and no credits below them, it would look weird. You need something to fill the space Struzan specifically left for the credits. So, it seems, these logos are a slightly unfortunate concession that had to be made to get these images officially released at this level of quality. It could be worse, too. It could say “A New Hope.”
Plus, if it really bothers you, you can get the non-logo versions, which are just *chef’s kiss* perfect.
Still, these are some of the best Star Wars posters of all time, and they’ve never been released in such a way. If you’d like to pick them up, they go on sale at noon ET on October 8 at Bottleneckgallery.com.
In an exclusive with Entertainment Weekly, Stover shared his new author’s note, now added to the book’s 20th anniversary re-release. In it he discusses his unique approach to writing the film as a novel with George’s Lucas’ blessing and inspiration from Greek myths.
What sets the book apart from the film is that it allowed Stover to expand on Anakin’s perspective during his fall from the light side. And it’s something that made him nervous from the start. “It had come to me during the panic attack I’d suffered after signing the contract to write this novelization, which had ignited because I’d foolishly committed to write the keystone in the arch of the Skywalker saga for the biggest audience of my career—and the entire Star Wars-loving universe would be hoping for a thrilling space opera, despite the plain fact that every main plot point had been spoiled for decades.”
Stover continued, “Add the challenge of writing a novelization without ever seeing the final movie, because the movie wasn’t done and wouldn’t be out before the book went to the printer. I would be armed with only the script and the collective Lucasfilm knowledge of Star Wars. What saved me then was my early training,” he explained, describing how the guardrails of classic theater mythology came in handy for the writer.
“More than 20 years before I signed that contract, I’d had the good fortune to study theater history under a professor who was an authority on ancient Greek drama. Every single one of the great Greek tragedians had faced exactly my trouble—their audience knew the story going in—and they had some tricks they would pull to make their plays dramatic anyway. I figured I could steal a couple of these for this book.”
“The more I thought about Greek tragedy, the better it seemed to fit. The classical tragedies were drawn from Greek mythology and legend, right? Also—if I needed any further excuse—ancient Greek tragedies were traditionally performed as single acts without intermissions, like modern movies, and they were usually presented in actual, no kidding, wait for it . . . trilogies.”
“I hoped to present the story explicitly as a tragic myth, with language and style more formalized and darker in tone than people generally expect from Star Wars fiction. After all, I intended to argue that this story is special. It’s different from any other Star Wars story—not only because it’s the final film (or so we thought at the time), but because this story is the true foundation that underlies all the rest, and it should feel different from the very first page.”
Additionally, his approach would be informed by how myth served as a template for so much Star Wars media to begin with within its Expanded Universe (before getting decanonized). “But evoking the Greek tragedies was only part of my idea, and I expected that part to be an easy lift, for the reasons I sketched above. The rest, however, was gnawing holes in my stomach lining, because I wanted to fold in elements of the larger Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU).”
“I desperately needed EU material to make this story work. Not because the EU had been part of my life ever since Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, and definitely not because it’d be extremely cool to incorporate elements of those stories into this novelization … I genuinely believed that I needed the EU to make this story work as a novel. It would give the story heft and texture. It would let me touch on where these people come from and where most of them are going to end up, and it would let me weave this specific narrative and its implications into the wider ‘historical’ context of the whole galaxy far, far away.”
The best anecdote of the note was how all of this work, how he’d gone out of his way to plan and pitch to George Lucas, was met with a surprising answer when he asked the living legend how much he should stick to the script. Lucas liberated him from perceiving the movie script as a constraint. “Don’t worry about that stuff. As long as you don’t violate the story, do whatever you want,” Lucas said to Stover. “Just make it good.”
It’s officially October, which can only mean one thing: Halloween season is finally here! At least for normies, because some of us outcasts live it every day, anyway.
Pop culture purveyors such as Spirit Halloween, BoxLunch, and the Disney Store have rolled out their spooky bag of tricks and treats. Fans of KPop Demon Hunters, Wicked,Star Wars, Stranger Things, and Terrifier will be happy to discover there’s new gear aplenty to celebrate the season. So, if you’re on the hunt for boo basket goods, or in need of costume ideas, frightfully fun fashion, and Halloween decor, you’re in the right place, as we’re running down the best of the season so far!
Fashion and accesories
‘One Piece’ x Dr. Squatch (Prices vary)
Clean up like a pirate before or after Halloween festivities with this One Piece bath collection from Dr. Squatch.
‘One Piece’ Straw Hat ($29)
Be the king of the pirates with this official Monkey D. Luffy replica Straw Hat available online and in stores at BoxLunch. The online and in store retailer also features more One Piece fashions to look ready to join the Straw Hat crew.
Glimmer like a Marvel villain with earrings from Girls Crew that represent comic book baddies—the perfect accessory for your badass costume.
Girls Crew ‘Star Wars’ earrings ($45)
Get in the galactic spirit of the season this Halloween with earrings shaped like Star Wars treats from Girls Crew.
Loungefly x Marvel Studios ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ ($120)
Add a Fantastic Four cosplay backpack look from Loungefly if you’re dressing up as a member of Marvel’s first family.
Disney Store ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Oogie Boogie bottle ($60)
Keep hydrated with an Oogie Boogie steel water bottle from the Disney Store online. This is a good size for theme park hopping or long trick or treat walks.
Posh Peanut x Haunted Mansion (Prices vary)
Grim grinning looks for the whole family inspired by Disney’s Haunted Mansion are simply too chillingly cute. There are looks to haunt your home halls and also for a day out at Disney World, whose Haunted Mansion still runs during Halloween, or to make a pro-Halloweentime statement at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday.
Unique Vintage x Disney Halloween Bat Hoodie ($64)
This Cakeworthy Minnie Mouse bat hoodie is perfect for Halloweentime at Disney Parks. It’s low-key but a statement to flap around in from park to park.
Unique Vintage x Pixar ‘Coco’ ($42)
Seize your moment, Mama. This Unique Vintage x Pixar Coco shirt tells the family who’s in charge especially at the theme parks.
BoxLunch x ‘Five Nights at Freddy’s’ Sweater ($60)
Throw this Freddy Fazbear pizza delivery fit on in 30 minutes or less. Find this and more Five Nights at Freddy’s gear online or in stores at BoxLunch.
Unique Vintage x Elvira Dagger Dress ($110)
Become the Mistress of the Dark with this official Elvira x Unique Vintage dress inspired by the horror hostess’ iconic look. It’s Cassandra Peterson approved!
Netflix ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ (Prices vary)
Get the squad together to become Huntr/x with Netflix’s official KPop Demon Hunters collection. The online Netflix shop features fashion that can work in Halloween group cosplay or cozy movie night in capacity. The Huntr/x pajamas are perfect for streaming KPDH on the couch, couch, couch.
RSVLTS Spooky season collection (Prices vary)
From Star Wars to the Universal Monsters, RSVLTS trademark short sleeves are getting the Halloween treatment. Find designs such as “Dismembers Only” a delightful spin on the grim limb losses in the Star Wars universe.
Dress up as a Huntr/x or Saja boys fan this Halloween with band shirt options from BoxLunch. The online and mall retailer is working hard to get that KPop Demon Hunters merch in stores and into the hands of the fans.
Decor and more
Spirit Halloween x ‘Ghostbusters’ Slimer ($70)
Hang out with this unhinged hanging Slimer replica from Spirit Halloween’s Ghostbusters selection of decor and accessories. The details really get the gross green ghost’s whole vibe and sassy shapely figure.
Spirit Halloween x ‘Halloween’ neon sign ($50)
Michael Myers gets the neon sign treatment; it looks good on him and good on your wall. This product also features other slasher baddies including Chucky, Art the Clown, and more!
Party after midight with Stripe from Gremlins, this Home Depot animatronic can stay up from Halloween to Christmas. We love a dynamic holiday lawn greeter, especially one that mashes up the holidays. The collection just needs an adorable Gizmo addition.
Last-minute costumes
Bums and Roses x ‘Power Rangers’ family matching collection (Prices vary)
It’s morphin’ time with this extensive retro Power Rangers drop from Bums and Roses that’s got the whole family covered.
Bums and Roses x ‘Scooby-Doo’ (Prices vary)
Dress the whole squad up as Mystery Inc. with Bums and Roses’ cozy costume collection inspired by Scooby and friends. There are costume onesies and groovy yet spooky lounge wear that’s perfect for the season.
‘Wicked: For Good’ costumes (Prices vary)
Find the Glinda to your Elphaba and take flight this Halloween. You can now find looks from Wicked: Part One and Wicked: For Good in adult and kids sizes just in time for the sequel’s release.
Spirit Halloween x Damien Leone’s ‘Terrifier’ (Prices vary)
If you’ve been looking for Art the Clown costumes for the whole (and I mean whole including the pets) family, Spirit Halloween has you covered. The store also has a massive selection of Terrifier merch for anyone who wants to get their hands on awesome goods for the cult killer clown slasher. We love the inclusion of the daisy sunglasses and Sienna’s superpowered dagger.
A new month is upon us, and for Lego, a new record: the release of the most expensive Lego set ever made (so far, at least), in the new Star Wars UCS Death Star. But while a very big disc might be overshadowing what else is on the way this month, it’s not the only thing coming from Lego.
October might be a “quiet” month for the brick-builder, 9,023-piece Death Stars aside, but there are still a few highlights beyond the superweapon-shaped elephant in the room. The eagerly anticipated Lego Game Boy hits shelves this month, as do a few more sets from Wednesday. It’s also time to get into the spirit of the season… but not really the spooky one, as Lego looks ahead to the holidays with an array of festive kits.
Here are the highlights of what’s coming from Lego this month.
Lego Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series Death Star
Let’s just get this one out of the way: yes, it’s a disc. Yes, it is one thousand dollars. Yes, it’s over 9,000 pieces, thank you, Vegeta. But man, there’s a lot going on with Lego’s biggest and perhaps most controversial Star Wars set of all time. A ginormous cross-sectioned slice of the infamous superweapon, the first UCS Death Star in a decade includes tons of rooms inspired by key moments from both A New Hope and Return of the Jedi crammed into one ur-Death Star, from the briefing room of the Empire’s top admirals, moffs, and other command agents, to the Emperor’s throne room, to even a docking bay complete with a mini-build of an Imperial shuttlecraft.
Populating all that are a whopping 38 minifigures, again drawing on icons from across Star Wars, right down to Easter-egg gags like the hot tub trooper all the way to a cute Rogue One nod in the form of honoring two men vital to the Death Star’s creation (and its eventual destruction) in Orson Krennic and Galen Erso. Whatever your feelings about the scope and format, we can all agree on one thing: this set is a lot. ($1000, available here from 10/1 for Lego Insiders, from 10/4 for general release)
The latest Lego Ideas set dips into a horror-tinged crossover perfect for spooky season, as the adorable Mogwai Gizmo becomes a posable bricky model that you don’t have to worry about the consequences of feeding after midnight. Alas, there’s no way to completely transform the set into Gizmo’s more sinister form, but as well as the ability to build him standing or sitting, the set features poseable arms and ears, as well as even a brick-built set of 3D glasses to put on his head. ($110, available here)
Wednesday‘s second season is still lighting up the charts on Netflix, so Lego is more than happy to keep bringing out more sets inspired by the Addams Family series (and again, it’s Wednesday’s favorite time of year this month!). October will see two more minidoll-focused sets release in the line, including a buildable trunk (and Thing model) that opens up to reveal a small apartment set, and the former Rotwood Cottage from the show, now under the ownership of Morticia and Gomez.
The next Nintendo Lego set continues Lego’s line of turning classic consoles into surprisingly fun sets, and the handheld that started it all is no exception in that regard. Almost exactly to scale with the actual Game Boy, Lego’s replica model includes working buttons and sliders and two removable game pak cartridges reflecting some of the most iconic releases on the system: Link’s Awakening and Super Mario Land. On top of that, Lego’s Game Boy comes with swappable lenticular sheets to slot into the screen section, recreating moments from both those games as well as the classic startup animation. ($60, available here)
Not feeling like burning a thousand-dollar hole in your pocket this month, Star Wars fans? Well, how about something much different: a midi-scale AT-AT walker unlike anything we’ve ever seen before from Lego, because it looks like it’s made out of gingerbread! Outside of the traditional annual Advent calendar, it’s very rare that Lego Star Wars gets in on the seasonal sets, so it’s fun to see Lego go all the way in on the theming here, from lights dangling around the AT-AT’s armor plating to a kitted-out interior made to look like a little festive living room.
If all that wasn’t enough, it even comes with a completely unique figure in the form of a gingerbread Darth Vader—whose lightsaber can be swapped with a candy cane, for good measure. ($60, available here)
More Lego Holidays Sets
Star Wars is not the only festive seasonal item coming this month, because it really does feel like Lego is largely skipping Halloween this October. There’s a variety of Christmas sets to highlight this year, from buildable ornaments to even a Santa addition to Lego’s recent line of up-scaled minifigure builds—but for the more dedicated builder there’s a brand new holiday train fit to run around your tree (if you buy the necessary extra parts to motorize it, that is), or even around the other major holiday set out this month, a 19″ tall festive tree designed to be built in groups.
Walking out of director Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest masterpiece, One Battle After Another, you’ll be thinking about a lot of things. Its story of a father and daughter. Its many parallels to modern society. The filmmaking, the humor, and more. One thing you definitely won’t be thinking about, however, is a galaxy far, far away, but the film’s star, Leonardo DiCaprio, disagrees.
In two new interviews, the Oscar-winning star ofTitanic, The Revenant, and Inception discussed Star Wars in relation to One Battle After Another. The first was chatting with USA Today, where he went deep about his character’s costume. Bob is a former revolutionary bomb expert stoner who is forced out of his comfort zone to find and save his daughter. For the majority of the film, he wears a long, red robe, which DiCaprio says he saw as almost a superhero cape. Then, he also wears a set of wraparound cataract-protecting sunglasses, which he chose for a very specific reason.
“There’s the weird Star Wars theme to this movie,” DiCaprio said. “I had this vision of these wraparound optical glasses like Boba Fett. Those are the ones I had to choose.”
What does he mean by “the weird Star Wars theme,” though? He discussed that on the Big Picture podcast.
“There’s so much intricate thought put in and layering to what is essentially a sort of action film about a father trying to get back to his daughter. I compared it to Star Wars in a lot of ways,” he said on the podcast. “You have the bounty hunters. You have Princess Leia. You have Yoda. You have Darth Vader, but it’s saturated in [the] real world. The world that we live in right now. It’s holding a mirror up to society. And the fact that [Anderson] started thinking about this 20 years ago. The fact that it’s so incredibly topical to the world and the struggles that we’re dealing with now in society. The fact that no one seems to be listening to one another. That there’s extremism on both sides, and the conviction that all these characters believe in their ideology. That they feel that they’re right. And to me, you can see films that have a lot of thought put into them.”
Because, much like One Battle After Another, Star Wars isn’t just about Luke, Han, and Leia. It’s about much more. And yes, you can say that about seemingly every other movie, but One Battle After Another is definitely about a group of rebels fighting against an oppressive government and then subsequently going on an adventure to save a woman they care about who was captured, all while being hunted by an unstoppable evil, who has his own soldiers. There’s even a sort of Death Star trench action scene at the end. Sort of.
Now, do we 100% agree with DiCaprio here? Not really. The parallels are loose, at best. But it’s undoubtedly fun how he’s trying to equate this unique, original story of love, fear, hope, and heroism to another popular movie about the same thing. Plus, there’s always those Boba Fett sunglasses.
One Battle After Another, which co-stars Star Wars: The Last Jedi‘s Benicio del Toro, is now in theaters.
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.
Here is a compilation of some of the most out-there and unique Disney experiences overlays, along with their current statuses at the parks.
Tron Lightcycle Run (NIN Tron: Ares Collaboration)
io9 recently got to experience the Tron: Ares overlay at the Magic Kingdom’s Tron Lightcycle Run coaster (Walt Disney World admission and Lightning Lane were provided), which for the first time features the actual score from the new movie. When we covered the opening of the ride back in 2023, Disney creatives revealed that the on-ride music was a new arrangement based on Daft Punk’s score for Tron: Legacy made specifically for the purposes of the attraction. You can, however, still hear the iconic Daft Punk tracks featured throughout the coaster’s queue and exit areas. Inside the ride itself, the usual Tron blue hue is swapped for Ares‘ crimson aesthetic as part of a new narrative of the ride, as we’re tasked with seemingly working with a program-gone-rogue before deleting it to preserve the grid (perhaps giving us a hint at what Ares will be about).
With the release of Tron: Ares, the coaster transforms into Nine Inch Nails: The Ride in the best way, with their signature industrial instrumentals, which fit perfectly in the world of the Grid gone rogue. It really works as a tonal opposite companion to the Team Blue track that usually plays. If the ride were ever built elsewhere, it would be such a cool dual coaster utilizing both instrumentations. At night the Ares theming looks incredible, to boot.
The Haunted Mansion Holiday is what happens when The Nightmare Before Christmas’s popularity gets out of hand (thanks, Hot Topic). Don’t get me wrong, we love the film and Jack Skellington’s frightful festive branding, but we believe it takes over the Haunted Mansion too early. The Christmas-themed overlay goes up in September for Halloweentime at the Disneyland resort, even though the Haunted Mansion is the perfect ride for Halloween. Its ghosts and scares make more sense to continue until the end of October! But I guess those of us in the camp that thinks this incredible overlay of holiday cheer should start in November are in the minority, because the queue for it is always over an hour or even longer during its fall and winter run.
Space Mountain (Rockin’ Space Mountain, Ghost Galaxy, Hyperspace Mountain)
Space Mountain at Disneyland (sorry, Magic Kingdom, and your sad Christmas music overlay) is hands down the champ of seasonal theming. What began with Rockin’ Space Mountain when the coaster got a Red Hot Chili Peppers soundtrack has only glowed up from there. For a while, it was the home of a space specter that might have been too scary during Halloweentime’s Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy. I can attest from my personal experience that I am still haunted by the memory of the thrilling, creepy music and jump-scare projections of being chased through dead space by a very angry fiery ghost with hollowed eyes. It hasn’t held up residence in the coaster since 2018, though it has gone over to Hong Kong Disney’s Space Mountain variant.
However, Space Mountain’s current reigning seasonal offering is Hyperspace Mountain, where you zoom through the Star Wars galaxy in a dogfight between X-Wings and TIE Fighters, all set to the films’ legendary John Williams score. Its debut predates the opening of Galaxy’s Edge and remains a better experience than Smugglers Run because we want that hyperspeed thrill of being in the fights we grew up watching. You can usually catch it in the spring during Disneyland’s Season of the Force events in the run-up to Star Wars Day.
It’s a Small World at Tokyo Disneyland recently received new pint-sized guests thanks to Baby Groot and friends. Earlier this year, Avengers fans were able to see Earth’s mightiest and tiniest figures throughout the attraction at the Asia park. Along with Groot, it included Ms. Marvel, Thor, Hulk, and Black Panther, among others. Yet, there’s no word if either of the states’ versions of the ride would ever get this. Perhaps Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom version could, since it definitely needs some love.
It would be too crammed at Disneyland’s original ride, as it currently has more of a permanent addition in the form of iconic characters being given the original ride artist Mary Blair treatment within their corresponding countries. For instance, you can find Cinderella in France, and new for this year, they added Pixar’s Coco heroes Miguel and Dante to the Mexico section of the ride.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout (After Dark)
For Halloween at Disney California Adventure, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout gets infested by monsters after dark. The drop tower attraction overlay is a current Halloweentime staple at the Disneyland resort for those who want to get even more terrified. The storyline takes a turn when various creatures from the collection are let loose, leaving riders to go into a dark monster house version of the Collector’s fortress to rescue Groot.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (September, Holiday Remix)
Speaking of the Guardians, over in Disney World, the Epcot attraction Cosmic Rewind gets a few cute variants. From September 21 through the 30, the ride only plays Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” which is usually one of the songs that plays on random rotation from the ride’s usual mixtape, a nod to the Awesome Mixes from the James Gunn movies. It’s such a silly nod to the meme-fication of your parent’s fave disco-era track, but endearing nonetheless. I still haven’t gotten this song on my rides of the mixtape-based coaster and missed this guarantee by a few days recently! I did, however, get to experience the holiday overlay on it, Holiday Remix, which only lasted one year in 2022 and was set to the tune of “Run, Run, Rudolph” but parodied as “Run, Run, Rocket”. Cute!
The Jingle Cruise is missed at Disneyland. It felt as if nostalgic vintage holidays threw up on the riverboat ride. It’s more of a chaotic added theme that the skippers use as fodder for their Jungle Cruise bits on the fly, as you can see the animals on the ride appear to have gotten into some Christmas cargo. And the holiday puns are always top tier! Every year I wish it would return to Disneyland (it ended on the West Coast in 2017), but thankfully it is still operating during the holidays at the Magic Kingdom’s Jungle Cruise in Walt Disney World.
Lastly, Epcot’s sustainable garden and farming zen ride, which is a favorite to decompress on, gets a lovely holiday lights tour overlay during the winter. It makes the relaxing and educational voyage away from the overstimulating bustle of the park even more wondrous to behold as festive key ingredients of holiday dishes from around the world are nerdily described over the course of the attraction. It’s theme park ASMR and chill holiday vibes. I hope Disney never changes this, because this little gem is something completely unexpected yet comforting to bask in at Epcot during Disney World’s busiest times.
When Lucasfilm surprise dropped our very first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu this week, the first thing we saw was a very familiar ship: the bulky chrome body (now bedecked in stripes of yellow paint) and the barrel-shaped twin engines jutting out of either side. It was meant to invoke one thought to anyone who’s watched the show: the Razor Crest is back.
The thing is, the Razor Crest was blown into itty-bitty bits during the climax of The Mandalorian season two. We don’t know yet whether or not, months or a year or so later, Din Djarin managed to go back to Tython and collect all the remaining scrap from his old ride to be put back together—probably not, considering that The Book of Boba Fettdedicated an episode to Din getting a new ride in the form of a Naboo N-1 Starfighter. But whether or not he found the time to go back or just simply managed to buy another ship of the same type, an ST-70 Gunship is not really what the return of a ship that looks identical to the one he used to fly around in really says.
It mostly just says, “That thing you know is back.” Which The Mandalorian has gotten, for good or ill, very good at saying; it’s now just applying that to something that’s been gone for a season and a bit of TV, rather than things we know from other old Star Wars material. And it’s just the latest in a long line of things that The Mandalorian, as a show, has given up on in terms of displaying any kind of real growth for its lead characters.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t particularly like the show’s new choice of ship for Din either. Going from an unwieldy metal brick of a transport ship to a slick, stripped-down starfighter—even putting aside the nostalgia play of it being a ship fans knew and recognized, instead of a new design like the Razor Crest had been when it was introduced—didn’t make sense for a character that was ostensibly still trying to be the bounty hunter he had been.
The N-1 was a hero’s ship, one that reflected that, for better or worse, Din’s status in the Star Wars galaxy had changed: he was no longer the lone wanderer just making his way on the fringes of the galaxy; he was thrust into the upper echelons of Star Wars‘ heroes and villains, rubbing shoulders with Luke Skywalker and being the onetime inheritor, whether he wanted to be or not, of the Mandalorian people’s legacy. He was recognized as recognizable and needed a vessel to match that.
The Razor Crest, in a lot of ways, represented the imperfect man we’d come to know over the course of The Mandalorian‘s debut season—it’s not a cool ship, it’s not decked out with a bazillion weapon hardpoints, it wasn’t luxurious inside or out, it was practical, rugged, the Star Wars equivalent of a hauling truck, and that made it perfect for a bounty hunter scrounging around from job to job. Replacing it with a starfighter that was distinctly impractical for the job of bounty hunting but was also the antithesis of everything that made the Razor Crest feel unique, felt like the show forcibly telling us that Din was moving on and accepting his new place in the galaxy, even if that new place was beholden to Star Wars‘ broader yearning for the familiar.
Now, in The Mandalorian and Grogu, Din has kept that new status quo while also returning to familiarity with this “new” ship. There’s no moving on or mark of what his life was like when The Mandalorian first began anymore. Now he is more explicitly that unequivocal hero, allied with the New Republic, and brushing shoulders with familiar faces over and over. Because the Razor Crest itself has now become something Star Wars can mine for nostalgia, as much as one can mine nostalgia for something that’s just six years old (and has been gone for most of those six years). Now we can be sold all those Razor Crest toys again, except they’ve got yellow paint markings on them. She’s got a new hat!
But really it’s not the ship itself that is necessarily a problem here (again, I liked what The Mandalorian said about Din through his ship of choice in its first two seasons a lot), but what this return represents overall: The Mandalorian finds it really hard to let go of any potential opportunity for growth. The Razor Crest‘s return pales in comparison, narratively speaking, to the number of character throughlines that the series has set up and then promptly dropped. Seasons one and two set up a compelling arc of Din coming to question the orthodoxy of his own Mandalorian covert—and, through characters like Bo-Katan, the idea that there were other ways for him to exist and be Mandalorian outside of those not necessarily healthy teachings—climaxing in both his decision to remove his helmet and to give up Grogu to be trained as a Jedi.
All that immediately turned around in season three, which opened with an arc of almost-penitence for Din, running back unequivocally into the arms and teachings of the covert with little engagement as to why he should do that. And that he did so with Grogu at his side again—a separation resolved between seasons in that aforementioned Book of Boba Fett appearance, largely at the heinous expense of mishandling the character of Luke Skywalker—was just further indication that the show could not imagine a way to follow through with the shifts in its status quo that it laid out. Din Djarin can only be the faceless adherent of the Way; only he can guide Grogu’s path, and now, he can only pilot that one kind of ship you know he piloted before.
It’s a strange sense of inertia that feels jarring as Din becomes the face of Star Wars‘ return to cinema at a time when the series needs newness to guide its way rather than resting on the laurels of familiarity. A couple splashes of paint just simply aren’t enough compared to the message The Mandalorian and Grogu‘s debut trailer sent: that sensation of newness has yet to be found here.
For the third installment of the Lucasfilm and Disney+ series, the global collaboration this time taps in nine Japanese anime houses: david production, Kamikaze Douga + ANIMA, Kinema citrus Co., Polygon Pictures, Production I.G, Project Studio Q, TRIGGER, and WIT STUDIO.
The highly anticipated series also announced its dub cast which features genre darlings Anna Sawai (Shōgun), Freddie Highmore (Bates Motel), George Takei (Star Trek), Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows), Jodie Turner-Smith (The Acolyte), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once), and Steve Buscemi (Wednesday).
Get ready for some of the best of Star Wars to return October 29 on Disney+. But first, check out the trailers below and the descriptions with original and dub voice casts from of each short.
No dubs:
Dubbed:
Here are all the details on each segment, as shared by StarWars.com:
Kamikaze Douga + ANIMA – “The Duel: Payback”
With the help of some unexpected allies, Ronin faces off against his greatest foe – a twisted Jedi known as the Grand Master who is bent on revenge.
Directed by: Takanobu Mizuno
English Voice Cast: Brian Tee, Will Sharpe, Suzy Nakamura, Jonathan Lipow, Minami Iinuma, Gary Littman, Yukihiro Nozuyama, Shawn Gann, Major Attaway, Andrew Kishino, Patrick Seitz, Lee Shorten, Frank Todaro, David Chen, Nozomi Furuki, Ayaka Shimizu, Kaede Yuasa
A rogue bounty hunter takes on a job for a shady industrialist that has unexpected consequences for her and her droid.
Directed by: Junichi Yamamoto
English Voice Cast: Earl Baylon, Anna Sawai, Ronny Chieng, Joseph Lee, Jodie Turner-Smith,
Zoe Rux, Carrie Keranen, David Chen, Major Attaway, Joy Ofodu, Frank Todaro
Japanese Voice Cast: Ai Fairouz, Tomokazu Sugita, Daisuke Ono, Yume Miyamoto, Ai Kakuma, Kotono Mitsuishi, Setsuji Sato, Koji Seki, Marie Miyake, Hiroya Egashira, Katsumi Fukuhara, Koji Seki, Marie Miyake, Hitomi Kitazaki
Kinema citrus Co. – “Yuko’s Treasure”
A sheltered orphan teams with a street rat kid to rescue his droid caregiver and find a long-lost treasure.
Directed by: Masaki Tachibana
English Voice Cast: Liam Karlsson, Julian Paz Fedorov, Harvey Guillén, Steve Buscemi, Anne Yatco, Maximilian Reid, Matt Yang King, Joy Ofodu, Sean Burgos, A.J. Beckles
After assisting refugees escape a natural disaster, an incognito F is forced to confront the ghosts of her past when their refugee ship is intercepted by the Empire.
Directed by: Hitoshi Haga
English Voice Cast: Karen Fukuhara, Mark Strong, Ryan Potter, Aki Toyosaki, Kimberly Brooks, Lincoln Bonilla, Jimmie Yamaguchi, Mike Bodie, David Errigo Jr., Cheyenne Nguyen, Nick Kishiyama, Leon Chen, Jennie Kwan, James Sie
Desperate for a quick payday, a smuggler takes a job to rescue a fugitive from the Empire.
Directed by: Masahiko Otsuka
English Voice Cast: Emma Myers, Tanner Buchanan, Judith Light, Cory Yee, Adam Seitz, Matt Yang King, Cindy Robinson, A.J. Beckles, Earl Baylon, Sean Burgos
Japanese Voice Cast: Ami Maeshima, Yuuki Shin, Yasuko Hatori, Show Hayami, Jino Saito, Nobuaki Kanemitsu, Akira Kuwabara, Mutsuki Iwanaka, Hinata Tadokoro, Taiki Yamashita, Satoi Shibuya, Norio Wakamoto
Polygon Pictures – “The Bird of Paradise”
After she is blinded in battle, a hot-headed Jedi Padawan must undergo a series of spiritual trials in order to overcome the temptation of the Dark Side.
Directed by: Tadahiro “Tady” Yoshihira
English Voice Cast: Sonoya Mizuno, James Sie, Victoria Grace, George Takei
A psychedelic battle between past and present, light and dark, and life and death plays out in the haunted psyche of an Imperial trooper who is on the cusp of defeat.
Directed by: Shinya Ohira
Japanese Voice Cast: Kenta Miyake, Tsuyoshi Koyama
When the first trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu dropped yesterday, one of its many creature-packed visuals seemingly confirmed one of the most absurd pieces of casting surrounding the movie: that The Bear star Jeremy Allen White would be entering the Star Wars galaxy as a grown-up Rotta the Hutt, last seen as a tiny baby Huttlet in the 2008 Clone Wars animated movie.
Adult Rotta and Star Wars‘ yearning penchant to revisit characters no matter how minor weren’t the distressing things about the moment in the trailer, however. It’s that, whether it’s Rotta or notta, that Hutt was swole.
But of course, this is not actually the first time Star Wars has ever engaged with the concept of a muscular Hutt—Rotta is just the latest in a long line of times the series has explored the idea of what happens if you give a space slug a six-pack.
Swole Hutts were much less common in Star Wars‘ old Expanded Universe—they mostly formed a part of contemporary Hutt society’s ancient history, where the species was depicted as a mighty warrior race, carving out their military empire in what would eventually become the broader sector of Hutt Space. Eventually, infighting among the Hutts led to a devastating civil war known as the Hutt Cataclysms, which laid waste to the Hutts’ homeworld, Varl, and nearly took the Hutts with it.
The surviving Hutts founded a new homeworld, Nal Hutta, and transitioned from a martial-focused society to a clan-based system known in Huttese as “Kajidics.” With the formalization of the Kajidics, Hutt society promoted competition through economic enterprise rather than military might, radically overhauling the cultural value Hutts placed on raw physical strength.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t have examples of swole Hutts in the EU. The 1997 novel Planet of Twilight introduced us to Beldorion, a former Jedi who abandoned the Order and fell to the dark side of the Force. When he was encountered by Leia Organa in the early days of the New Jedi Order, Beldorion was revealed to have been using the Force itself to sustain a lithe, muscular physical form, granting him immense strength and prowess in lightsaber combat, to account for his decayed control over the Force in other forms. Buff or not, Leia was able to defeat the Dark Jedi after a brief duel, bisecting him.
Swole Hutts, then, have become more commonplace in the modern, post-reboot Star Wars continuity, with Rotta becoming merely the latest in a line presenting a contrast to our typical vision of what Hutts look like.
Marvel’s Star Wars comics have served as a primary source of buff Hutts—just nine issues into the revitalized Star Wars ongoing back in 2015, we were introduced to Grakkus the Hutt, a crime lord obsessed with artifacts from the Jedi Order who attempted to add Luke Skywalker himself to his collection. Grakkus used a series of cybernetic legs to aid his mobility, but he was also incredibly physically strong and fit, proving to be much more sizeable than most depictions of Hutts. However, when Grakkus made a brief return during the events of the Poe Dameron comic series (set in the couple years running up to The Force Awakens), he was depicted more in line with the typical body type associated with Hutts after a lengthy period of imprisonment.
Elsewhere in the comics we were also introduced to Bokku the Hutt in the 2020 relaunch of the Darth Vader comic series. A ranking member on the Grand Hutt Council that guided Hutt civilization, Bokku was an extremely muscular Hutt who unfortunately crossed paths with Darth Vader in his attempts to locate the carbonite-frozen body of Han Solo. In the aftermath of an attempted auction of Solo’s body by the Crimson Dawn syndicate leader Lady Qi’ra, Bokku was slain by Vader.
That brings us to Rotta (or seemingly so, as the Hutt in the trailer has yet to be confirmed explicitly as such—although an appearance of the Desilijic clan emblem in the trailer heavily suggests a connection to Jabba’s family). The Mandalorian and Grogu actually marks the first time we’ve seen Rotta as an adult Hutt, having only appeared as a Huttlet during the events of the 2008 Clone Wars movie, where he was the subject of a kidnapping plot aided by the Separatist confederacy in an attempt to disrupt negotiations between Jabba and the Galactic Republic.
The intervening 30 years (and death of his father) have apparently been kind to Rotta: the trailer for the movie only gives us a brief, back-facing look at the Hutt as he roars before a screaming crowd in a combat arena, but he’s clearly trimmer and more muscularly defined compared to the typically presented Hutt body type.
The increased depiction of swole Hutts in Star Wars, especially to make them a contrasting design to the standard depictions of the species, does sit as part of a broader unfortunate Star Wars legacy: the franchise’s historical depiction of fat bodies, and typically how those portrayals play into shorthand for negative tropes.
Both the Expanded Universe and contemporary canon have played into this depiction of fatness as a reflection of negative traits when it comes to the Hutts. The idea of corpulence as a reflection of a Hutt’s power in criminal enterprise—the idea that as a Hutt acquires power, they are able to offload physical labor to associates, slaves, and mercenaries for hire—has long been a part of Hutt culture in both versions of canon, especially in light of their EU history as a martially driven species before turning to an economics-driven society.
Star Wars‘ depiction of Hutts in broad strokes spinning solely out of the original trilogy’s depiction of Jabba—leading to the general idea that most Hutts are criminals, and that in turn most Hutts are obese, and that these two facts are often associated—is just one aspect of many when it comes to the franchise typically depicting characters of size as amplifications, or as aspects, of their negative traits (another example would be TheMandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett‘s depiction of Bib Fortuna, who was portrayed as having gained a significant amount of weight during his brief reign overseeing Jabba’s criminal empire after his death).
It’s also more nuanced than simply depicting characters of size as inherently villainous—there are overweight characters who are heroes, like X-Wing pilot Jek Porkins (unfortunate name aside) in A New Hope—but the idea of wanting to depict outwardly muscular Hutts as a specific contrast to the body norms usually associated with the species does at least speak to an element of wanting to move beyond cheap, lazy stereotyping. If anything, there probably should be plenty more muscular Hutts, given the strength required to move their large, gastropod frames in the first place.
Perhaps Rotta, Grakkus, and Bokku will simply be some of the first steps towards that kind of more nuanced depiction of Hutts. Well… maybe more of a first slither?
This morning Lucasfilm and Disney released the first official trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu, the long-awaited first Star Wars movie to hit theaters since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Although the clip kept details about the film’s story very close to its chest, it was packed with Easter eggs and references to Star Wars‘ past… and still gave us a few little hints about what to expect for the titular Mandalorian and his young ward.
The trailer opens with a very familiar ship flying across a coastline: an ST-70 assault ship, better known to viewers as the same class of gunship as the original ride of Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), the Razor Crest. Of course, the Crest was destroyed in the climax of The Mandalorian season two, leading to Din piloting a Naboo N-1 Starfighter during the events of season three. It looks like in time for Mandalorian and Grogu, Din’s either gotten a new ST-70 or somehow managed to rebuild the Crest from what was left of its remains on the planet Tython. The three yellow stripes on the top of its hull at least pay a nice homage to his brief Naboo ride.
It’s worth pointing out as well that the gunship is flying towards what looks like Adelphi Base, the New Republic outpost first seen in season three. Built on the planet Adelphi (duh) in the Outer Rim, the station is home to Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and a group of New Republic Rangers, who Din allied with in the climax of season three to let the Mandalorian become an unofficial independent contractor for the New Republic.
We get to immediately see some of that contract work in the next shot, as Grogu and Din spy on a building surrounded by Imperial Stormtroopers. Mandalorian and Grogu is set in approximately 9-ish ABY (After the Battle of Yavin), so we’re still only about four years after the formal end of the Galactic Civil War at the Battle of Jakku in 5 ABY. With Moff Gideon out of the way after his death on Mandalore, we know there are still plenty of other Imperial Warlords in current operation that will likely form a major antagonistic part of this movie (one of them, the returned Grand Admiral Thrawn, will instead be the focus of Ahsoka season two and the eventual Dave Filoni New Republic vs. Imperial Remnant film, first announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe in 2023).
Grogu starts investigating sewers with the help of a little Anzellan friend. We know there is a small cadre of Anzellan engineers (the species introduced in The Rise of Skywalker with Babu Frik) who work on Navarro, the world Din and Grogu retired back to after the events on Mandalore in season three, so this likely takes place there.
Back on Adelphi, Din and Grogu have a tense meeting with a New Republic liaison, played by the iconic Sigourney Weaver. While we don’t know the character’s name yet, we do know she is part of the senior command at Adelphi Base—imagery first shown at Star Wars Celebration Japan earlier this year showed Weaver wearing a New Republic flight suit, so we may see her in action at some point in the movie, instead of just disapprovingly keeping her snacks from Grogu.
Would it be Star Wars without a seedy cantina? Would it be Star Wars without a fight in that cantina? Who can say, but The Mandalorian and Grogu is clearly unwilling to contemplate otherwise.
Our first intriguing creature glimpse of the trailer sees a sinister-looking alien emerge out of waters in an underground cave (is this connected to what Grogu and the Anzellan were investigating earlier?). This is, of course, a classic Star Wars alien: an Amani, a species first seen with the bounty hunter Amanaman in Return of the Jedi. Whether this is Amanaman himself or another Amani remains to be seen. If it is, are there still potentially bounties out on Din or Grogu?
The Razor Crest takes flight, pursued by three fighters. It’s very hard to see what those ships are, but they match the general shape (and speed!) of TIE Interceptors.
After a quick shot of Grogu swimming (which certainly looks like it’s from similar scenes as the Amani footage, further potentially tying those two together), we get a similarly short shot of action starring a very interesting figure: Zeb from Star Wars Rebels (voiced by returning star Steven Blum) engaging in close-quarters combat with stormtroopers with his Lasat honor guard bo-rifle.
We already knew Zeb’s post-Rebels status from Mandalorian season three, where we briefly saw him stationed at Adelphi Base as a New Republic pilot, but footage screened to audiences at D23 last year showed him having a more involved role in this movie.
After another shot of Grogu hanging out with the Anzellans is followed by an intriguing shot for alphabet fighter nerds: Din jetpacking up to a U-Wing in New Republic livery. They were introduced in Rogue One and seen more recently in Andor season two, and this marks the first clear time we’ve actually seen U-Wings aligned with the New Republic (a few appeared in The Rise of Skywalker‘s climactic battle, but it was unclear as to whether they actually used the New Republic paint job).
We then cut to an arena where gathered crowds, including Din and Grogu (the former uttering one of the twolines of dialogue in the whole trailer, a simple “Impressive”), roar in celebration as we pan over to a very muscular Hutt yelling from the arena’s floor. We may know who this is, and it’s an absolutely wild one: we already knew that The Bear star Jeremy Allen White was joining Mandalorian and Grogu and that he would be playing Rotta the Hutt.
The son of Jabba, Rotta was first introduced in the 2008 animated Clone Wars movie that kicked off the beloved animated series, where the youngling Rotta (mostly called “Stinky” in that film by newly introduced padawan Ahsoka Tano) was the victim of a kidnapping extortion plot by the Separatist-backed Ziro the Hutt in an attempt to scuttle negotiations between Jabba and the Galactic Republic. Could this be Rotta all grown up? Is this what he was doing instead of taking over his father’s crime syndicate on Tatooine, leading to the events of The Book of Boba Fett?
Whether that’s Rotta or whatever happens in the arena, things seemingly go quickly against Din—this next shot of him battling two hulking droids is set somewhere affiliated with the Hutts: that symbol on the wall behind the droids is the emblem of the Desilijic clan, which Jabba (and Rotta, by birth) was part of, making it even more likely that this is part of Rotta’s operation.
We also cut back to the arena to see that, at some point, Din starts wrestling with a giant reptilian creature. This is, again, another Star Wars Easter egg: the creature is actually a Mantellian Savrip. Hailing from the planet Ord Mantell, a Savrip was famously used as one of the holographic creature pieces in dejarik, the chess-like strategy game seen being played by Chewbacca and R2-D2 in A New Hope. This marks the first time we’ve actually seen one of the creatures in the flesh in Star Wars‘ current canon!
The trailer crescendoes with Din flying out of an exploding Imperial AT-AT, letting it crumple and fall over a precipitous cliff edge. Fans at Star Wars Celebration Japan got an extended version of this scene, which sees Din infiltrate the walker and dramatically take out its entire crew of snowtroopers before detonating the vehicle from the inside.
The trailer ends back with Grogu and the Anzellans, this time fighting off another creature: a large, one-eyed sewer rat. Grogu shoots the rat in its monoeye with a green paint dart, seemingly using the wrist gauntlet he was given while training with the Mandalorian covert in season three. Looks like Din’s been keeping up with his lessons! That gives us our second line of dialogue in the whole trailer, as one of the Anzellans tells Grogu, “Good shot, baby.” At least it didn’t sound like a curse this time?
Although our first official look at The Mandalorian and Grogu is packed with nods to Star Wars things we already know, in terms of really telling us things about the film, it’s very threadbare. This is a vibes-based glimpse at the movie that is still eight months away, so there’s little in the way of explicit information about the plot or the characters or, well, anything really other than the expectation that Mando will shoot some Imperials and Grogu will be cute and do cute things.
That might be enough for some, but as Lucasfilm prepares to take Star Wars back away from the world of TV that it’s largely sat in on Disney+ for the past half-decade—off the back of the huge success of The Mandalorianin the first place—it might take a bit more than knowing references and a familiar vibe to intrigue people (especially while parent company Disney is facing a lot of public scrutiny over its controversial decision to censor Jimmy Kimmel in the face of threats from the Trump administration and right-wing groups).
We’ve got plenty of time to learn more about The Mandalorian and Grogu (and for Disney to resolve the crisis it currently faces), however, ahead of its arrival in theaters May 22, 2026.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is not the most powerful game console, not by a long shot. Instead, it is powerful enough to give developers the breathing room to port modern games to it. Where the original Switch forced developers to pare back visuals, Star Wars Outlaws, which launched on Nintendo’s handheld on Sept. 4, signals what players should come to expect with Switch 2 ports. It still has the best parts of what made the game beautiful in 2024. On handheld, it may finally be worth slogging through the Ubisoft open-world formula.
Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2
It’s one of the best ports I’ve seen to a handheld, though some may enjoy the game more than others.
Pros
Stable 30 fps in all environments
Ray-traced lighting effects even in handheld
Beautiful environments and effects
Minute-to-minute gameplay is fun
Cons
Disjointed story
Relies on the open-world Ubisoft formula
Uses game-key card
I’m still floored by how well Cyberpunk 2077 runs on Switch 2, and Star Wars Outlaw is a very well-optimized port. The game maintained a stable 30 fps frame rate throughout the hours I spent playing the game over the past week. I never experienced a hitch or a dip. Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine, which boasts excellent ray-traced lighting effects, is still in full effect on the Switch 2 version of Star Wars Outlaws. The neon lights of the game’s many cantinas bloom off the polished bar tables while outside lights beam in through broken slits of saloon windows. There are so many great effects to enhance the gritty tone of the game, such as the faux dirt bespeckling the screen—as if you were filming each scene in a dustbowl.
No, it doesn’t look as good as the game running on a full desktop PC with a high-end gaming CPU and a discrete Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU. There are subtle fluctuations and an odd, blurry aura around Outlaws’ protagonist Kay’s hair. The anti-aliasing, which reduces jagged edges in scenery, is less smooth than the game running on a high-end PC. I also experienced multiple instances of flickering shadows. That, I would attribute to issues caused by the game relying on DLSS, Nvidia’s version of AI upscaling that renders the game at a lower resolution and uses AI to make it appear at a higher resolution.
All these issues are minor compared to the spectacle of the game running so damn well, both in 1080p in handheld mode and at 1440p when docked and connected to a TV. In handheld mode, I could see a few more jagged outlines and more flickering, which is likely due to the game rendering at a much lower 540p resolution before being upscaled. The draw distance is also scaled back slightly, and you’ll see more textures and shrubbery “pop in” as you roll across these open environments. In either case, I was amazed at the number of effects still present in the game, especially when the wind shuddered the grass in long waves in the game’s open-world sections. The game suffered a bit more during cutscenes, where I spotted some instances of odd textures when we got too close to some characters. Regular gameplay proved much smoother.
Some commentators online seem to think that the game running this well is a small miracle. It’s not. It’s an effect of what happens when developers put effort into a port. Star Wars Outlaws was built first for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC. The game cannot run well on a Steam Deck. It’s a title that will prove difficult to maintain stable frame rates on more powerful handheld PCs like the Asus ROG Ally X, even at 25W or 30W TDP, or thermal design power. The game relies on ray tracing by default, which means it will also lean on upscaling technology such as AMD’s FidelityFx Super Resolution 3. Even then, Outlaws was not built for small devices. It can’t maintain a stable frame rate.
The Switch 2 runs at a much lower TDP than high-end handheld PCs and even lower than the Steam Deck’s max 15W. And still, it looks damn good. Developers at Massive Entertainment, who created the first game, worked with Ubisoft Red Links for the port. The extra time and attention paid off. There are a few extra features included, such as touchscreen support in some Wordle-like puzzles. You won’t miss much playing in docked or in handheld mode, anyway.
Nintendo has the pull to push publishers and developers to design games around the handheld hardware, even if it means losing out on 4K assets available for higher-end consoles. However, it comes at the cost of game preservation. There is no physical version of Outlaws like there is with Cyberpunk 2077. It’s either a game-key card or digital download for a mere 21GB (the PC version is closer to 60GB). Massive Entertainment may have an excuse for why there’s no physical version. Rob Bantin, the audio architect for the Snowdrop engine, wrote on Bluesky that the game relies on fast disk streaming for its open worlds, and the flash storage on Switch 2 game cards isn’t fast enough. “I think if we’d designed a game for Switch 2 from the ground up, it might have been different,” Bantin said.
The game is a looker. If that’s all that matters to you, it’s worth the trip to the outer rim to see the sights. Whether Star Wars Outlaws is the game for you should depend wholly on how well you can stomach the prototypical “Ubisoft formula” of open-world game design. The protagonist, Kay Vess, is a strangely naive scoundrel who seems to stumble from big-name job to big-name job like a drunk confused about how they ended up working for the galaxy’s largest and most dangerous crime syndicates. In usual Ubisoft fashion, players are forced to interact with all the game’s many, many systems slowly over time in what can only be described as extra-long tutorials.
One mission asks you to upgrade your speeder—the main way players zip around the open world. That mission requires players to travel to three separate points on a map, and then when you finally find the lone speeder mechanic who can install the most basic upgrade to your device, you then have to crawl around an Imperial base to get a lone part just to trudge back and finally fix up your bike. All the while, Kay “ummms” and “uhhhs” her way through conversations in a way that makes her seem like the most alien creature in a universe filled with blue-skinned Chiss, humanoid guinea pig-faced Chadra-Fan, and a literal talking fish in a jar that you break out of prison. It doesn’t help that the lip syncing often doesn’t match up to characters’ speech. Kay grows more confident over the course of the game, but in an effort to shoehorn players into the main gameplay loop, Outlaws loses a chance for players to grow alongside Kay in more than mere upgrades to her blaster or spaceship, the Trailblazer.
It’s the kind of game that will fill your journal with enough quests and missions to play for dozens or hundreds of hours, but I can only stomach so much of the game’s quest design. Star Wars Outlaws can feel overburdened with choice and still all too simple when each quest revolves around the same “go here, sneak into base, steal object, leave” quest design. They’re similar problems for Ubisoft’s other open-world series, from Far Cry to Assassin’s Creed. Cloaked in Star Wars’ high-tech, low-society aesthetic, Outlaws feels familiar in two ways that gel together but never truly stick.
On the Switch 2, where I can take Outlaws with me for short stints of sneaking and stealing, the game feels at home. It also marks a high-water mark for Switch 2 ports. Now with Cyberpunk 2077 and Star Wars Outlaws running so well on the system, other developers have less of an excuse if we end up with titles that can’t hit playable framerates. This sets high expectations for upcoming ports of games like Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade and Elden Ring. Borderlands 4, which is facing a small player rebellion over performance issues on both consoles and PC, is set to hit Switch 2 on Oct. 3. It will be up to developers to make sure their games play well on the handheld.
Though we here at io9 would have preferred Andor win all the Emmys, the Disney+ Star Wars show did pick up a few notable trophies, including Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. Dan Gilroy, brother of Andor creator Tony Gilroy, won the honor for season two’s ninth episode, “Welcome to the Rebellion.” You know, the one where Mon Mothma makes her ferocious speech condemning genocide and monstrous leaders from the senate floor.
While remarking on how unfortunately relevant the story of Andor ended up being isn’t new—Tony Gilroy has certainly spoken about it—the themes of the show have become even more potent in the wake of ABC’s suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! after the talk show host’s comments on the death of Charlie Kirk.
Yesterday, creatives and subscribers called for a boycott of Disney, ABC’s parent company and also the corporate parent of Star Wars. Today, Dan Gilroy published an op-ed in Deadline with a “Welcome to the Rebellion”-style wake-up call.
“As one of the writers on the Disney+ drama Andor, we spent six years thinking about a fascist takeover of a galaxy far, far away,” it begins.
“Six years thinking about ordinary beings as an authoritarian regime comes in for the kill. Many people saw parallels between Andor and the real world. I see them as well, particularly in the events of the last week.”
The essay goes on to condemn Disney’s decision to suspend Kimmel, noting, “I deeply disagree but acknowledge it was a difficult decision.”
Gilroy goes on to address others in the entertainment industry, warning Hollywood it cannot accept this turn of events in our “brave new Trumpian world,” as he puts it, because it’s poised to get worse: “The first thing Putin did after taking power was silence shows that criticized him. Artists are censored first because they fear us most.”
Gilroy finishes by encouraging action. “Their goal is to instill fear, to make you feel helpless, hopeless, to break you down,” he writes. “Don’t let them. Educate yourself. Organize. Speak truth to authority. Because the story’s not written—the pen is in your hand.”
Read the full essay at Deadline; if you haven’t cancelled Disney+, you can still watch Andor there.
Of many, many breakout moments in Andor‘s first season, the passionate posthumous manifesto of Alex Lawther’s Karis Nemik providing the backdrop for Cassian’s return home remains one of the series’ standouts—perhaps only matched when the recording made a surprise return in the show’s second and final season, spreading the message of the Rebellion like a fire across the galaxy. But it wasn’t until the man behind the performance himself learned about that return that he realized just how much of a mark Nemik had made on Star Wars.
Lawther, who, between that brief audio recording cameo in Andor season two and his turn as Joe D. Hermit in Alien: Earth, has made “appearances” in two of the best sci-fi shows of the year, told Polygon of his surprise in a recent interview, revealing that he only learned of Nemik’s viral sensation from an email with showrunner Tony Gilroy.
“I had no idea. He wrote this very beautiful email about the resonance of that particular piece of writing,” Lawther told Polygon of the message, which was sent by Gilroy to let the actor know that he would make a brief “return” in the climactic moments of Andor‘s final episode, with an archival recording of Nemik’s manifesto being played by Anton Lesser’s outgoing ISB lead Major Partagaz before he commits suicide rather than face reprisals for the bureau’s failings.
“‘I’m sure you’re aware of how deeply our work together has landed,’” Lawther quoted from Gilroy’s email (it’s perhaps no surprise to see that the showrunner has repeatedly kept up with online chatter about Andor). “And I was like, ‘Oh, actually, I’m not really that aware of those things.’”
But the actor is very appreciative to see his performance live on… even if poor Nemik didn’t. “Because of Tony’s cleverness, I get to sort of live on in a way,” Lawther concluded. “But I wish I hadn’t been killed by that trolley full of credits.”
