In terms of the tonal approach, the next batch of Star Wars projects are arguably the most important in the franchise’s long and illustrious history. The Last Jedi was vilified in certain quarters for deviating too far from established canon, only for The Rise of Skywalker to find itself coming under fire for leaning heavily into nostalgia and callbacks to previous events and iconography.
The first season of The Mandalorian, meanwhile, hit the right balance between old and new, but criticism started creeping in after the second run of episodes doubled down on fan service. There are currently three feature films and multiple TV shows in the works, and based on what we know so far, Lucasfilm are looking to toe the tricky line between reverence and reinvention.
Patty Jenkins’ big screen effort Rogue Squadron has been described as a fighter pilot epic set in the Star Wars universe, while The Acolyte will bring the end of the High Republic era into live-action for the first time, and Rangers of the New Republic looks to offer a fresh spin on The Mandalorian‘s arm of the mythology. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and Lando are set to revolve around legacy players, so there’s a solid blend of the old and new.
Beyond that, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us he was returning in the first place long before it was confirmed – that the studio are interested in having Hayden Christensen’s Darth Vader show up in multiple future movies and TV series. The specifics remain unclear for now, but they’re currently talking with him about the prospect and it would presumably be a character-driven renaissance that requires the actor to give an actual performance seeing as Darth Vader has been played by stuntmen in costumes for the last fifteen years, and 90 year-old James Earl Jones isn’t going to be providing voice-overs forever.
