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We’ve just had Star Wars Celebration in Japan, the bi-annual fan fest where we get the latest news, presentations, and updates on what’s happening in a galaxy far, far away.

It would be a fair assessment to say that the Star Wars franchise is not in the best of health. In fact, that would be far too fair an assessment by half. Being honest, the franchise has about as much chance of becoming relevant again as Greedo does of bringing in the bounty on Han Solo. Yet, still it keeps going, partly as a result of the need to feed the content machine at Disney+, partly because Hollywood is deeply entrenched in its legacy IPs, and relies on them almost completely.

What do these new updates mean for the future of the franchise, though?

Maul: Shadow Lord

One of the biggest announcements was the reveal that the next full animated show would be Maul: Shadow Lord, following the former apprentice of Palpatine, who fell down a shaft in The Phantom Menace, somehow survived, and became a major villain in The Clone Wars and Rebels. Now he’s back yet again.

This show will be set between TCW and Rebels, as he trains a new apprentice, that looks like Darth Talon from the comics, who, incidentally, was going to feature in George Lucas’s unmade sequel trilogy. So will they be taking inspiration from that? It’s likely, as Disney have been making the most of every bit of material they acquired when they bought Lucasfilm.

To be honest, though, I’m not much interested in this. We’ve seen a lot of Maul in the other animated shows, and there isn’t much else to be told about his story. We know where it ends, and like a lot of Star Wars now, this can’t lead anywhere new (though it is Dave Filoni, so expect several Talon spin-offs to follow). It’s just another prequel-sequel-interquel bulking up the ponderous backstory of another legacy characters, while doing nothing to advance the particular time period the franchise should be focussing on, the New Republic era.

I’m not particularly against this show, more on the neutral, and can’t say I’m hyped for it, and would much rather have had something with new characters in it instead.

Star Wars: Starfighter

Also on the list was Star Wars: Starfighter, which was announced recently, to star Ryan Gosling and be directed by Shawn Levy. Well now it has a release date, of May 28, 2027. This would suggest that the franchise is attempting to move back over to cinema. In May next year we get the ungainly-titled The Mandalorian and Grogu, meaning SW will be back to a movie-a-year release for the first time since 2019.

Whether this will be a good thing or not, I don’t know. I think a lot of it depends on the quality of the films. If they are as poorly put together as the live-action shows, then it’s likely audiences will soon get bored with them and turn away. That’s assuming that the franchise can even regain lost ground in that time, enough to have a decently-sized box office hit, which is far from certain.

I’ve heard rumours that Starfighter will follow Gosling as a pilot, who goes on an adventure with his 15 year old nephew, while being chased by two bad guys. I have to admit, as a premise, this doesn’t sound too bad. Not epic, perhaps, but possibly at least with the spirit of adventure and experience that the franchise is based on, though the proof of the pudding will be in the hatching. That’s assuming that it will ever get made. Both the Rey movie and Dawn of the Jedi are said to be in production, along with Taika Watiti’s film (which I would gladly see scrapped), though little has been heard of them for some time. And let’s not forget there was meant to be a second Star Wars movie released next year, which has quietly disappeared from the schedule.

Ahsoka Season 2

The next entry from the Disney+ content mill will be a second season of Ahsoka, the live-action show about Anakin Skywalker’s former padawan. The first season premiered in 2023, and this will be arriving some time next year, continuing the story.

I have to be honest, I have practically no interest in this show. I’m a big fan of Rebels, and to see the way this played out, with the changes to Sabine, the laziness, the lack of imagination, and the often excruciating execution of such a dull story, really makes me wonder if this is the worst SW show.

On top of that, it’s also a very poor, loose adaptation of the excellent Heir to the Empire trilogy written by Timothy Zahn, but with all the best bits taken out. Setting a show like this in the New Republic era without including Luke. Leia, and Han at the very forefront is a serious mistake. From what has been teased, and the way Filoni is describing it, with confrontations between Thrawn and Admiral Ackbar, it seems likely everything will be increased to 11, which will only serve to enhance to absence of the original trio in the story, and their lack of impact on this era of events. They should be at the heart of all this. It would be fine, necessary even, to include the Ghost crew too, but the fact all they get is a couple of offhand references and cameos shows the real flaws with this “Mandoverse”.

What’s happening with Luke’s Jedi order? What’s Leia’s input in galactic politics? And what of Ben Solo, who must have been born around this time? It seems that all stories are being told except the most interesting and important.

Star Wars: Visions Presents – The Ninth Jedi

Perhaps the most unusual reveal at SWC was the Ninth Jedi show, based on a single episode of Star Wars: Visions, the anthology show that features a variety of animation styles, telling single-episode self-contained stories.

This was one of my favourite episodes of the show, so I am intrigued by what they could do with it, but I think more importantly, this is something completely different. Visions in non-canon, or Legends as it’s now known, which has allowed for the show to explore different stories, characters, and settings without them needing to tie-in with the wider SW universe. If they are now doing full series like this, it could allow for some interesting stories told by talented animators that doesn’t need to fit with the rest of Disney’s plans. I don’t know what this will do for them as a brand, but it might provide something different for fans tired of the same old thing.

The Mandalorian & Grogu

Next year Star Wars will go back to the big screen for the first time since 2019, with a movie based on The Mandalorian. This was the first Star Wars show to hit Disney+ when it launched in 2019, and is by far the franchise’s most successful streaming show. But what will it be like as a movie?

To be honest I don’t have much hope for this film or much interest in it. The show ground to a halt after Book of Boba Fett and season three refused to give Din or Grogu any character development, afraid to change the format that had worked so well, and afraid of losing those Grogu dollars, so there’s really nothing left to do with this show or its 2D heroes.

From what I’ve heard of the plot, it sounds a lot like a drawn-out episode of the show, with some Clone Wars elements thrown in. Old characters like Embo could be returning, and it all seems a bit weak.

I don’t knows what to expect for its prospects. The show’s popularity has gone down in the last few years, and Star Wars really isn’t as big as it once was. At best this could be a middling success; at worst an embarrassing flop that makes Solo look like Avatar.

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I can’t say what the effect these shows will have on the franchise. As we saw with The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew, the audience has moved on, these shows aren’t bringing in an audience. To be exact, they aren’t even retaining the audience they might once have relied on. I don’t see anything that will change that will change that in these new projects. There’s nothing that jumps out in as a potential blockbuster or smash hit. On top of that, there are several big problems at the heart of the franchise which won’t be fixed by these new releases.

I still believe that the best option for Star Wars, and many other legacy IPs, is to simply take a break, go away for a few years to reset, come up with new ideas, and get the fans excited for it again, but I don’t think the current state of entertainment will allow that.

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