The Book of Boba Fett Coming December 2021

The season 2 finale of The Mandalorian was nerd nirvana for a multiple reasons (those last 10 minutes!) that make it must see TV.  After the credits was one last stinger moment set on Tatooine, in the base of Jabba the Hutt (who Leia killed five or so years before).  With it came a simple message "The Book of Boba Fett Coming December 2021".  Based on the ending safe to assume that Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett) will star and Ming-Na Wen (Fennec) will also play a role in the series.

Disney Reveals 10 Star Wars Series in the Works, Rogue Squadron Movie

Today Disney held its annual investor conference. With the company as a whole shifting to a streaming model, that meant revealing their plans for 2021 and beyond across all their brands including Lucasfilm with Star Wars. The biggest bit of news is they have 10 Star Wars series that plan on creating over the next year or so. The release dates, what few there are, are pretty vague but plans are to start rolling things out likely in late 2021 and throughout 2022. 

Star Wars: 

Rogue Squadron 

Andor 

The Mandalorian Season 3 

Ahsoka

Rangers of the New Republic

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Lando

The Acolyte

The Bad Batch

Visions

Lucasfilm:

Indiana Jones 5

Willow

Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman 84) has been tapped to direct Star Wars: Rogue Squadron. In a tweet the director expressed the project is personal as she wants it to reflect her loss and love of her fighter pilot father by making the "greatest fighter pilot movie of all time." Rogue Squadron is the designation of the pilots that attacked the Death Star in The Battle of Yavin in Star Wars: A New Hope. Luke Skywalker is a founding member, first flight leader and the one who named the squadron using Jyd Erso from Star Wars: Rogue One as inspiration for their call sign (as depicted in Star Wars comics). In the now defunct Legacies/Extended Universe stories, Rogue Squadron continued on, members coming and going as the Resistence fought the Empire on multiple fronts. It later reformed during the age of the New Republic to fight new enemies. End result is the movie could pretty much be set at any time in Star Wars canon and use any old or new characters as it sees fit to tell its story. 

Speaking of Rogue One, the prequel movie will get its own prequel series of sorts with Andor. Diego Luna will reprise his character of Cassian Andor. The series will show the Rebellion spy doing his work before his job at some point before the movie as it will likely depict origins of the Rebellion. Below is a brief a "sizzle reel" for the series. 

The Mandalorian season 3 is expected to drop around Christmas time in 2021. It will also spin off two series Ahsoka and Rangers of the New Republic. Ahsoka will have Rosario Dawson return to the role with Disney saying its set "within the timeline of The Mandalorian." The assumption is it will continue to explore the characters search for Admiral Thrawn from Star Wars: Rebels.  Rangers of the New Republic will follow some of the "sheriff" type characters that have periodically helped The Mandalorian. Exactly who will be in the series was not revealed.

For years it was rumored that next non trilogy movie would be Obi-Wan. After Solo failed to perform, the movie was cancelled. But not the idea as Disney decided to shift to a series. That remains the case but now its been revealed that Hayden Christensen will return as Darth Vader for the series. The series itself will take place 10 years after the events of Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith. 

The details are light on Lando but Donald Glover reprise the role from Solo and likely will be set somewhere around that time period which is also after The Revenge of the Sith. Justin Simien (Dear White People) is set to create the series. 

According to Disney's tweet, "The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic Era." The end of the High Republic era was depicted in Star Wars Episodes I to III but that era was around 1000 or so years old in time frame. Probably to give viewers landmarks, I wouldn't be surprised if the series is set a little bit before The Phantom Menace. 

With all the live action announcements, Disney has not forgotten the cartoon side of things that kept the Star Wars flame going for years between movies with Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Visions. Bad Batch is set after end of Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series. The Batch is a reference to the fact that during this time all soldiers were clones of Jango Fett, father of Boba Fett. From Disney: "Star Wars: The Bad Batch follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in “The Clone Wars”) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch—a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army—each possess a singular exceptional skill that makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose. This animated series will arrive exclusively on Disney+." Trailer for Bad Batch is below. 

Star Wars: Visions will be a series of "animated short films, celebrates Star Wars galaxy through the lends of the world's best Japanese anime creators. Coming in 2021 to Disney+" 

On a related note, Lucasfilm has other plans beyond Star Wars with Indiana Jones 5 going into production in 2021 for a July 2022 release date with James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari) directing. Harrison Ford will return to the role, likely for the last time in what many are assuming will be one more attempt to hand the role off to another. The current rumor is Chris Pratt. The Willow TV series is coming in 2022 with Jon Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) directing the pilot. Warwick Davis will reprise the role of Willow Ufgood from the 1988 film.

R.I.P. David Prowse 1935 - 2020

David Prowse died Saturday at the age of 85. The actor is most famous for playing the iconic role of Darth Vader in original Star Wars trilogy. While James Earl Jones has long voiced the character, his physical prescence is all thanks to the the former bodybuilder from Bristol, England who wore the costume for all three films and did voice the role for filming purposes but his voice was not considered menancing enough.

The actor was chosen by George Lucas to audition for Star Wars after seeing him in his bodyguard role in A Clockwork Orange. He could have auditioned for Chewbacca but instead he chose Darth Vader saying he chose to audition for that role because ”you always remember the bad guys."

If from the UK, perhaps you might know him for a different reason, as the Green Cross Code Man that was used to promote road safety that led to his induction in the "Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire" (MBE). The actor's career never took off as he often had minor roles in other films and TV but he will always be remembered for bringing one of the most iconic cinematic characters of all time to life.

The Mandalorian Season 2 Episode 1 Streaming Now

Friendly reminder that The Mandlorian season 2 has begun its streaming run on Disney+. The episode goes right into some classic trilogy lore that fans should have fun with. New episodes will hit the streaming service each Friday morning.

The Mandalorian Season 2 Official Trailer

On October 30, the Child return in The Mandalorian season 2. Below is the official trailer that comes with the description:

The Mandalorian and the Child continue their journey, facing enemies and rallying allies as they make their way through a dangerous galaxy in the tumultuous era after the collapse of the Galactic Empire. “The Mandalorian” stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers and Giancarlo Esposito. Directors for the new season include Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Peyton Reed and Robert Rodriguez. Showrunner Jon Favreau serves as executive producer along with Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson, with Karen Gilchrist serving as co-executive producer.

The Mandalorian Season 2 Premiere October 30th

Disney+ has tweeted a simple message "This is the day. New episodes start streaming Oct. 30 on #DisneyPlus. #TheMandalorian"  No other information is currently available. Really about the only rumor is that Boba Fett may be part of the season but that's about it. The series premiered with Disney+ to critical accolades as it followed a bounty hunter as he protect "The Child" aka Baby Yoda that is set five years after Return of the Jedi.

Boba Fett Returns for The Mandalorian Season 2

For long time fans of the Star Wars Extended Universe, Boba Fett surviving the sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi was part of canon for decades. However, when Abrams couldn't be bothered with the EU so Disney shut it down entirely, that survival became an unknown again. Assumed because Disney isn't going to leave that character unused, but that survival was no longer canon. Until now.

The fan favorite character is joining The Mandalorian season 2 and will be played by a familiar face. Temuera Morrison will play the character. He was the same actor that played Jango Fett in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Keep in mind all clones were based on Jango and that Boba Fett himself is actually a clone that was raised by Jango as a son. As a result the return of Morrison to Star Wars make perfect sense. The role is considered small for the series but once he appears on screen, the possibilities for the character (and likely books, comics, etc to follow) will be endless.

May the 4orce Brings Star Wars Movie News

Happy May the 4th! While the celebration was muted due to Coronavirus, it did come with the finale of The Clone Wars and movie news. StarWars.com revealed that Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) will direct a Star Wars movie. He will also co-write it with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (1917). There is no story plans, date or other details revealed other then its in the works. Considering the high level of mis-management of the movies by Kathleen Kennedy with directors replaced on more than half their projects (only JJ Abrams has gone unscathed), I wouldn't get too attached to this current plan until at least half-way through the movie production. I would say the most optimistic estimate for a release for the movie is late 2022.

On the cartoon front, now that The Clone Wars and Rebels is done, something needs to fill the creative vacuum. It seems Disney's plan is for Leslye Headland (Russian Doll) to create that new series for Disney+. Considering the average TV cartoon takes at least a year to turnaround from concept to final product, this new series is unlikely to premiere until at least Fall 2021, if not later.

Speaking of Disney+, the entire Star Wars movie and TV library is now on the channel instead of separated across streaming services. Good news if have a subscription, bad if don't. Welcome to the new normal of multiple streaming services that do not share their IP to their now streaming competitors.

The Mandalorian Season 2 Premieres in October

As part of their earnings call, Disney revealed when the seasons of the new shows on Disney+ will premiere. The main highlights is The Mandalorian season 2 will premiere in October. The other debuts will be The Falcon and Winter Soldier in August and WandaVision in December. No other Star Wars news was revealed. On Marvel front, there remains unscheduled the premieres of Loki, What If... cartoon, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel.