‘The Acolyte’: New ‘Star Wars’ Disney+ series takes fans into the past
Starring Amandla Stenberg, Carrie-Anne Moss and Lee Jung-jae, new “Star Wars” series “The Acolyte” is set centuries before “The Phantom Menace.”
For nearly 50 years, “Star Wars” fans have thrilled over the various chapters of the Skywalker Saga on the big screen. So where will we travel next in the galaxy far, far away? The next few months and years will go a long way to answering that question. (Hint: It will involve Baby Yoda, in case you miss that little guy.)
For decades, the movie theater was the primary home for the mega-popular franchise, but TV has become a hotbed of “Star Wars” stories in the streaming era. The Western-tinged adventures of “The Mandalorian” and politically savvy machinations in “Andor” have won over audiences in recent years, and new Disney+ series like “The Acolyte” are on the horizon. And while we haven’t seen a “Star Wars” movie since “The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019 (the less we say about that, the better), high-profile films are in development, from Pedro Pascal’s Mando and Grogu’s biggest adventure yet to the return of Daisy Ridley’s heroic Rey.
So what’s coming and when? Here’s everything we know that’s in the “Star Wars” pipeline:
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‘The Acolyte’ gets a new trailer for May the 4th
With its latest Disney+ series, “Star Wars” is going back in time farther than ever onscreen: “The Acolyte,” which debuted a new trailer for Star Wars Day and premieres its first two episodes June 4, explores the High Republic era, which takes place centuries before George Lucas’ first prequel, “The Phantom Menace.” Amandla Stenberg stars as a former Jedi apprentice, while Carrie-Anne Moss and “Squid Game” breakout Lee Jung-jae play Jedi masters in a mystery thriller set during a time when the dark side begins to disrupt the light side of the Force.
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‘Star Wars’ meets ‘The Goonies’: Jude Law headlines youthful ‘Skeleton Crew’
Created by Jon Watts (who directed Tom Holland’s Marvel Spider-Man films), “Skeleton Crew” is a Spielbergian coming-of-age series that centers on four youngsters who make a mysterious discovery, find themselves lost in a strange galaxy and meet friends and enemies alike trying to find their way home. The show, like “The Mandalorian,” is set in the New Republic era between “Return of the Jedi” and “The Force Awakens.” Jude Law and Oscar nominee Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) star, and while “Skeleton Crew” was originally scheduled to premiere in 2023, it’s expected later this year or early 2025.
A second season of acclaimed ‘Andor’ is on the way
“Andor,” a gritty and realistic “Rogue One” prequel that won over fans and critics alike, reintroduced Rebel spy Cassian Andor as a young man recruited by members of the Resistance working against the fascistic Empire. Filming wrapped earlier this year on the 12-episode second and final season, which is expected to hit Disney+ in 2025: In a 2022 interview, creator Tony Gilroy explained that Andor goes from being “someone who could care less about the rebellion” in the first half of the show to “becoming a revolutionary” by its conclusion.
Also on tap: ‘Ahsoka’ Season 2 with Rosario Dawson
The first-season cliffhanger of “Ahsoka” left its main characters in quite a pickle, with lightsaber-wielding warrior Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) and pal Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) stuck in a far-off galaxy while the returning Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) gathers the remnants of the Empire to be a thorn in the New Republic’s side. The good news is that creator Dave Filoni is currently developing a second season to explore how our heroines get out of their jam.
Mandalorian and Grogu are ready for their big-screen closeup
There’s no word yet on a potential fourth season of “The Mandalorian,” but we’re getting the next best thing: “The Mandalorian & Grogu” (due May 22, 2026), directed by Jon Favreau, begins filming this year and will feature Pascal’s helmeted warrior dad and his powerfully adorable adopted son. It’s likely not the last of them at the cinema, either: Filoni is developing an action-packed movie centered on a war between the Imperial Remnant and fledging New Republic that will close out the interconnected stories of Disney+ shows “Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Ahsoka.” “I hope you walk into that theater and whether you’ve seen a series or not, you enjoy the movie,” the director told USA TODAY at last year’s Star Wars Celebration.
James Mangold ‘biblical epic,’ Rey’s big return are in the works, too
Daisy Ridley, who played the sequel trilogy’s central heroine Rey, will reprise her role in a new film from director Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, an Oscar winner for best documentary short (“Saving Face”). The movie is set 15 years after “Rise of Skywalker,” as Rey builds a New Jedi Order.
And after tackling the last Indiana Jones movie, director James Mangold is plumbing the ancient history of the “Star Wars” galaxy for another new film project in development. In an interview last year, Mangold described his tale of the first Jedi to harness the Force as a weapon of liberation in a good-vs.-evil fight as a “biblical epic” about the “dawning of the religion that drives ‘Star Wars.'”
Contributing: Nicole Fallert
