Disney Plus: Star Wars shows, movies we might see at Thursday's preview event
The Bad Batch is a near certainty, and we might get more details about season 3 of The Mandalorian, the Obi-Wan Kenobi show and the Cassian Andor spinoff.
Boba Fett seems like an ideal candidate for a Disney Plus show, following his awesome appearance in The Mandalorian.
This Thursday's Disney Investor Day 2020 will give us a preview of what we can expect from the Disney Plus streaming service in 2021. The four-hour presentation could reveal when our next doses of Star Wars are coming, in addition to hinting at the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney has been tight-lipped about what to expect at the event.
After 2019 saw The Rise of Skywalker bring the Skywalker Saga to an end, 2020 was all about Star Wars TV. The final season of The Clone Wars came to its epic conclusion in May, and season 2 of The Mandalorian will wrap up on Dec. 18. We currently have no release dates for 2021 shows and movies set in a galaxy far, far away.
Let's take a look at what we might see Thursday.
The Bad Batch is likely to be the next Star Wars show to hit Disney Plus.
The Bad Batch
The CGI animated followup to The Clone Wars was announced in July, with a 2021 release date, so a trailer or release window at the Disney Plus event is highly likely. It'll tell the tale of a unique squad of clone troopers as they become mercenaries in the era of the Galactic Empire (between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope).
Hello there.
Obi-Wan Kenobi show
The untitled live-action show will see Ewan McGregor returning to the role he played in the prequel trilogy and follow the Jedi Master during his exile on Tatooine in the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope (again).
It'll reportedly start shooting in early 2021, so the footage is unlikely to be shown on Thursday. However, we may get the show's actual title or a release window.
Diego Luna will return as Cassian Andor.
Cassian Andor show
The live-action Rogue One prequel show, also untitled and set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, will bring Diego Luna back as the Rebel Alliance spy and reveal his past. Alan Tudyk will return as quirky ex-Imperial droid K-2SO and Genevieve O'Reilly will reprise her role as Alliance leader Mon Mothma, with Stellan Skarsgård, Denise Gough and Kyle Soller in unknown roles.
In early December, Luna revealed to Jimmy Kimmel that he was in London shooting the series, so it's possible that footage will be shown during the Disney Plus event. Fingers crossed for the show's title, a release date and some details about the unrevealed characters. It seems likely this will be the next live-action Star Wars series to hit the streaming service.
The Mandalorian season 3
The second season isn't done yet, but creator Jon Favreau told Variety he hopes to start production on season 3 "before the end of the year." In a since-deleted video, the Slovak Disney Plus YouTube channel also reportedly suggested a 2021 release date for the third season.
We might get confirmation of this during Thursday's event.
Ahsoka Tano could get a live-action spinoff after her live-action appearance in The Mandalorian.
The Mandalorian spinoffs
Back in February, then-Disney boss Bob Iger mentioned the possibility that some of the show's characters could go "in their own directions in terms of series" -- hinting at spinoffs down the line.
Since then, season 2 has presented us with several major possibilities. Former Mandalorian leader Bo-Katan Kryze, ex-Jedi Ahsoka Tano and bounty hunter Boba Fett are definitely popular and awesome enough to have their own shows, especially if The Mandalorian doesn't resolve their stories.
Bo-Katan Kryze might return.
Katee Sackhoff said she'd be open to playing Bo-Katan again, while Rosario Dawson hasn't made any indication about returning as Ahsoka. (The character might show up in an animated show instead.) Asked about Boba's future in a New York Times interview on Monday, actor Temura Morrison said he didn't know anything about spinoff plans but suggested there's room for the character's story "to go someplace."
It just seems unlikely that Lucasfilm would cast these beloved actors to play high profile characters for an episode or two (since we'll probably see Boba again in season 2).
Former Rebel Alliance shocktrooper Cara Dune would be an excellent candidate for a spinoff show too. However, Disney may not want to shine the spotlight on this character right now, after actor Gina Carano became embroiled in social media controversy.
Leslye Headland series
In May, Lucasfilm confirmed that Leslye Headland, who co-created Russian Doll on Netflix, will write, executive produce and serve as showrunner on a new Star Wars show for Disney Plus. It'll apparently be a female-centric series that'll explore a fresh part of the Star Wars timeline.
Other than that, we know little about this show, so Thursday could bring some concrete details like the premise, title and a release window.
Movies
Things have been quiet on the film front since The Rise of Skywalker. No movies are due out in the immediate future. It's unlikely we'll hear about the director Taika Waititi's upcoming movie, which was announced in May without any indication of what it'll be about, or Rian Johnson's trilogy, which we've known about since 2017. Johnson suggested that it's still happening in January, but we know little about it other than the plan to focus on new characters. Even a whisper about either project would be a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
Disney may also reveal something completely unexpected at Thursday's event -- perhaps a show related to The High Republic books and comics -- since it'll want to keep Star Wars fans engaged and excited about the franchise's future. We need something to tide us over until Celebration Anaheim 2022.