Will the D23 Expo delay to 2022 affect any Star Wars announcements?

The D23 Expo has officially been postponed, but will it affect Star Wars?

On Monday, Disney announced some disappointing but not surprising news. The D23 Expo would be postponed to 2022. Originally supposed to take place next summer, the event will now run Sept. 9-11, 2022, in Anaheim, California.

As they said in a statement shared on social media, “D23 Expo 2022 will be a celebration unlike any other, as we give fans a first look at the incredible plans for the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company.”

At the last D23 Expo last year, a ton of Disney-related new was released. The schedule was especially bulked up with Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox, which meant it had the opportunity to run panels on Fox-owned properties like The Simpsons and National Geographic. And with all of its announcements, including anything from Marvel’s Disney+ shows to Disney Parks updates, they did find some space to slip in Star Wars announcements.

One of the biggest pieces of news we got out of D23 on the Star Wars front was the official announcement of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series with Ewan McGregor making an appearance to confirm it. There was a Rise of Skywalker panel that revealed some new information as well as a D23 special look. So while it wasn’t 100% Star Wars, there were a few announcements.

So, what about the next D23 Expo? Will any Star Wars announcements be affected by that delay? The short answer is, not really, and for one main reason: Star Wars Celebration. The next Star Wars Celebration will now also take place in Anaheim in 2022. Just a few weeks before D23, it will run Aug. 18-21, 2022. That means the Star Wars-specific expo will have the opportunity to get most of the big announcements out of the way there. Then, possibly, D23 can follow up with that. Or it will lean more heavily on the Disney+ side of announcements.

And, right now, it’s hard to say exactly what will be confirmed at those expos, seeing as it’s about two years away. The production halts and delays on films and television shows have made it increasingly difficult to keep up with release dates. And it seems like just when you think a date is solidified for one show or movie these days, it gets pushed back again. Still, there’s plenty of unconfirmed material in the rumor mill so far. That ranges from an Ahsoka Tano show to the Taika Waititi movie. Or, we may even be lucky enough to get some trailers for upcoming projects.

So in some way, the D23 Expo not coming out next year may affect Star Wars, as in the company may not have a big platform to announce any new projects. But with the way things are being held up, it’s doubtful that they’d have that much to say in 2021 given everything’s been delayed this year.  Perhaps by next year, we’ll have a clearer idea of what’s to come in the 2022 lineup for both Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo. But with these two major events held back a year, that likely means Lucasfilm will really be holding any big news close to their chests until that year.

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