It’s been over a year since Disney Investor Day 2020 flooded Star Wars fans with new film and TV show announcements. This was the day we learned we’d be getting a Disney+ series all about Ahsoka Tano. It was the day the community got excited about what was supposed to be Lucasfilm’s next Star Wars movie.
It was a day that offered so much hope to Star Wars lovers all over the world. But over time, far too much of that hope has gone dark. Not because fans are loving Star Wars less, but instead because many of the projects announced during the presentation have either gone MIA or are in danger of being cancelled altogether.
Take Rogue Squadron, for example. Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars film was originally scheduled to take flight in 2023, but has already reportedly suffered a delay. Rumors also continue to circulate that Rangers of the New Republic has been taken off the table entirely … and production hasn’t even officially started yet.
While shows like Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi made it onto the Disney+ 2022 calendar and are, as far as we know, in no danger of being removed, other announced projects have seemingly faded into oblivion. What’s going on with the Lando Calrissian-focused series? Is Taika Waititi really still working on that movie we were promised? And wasn’t there supposed to be a series about droids?
For what it’s worth, when these announcements were made, it was the tail end of 2020. We all desperately needed some hope, and what better way to find hope than escaping into the presumed future of a galaxy far, far away?
Despite that, though, Disney Investor Day went a little too hard in the wrong direction. It’s not uncommon in the industry for things to be announced before production has begun, leading to speculation and sometimes outrage when plans fall through and movies or shows don’t make it to our screens. But Star Wars announced a lot very far in advance. We could spend years talking about what may or may not happen with some of these projects. If more of them die off than make it to completion, will it all really have been worth it?
The franchise would be wise to announce projects only a few years out, even if not all of them are guaranteed to come to fruition. Things happen. Delays happen, directors’ schedules change, things that could have worked themselves out, for a variety of reasons, don’t. But on a smaller scale, that would feel much less upsetting than watching project after project flash in and out of existence.
Fans play extra close attention to the upcoming projects that interest them most. So it seems unusual for Star Wars because it’s Star Wars. This does happen outside of the fandom. But with so many hoping for promising updates on projects that have barely been mentioned since 2020, it’s not just frustrating; it’s also disheartening. Why get excited about announced projects if they’re not going to happen?
All we can do is hope that what we do get in terms of Star Wars TV and film in the next five years focuses on quality if it can’t excel in quantity. Overall, though, as long as we get good content, less of it really isn’t so bad, is it?
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