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On May 4 of this year, like the hands of a clock, a new part of Star Wars news dropped: a trailer for the upcoming Disney+ show Obi-Wan Kenobi. Previous Star Wars Day announcements have included Thor: Ragnarok Director Taika Waititi will write and direct a future Star Wars movie and General Mills will issue a Yoda cereal for babies. It’s also a day for all kinds of fan action, like crafting, cosplaying, and hosting movie marathons. But over the years, the start-up holiday feels more and more like a marketing stunt — a former grassroots fan holiday that has been turned into a news peg for a one-of-a-kind trailer. show that people don’t seem too excited about.
Before we continue, a moment of clarity. Yes, WIRED participation in May, the 4th as much as any media organization and as far back as I can remember (in a galaxy far, far away…). Also, there may be people out there who are much more excited about Obi-Wan than my feed indicates. But my broader view is, because Mandalorianmaybe even since Star Wars: Rise of SkywalkerThe future of the franchise feels like watching Millennium Falcon go into hyperdrive: lots of lights and action, but hard to see where it’s going.
Part of this has to do with the fact that, quite frankly, Star Wars is taking a bit of a lull. After the breakthrough success of MandalorianLucasfilm has released the scores of its spin-off series, each of which has received an equal degree of enthusiasm. Bad lot very good, although it may lack the crossover appeal of Mando since it is an animated series. Books by Boba Fett– it’s basically about one of the fandom’s most beloved characters – is fine. And now there Obi-Wan, once again revived a beloved character, but revived his version, played by Ewan McGregor, from the less beloved prequel trilogy. It really could go both ways, although this trailer shows more cinematic thrills (and Darth Vader moments) than previous installments have had. The Rise of Skywalker came out almost three years ago, and the next movie – it seems to be directed by Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squad—December 2023 will come, and even that day is a little question mark. Meanwhile, everything about Star Wars is like being on autopilot.
Something also needs to be said for the fact that all of these ho-hum releases have come in much different times than those that came before. The Rise of Skywalker finally became a kind of groan for the more recent trilogy to come to an end, but it also happened in December 2019, just a few months before that. Covid-19 beaten. In recent years, there has been the 2020 US presidential election, the Black Lives Matter protests, the war in Ukraine, and countless other high-impact events. While the franchise can sometimes be seen as a distraction, it also seems far less noticeable than the chaos of the real world. In a week, of which one Leaked draft comments shows that the US Supreme Court can vote to overturn Roe v. Wadeone Obi-Wan the trailer didn’t feel the same impact. Star Wars still exists in all sorts of socio-political climates, but at a time when it seems like the franchise, to be honest, using the respite, can now It’s time for it to stop working.
The question is will it come back? Disney has invested billions of dollars in Lucasfim with the expectation that it will be a content powerhouse for years to come. Finally, yes Andorabout Diego Luna’s Rogue One Featured Cassian Andor, slated for release later this year, alongside the second season of Bad lot. There’s also a Lando Calrissian show said to be in the works, and more Mandalorian upcoming show, as well as two spin-offs to that show, one featuring Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano. But those projects are just spin-offs from stories already in the Star Wars universe. They were also part of the plan — former Disney CEO Bob Iger said not long ago that the Star Wars movies will go on hiatus while the studio focuses on Disney+ shows.
The real test of the future of Star Wars will lie in whether any of the post-Skywalker Saga stories can be successful. Having Waititi lead a person sounds promising, too from that Attractive designs filmmaker JD Dillard will be making a movie. Marvel honcho Kevin Feige might also swap his hat to direct a Star Wars movie. But then there is The Last Jedi Director Rian Johnson’s trilogy was announced years ago but has been quiet for months since. Game of Thrones hosts David Benioff and DB Weiss are also slated to have their own trilogy but out of the project in 2019. So what for? It’s correct, Obi-Wan could be great, and Jenkins’ movie could be the start of a whole new Star Wars renaissance. Or they could all fail, leaving the franchise with only its past glories. But chances are, nothing spectacular — no epic genre changes, or epic explosions — will happen, and Star Wars will just keep going, like a droid being destroyed. glitch in the Tatooine Desert. That might be the most disappointing ending of all.
