Star Wars content flurry confirmed: New Disney+ series, film updates

Enlarge / We already know plenty about the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi, launching later this month, but a lengthy feature out this week chronicles all the other Disney+ content coming soon from a galaxy far, far away. (credit: Lucasarts)

When it comes to learning about new Star Wars content, there's really no beating a massive, feature-length look behind the curtain at Lucasfilm and Disney. This month's launch of the simply named Obi-Wan Kenobi series has proven a good occasion to get such a peek, thanks to a sweeping—and at times, frank—documentation of all things Star Wars from Vanity Fair.

The article primarily follows the lead actors of Disney+'s four upcoming live-action Star Wars series, though it also covers the IP's apparently rocky path away from feature-length films and toward serialized TV content (though, yes, it does get to films by the end). It includes an acknowledgment from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy that the company's constant return to the old well, which has included a recast Han Solo and a CGI-tinged Luke Skywalker, isn't sustainable. When pressed about those attempts, she replied, "Now it does seem so abundantly clear that we can’t do that."

Put Thrawn on notice?

So while the new May 27 Obi-Wan series will return to popular characters and their original actors, the upcoming Disney+ material announced here leans toward expansions of characters who don't necessarily date back to the original 1977 film. 2023's Ahsoka will focus on the popular character from Clone Wars and reintroduced on The Mandalorian, and its premiere season will focus on a "continuous story" that will almost certainly involve the character's refrain of hunting Grand Admiral Thrawn.