Everything We Learned From Star Wars Celebration 2023

This year, the annual Star Wars Celebration event took place in London from April 7 to April 10.

Many fans have been looking forward to the event, which often teases the release dates for upcoming movies and Disney+ series. Take a look at all of the highlights we learned about upcoming movies, TV shows, and more!

Actress Daisy Ridley will be reprising her role as Rey from the sequel trilogy. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy revealed that the film will take place fifteen years after the events of 2019’s “The Rise of Skywalker.”

The movie will be directed by “Ms. Marvel” filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and will be set in a Jedi Academy, with Master Rey trying to rebuild the Jedi Order just like Luke Skywalker tried to do in the events before the sequel trilogy. At this time, no other sequel trilogy character have yet to be confirmed.

After directing “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” which also dropped a new trailer during the Star Wars Celebration, director James Mangold will also direct a movie about the first Jedi and the origin story of the Force.

Creative boss Dave Filoni will also be directing a new movie within the New Republic era to tie together the events set in “The Mandalorian” timeline. After working on animated shows like “Rebels” and “The Clone Wars” for so many years, Filoni told audiences, “I’m just excited to make a movie!”

The first trailer for “Ahsoka” dropped at Star Wars Celebration with a release date – August 2023. Rosario Dawson will be back to reprise her role as Ahsoka Tano while Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) make their first jump into live-action after first appearing in “Rebels.”

In addition, Lars Mikkelsen will reprise his role as Grand Admiral Thrawn, who will be making his first jump into live-action as well. “Doctor Who” star David Tennant will also reprise his role as the droid Huyang.

In regards to “The Acolyte,” showrunner Leslye Headland described the show, which is set in the High Republic era, as “Frozen meets Kill Bill.” The show takes place at a time when Jedi are abundant and, as Headland puts it, “the bad guys are outnumbered.”

The series features an all-star cast of “The Hunger Games” alum Amandla Stenberg, “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, “The Matrix” star Carrie-Anne Moss, and many more. Joonas Suotamo, who picked up the role of Chewbacca in 2015’s “The Force Awakens” after the late Peter Mayhew, will be playing a Wookiee Jedi in this new series as well.

Actor Jude Law helped introduce the child stars who form the cast of “Skeleton Crew,” which was developed by “Spider-Man: No Way Home” director Jon Watts. The series features a group of young children trying to find their way home after getting lost and takes place in the same time period as “The Mandalorian.”

The show does not have a release date yet, but it is already in post-production, which means that it might hit Disney+ in early 2024. Law told audiences that he has been a fan of “Star Wars” since he was a kid, saying, “I was 6 years old when this galaxy, this world gripped me, blew my mind, and I feel like I've been in preparation ever since.”

Season 2 of “Andor” is going to be the final season of the show and showrunner Tony Gilroy has already indicated that the final moments of the show will lead into the beginning of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” to create a full-circle moment for Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna.

Both Gilroy and Luna appeared on stage at Star Wars Celebration to talk about the upcoming season, which is expected to hit Disney+ in August 2024. They also teased new footage from the upcoming season, which heavily featured Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma and Kyle Soller as Syril Karn.

In terms of animated shows, the second season of “Star Wars: Visions” will hit Disney+ on May 4 this year. The second season is focusing on animation studios from around the globe to put their own twist on a galaxy far, far away.

That’s not the only animated show that is going to return to Disney+. “The Bad Batch” will be getting a third and final season after season 2 closed on a cliffhanger with Omega being captured. The teaser shown at Star Wars Celebration featured Ian McDiarmid back as Emperor Palpatine and Ming-Na Wen back as Fennec Shand, although many fans are hoping that Shand makes her way back into live-action soon.

As previously reported, Star Wars Celebration is skipping a year so fans have plenty of time to save up for Star Wars Celebration 2025, which takes place in Japan.

This event will only be three days instead of four, but still take place in April, from April 18 to 20. With the first Star Wars movie since 2019's "The Rise of Skywalker" expected to be shown in theaters in December 2025, this will no doubt be a don't-miss event!