Friday night at the Walt Disney Company’s official fan convention, D23, fans were treated to tons of announcements and first looks at upcoming content from Walt Disney Studios, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and more. The Lucasfilm portion of the event focused on three upcoming projects: Skeleton Crew, Andor, and The Mandalorian & Grogu. Let’s explore what all was shared!
Skeleton Crew
By far the biggest focus from Star Wars was Skeleton Crew, the next project set to release. Premiering on Disney+ on December 3, the series is about a group of kids who find themselves far from home, lost in the galaxy, trying to get back home. Along the way, they encounter an ally in Jod Na Nawood (played by Jude Law) – who, perhaps, could be a Jedi. With four months remaining to the release date, the first teaser trailer was publicly released for the series as Jude Law talked about what to expect from the series.
Based on the trailer, the look and feel of the show feels very different from much of the Star Wars we’ve seen before, and it feels very Amblin-like – almost like if Steven Spielberg were to do a Star Wars show. It evokes feels of movies like The Goonies or E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and shows us something we really haven’t seen much in the galaxy far, far away: suburbs! I think it’s cool that we’ll be seeing more of the ‘normal’ side of the galaxy, as these kids long for adventures – the same kind of adventures that we’ve seen in other Star Wars movies, but also the same kind of longing that so many of us had when we first encountered this franchise as kids. To see these children longing for it, and then caught up into it, will be pretty cool.
The series, helmed by Jon Watts and Chris Ford, is set in the New Republic era, around the same timeline as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka (Vane, one of the pirates in The Mandalorian season three, will also be in this show). The executive producers of The Mandalorian also return for this series, as Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Colin Wilson join Watts and Ford. It’s the latest chapter in the Mandalorian series of projects, and it figures to be a lighter, fun adventure to watch around the holidays.
In the trailer, we see the kids stumble upon what they believe is an old Jedi Temple but that we, based on other descriptions of the series, know is actually a ship. It’s a ship with an actual skeleton aboard, so skeleton crew might be quite literal. But this ship transports the kids off-world, maybe even for the first time, and they find themselves all alone in a big galaxy. The trailer ends with a look at Jude Law as Jod Na Nawood, imprisoned with the kids in a cell, seemingly using the Force to pull a key to himself as one of the kids calls him a Jedi. I think we should take this with a grain of salt, since it’s the same kid who mistakingly thought the ship was the Jedi Temple. During this period, it’s far more likely that Nawood is a pretend, or wanna-be Jedi, kind of like Haja Estree in Obi-Wan Kenobi. That’s my guess, but we’ll have to wait and see when the series airs in December.
Andor
After Skeleton Crew, Diego Luna appeared to promote Andor season two (helmed by Tony Gilroy), which is coming to Disney+ in 2025. Luna said that Rogue One changed his life, and that he’s excited to be bringing the second and final season of Andor to the screen. He also reiterated what we already knew, that while season one covered the span of one year, season two will cover four years and lead right up to Rogue One. He then introduced a behind-the-scenes trailer that was not released publicly (yet was leaked online on social media), but that showed plenty of new stuff from season two.
Most notable was the trailer confirming the return of several cast members from Rogue One. Saw Gererra is back, as expected, with Forest Whitaker returning to reprise the role after also portraying the character in season one. Furthermore, as was planned for years, Alan Tudyk will return as K-2SO, the lovable Imperial security droid turned Rebel soldier and close friend of Cassian Andor. Maybe most exciting, though, was the confirmation of what had begun to leak around the internet this summer: Ben Mendelsohn is back as Director Orson Krennic. The Imperial officer appeared just briefly in the trailer (seemingly at the ISB on Coruscant), but it was enough to confirm his appearance in the series as it gets closer to the fateful events of Rogue One. The trailer also confirmed that we’ll be returning to Yavin IV this season, which by the time of Rogue One is the Rebel headquarters first seen in A New Hope.
Summarizing the show, Luna said: “The stakes are greater, the enemies more organized, and the clock is ticking.”
No specific release date for Andor was given, but the highly-anticipated project will be coming sometime in 2025. Luna stars as the titular Cassian Andor, and he’s joined by a returning cast that includes Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Stellan Skarsgard as Luthen Rael, Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen, Denise Gough as Dedra Meero, Kyle Soller as Syril Karn, and more.
The Mandalorian & Grogu
To round out the Lucasfilm portion of the presentation, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni took the stage to talk about The Mandalorian & Grogu, the theatrical film that just recently began production. The producing pair spoke about what it’s like bringing The Mandalorian to the big screen, and though filming is just weeks underway, they also brought a teaser trailer that was screened exclusively for those in attendance (but which, of course, was leaked online too).
There was plenty of footage of Din Djarin fighting Imperial snowtroopers, and with Djarin and Grogu operating a walker across snowy terrain – only to encounter AT-ATs firing at them. There was a brief scene of Grogu sharing a cockpit with two Anzellans, but maybe most exciting of all was a scene of Djarin and Grogu in a cockpit while Garazeb Orellios flew, confirming the return of the beloved character from Rebels after his live-action debut in The Mandalorian season three. Curiously, the trailer also showed a Razorcrest ship (flown by Zeb), seemingly confirming the return of the ship class after Djarin’s was destroyed in season two.
Given that this was our first look at the movie, and that it just began filming, very little is known about what to expect. But based on the ending of The Mandalorian‘s third season, it’s likely that Din Djarin will be working much more closely with the New Republic than he has in the past – and there was even a poster of him with the New Republic logo behind him seen at D23. All of this will likely bring the era’s most beloved new characters more into the fold ahead of the Thrawn crisis that is to come.
Creator Jon Favreau is directing hte movie, and he’ll produce the movie alongside the team that has brought the whole series and era to life, joined by Dave Filoni and Kathleen Kennedy. The Mandalorian & Grogu will hit theaters on May 22, 2026.
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