For the third time in the history of the convention to commemorate a galaxy far, far, away, Star Wars Celebration 2023 (SWCE) was held in ExCeL London. This event has been ongoing since 1999, originally created in hype for the release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. With tons of exciting announcements and releases, here is everything announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
The new Star Wars timeline
Disney continues to expand its modern canon for the Star Wars universe and, at SWCE 2023, showed off a new official timeline detailing where its recent and upcoming releases take place.
Kathleen Kennedy, the president of LucasFilm, displayed an image of this new timeline during a panel at SWCE 2023, beginning with the Dawn of the Jedi and concluding with the New Jedi Order. The Dawn of the Jedi serves as the earliest time period, focusing on the Jedi’s origins and the Force itself.
Despite being eschewed from the Disney Star Wars canon for so long, the era of the Old Republic is now officially recognized as part of the modern timeline. This period saw some of the greatest stories in the history of the franchise, particularly the tale of Revan from BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic single-player RPG, as well as The Old Republic MMO, which is still ongoing to this very day.
In the last few years, the High Republic era has now been explored in a series of comics and novels, showing the galaxy in a golden age, with the Jedi at the peak of their power well before the time of Emperor Palpatine. This timeline is also explored in the 2024 Star Wars: The Acolyte series.
The mainline films of Episodes I-IX and spinoffs Rogue One and Solo take place during the majority of the timeline, from the Fall of the Jedi through to the Rise of the First Order.
Now into the future, Disney introduces the era of the New Jedi Order, taking place after the sequel trilogy.
Ahsoka release date and trailer
News regarding the upcoming live-action Star Wars series, Ahsoka, offered some of the biggest reveals at Celebration 2023. The show now has a confirmed release window of August 2023, in a new teaser trailer by LucasFilm. Ahsoka is portrayed in live-action by Rosario Dawson, who first appeared in The Mandalorian series.
During her brief appearance on The Mandalorian, the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn was mentioned. The new Ahsoka trailer confirms the character of Thrawn is played by Lars Mikkelsen, the older brother of Mads Mikkelsen (Galen Erso from Rogue One).
Furthermore, the trailer sees Ahsoka collaborating with Sabine Wren, a fellow companion from the Star Wars Rebels series. In addition to the fact that audiences already know Ezra Bridger will be in Ahsoka, we will definitely see a rescue mission as part of the plot.
Considering that Thrawn briefly shows up in the trailer, he will clearly be of some significance to the show. Unfortunately, we only see the back of his head, but it’s clear that he is a big deal, as Ahsoka addresses him as the “heir to the Empire.” This is a nod to the book that first introduced Thrawn to the Star Wars universe.
Aside from these reveals, we also know that Hayden Christensen, the actor who played Anakin Skywalker in the prequel trilogy and the master of Ahsoka, will be in the show. Finally, we are also getting a confirmed appearance of Genevieve O’Reilly (Mon Mothma), who will be returning from her role in the Andor series.
Ahsoka will release in August 2023 for streaming on Disney Plus. Dave Filoni, creator of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Mandalorian, will serve as executive producer and writer. No confirmation on the director.
Three New Star Wars Films
LucasFilm confirmed at SWCE 2023 that three brand new feature-length films are in development for Star Wars. They will be directed by James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chonoy, and each explores entirely different time periods.
In general, the three upcoming Star Wars films will stretch across the entire timeline.
Jedi and Force Origins story, James Mangold
Mangold, the director of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, will be working with LucasFilm on a new Star Wars movie that tells a story about the origins of the Jedi and the emergence of the Force. It will be set 25,000 years prior to the events of Episodes IV-VI, making it the farthest back in time the Disney canon has gone with its portfolio.
Theatrical event show tie-in, Dave Filoni
Filoni, the co-creator of The Mandalorian and creator of various animated series in the Star Wars universe, is directing a “theatrical event” that ties together stories from the shows he made together with Jon Favreau. The timeline is set between the New Republic and the First Order during a period of conflict.
Rey Skywalker story, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
Obaid-Chinoy is directing a movie featuring Daisy Ridley as Rey that takes place 15 years after the events of Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Ridley, who will be reprising her role, is playing a Jedi Master who establishes a new academy for the Jedi Order.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch final season
The third and final season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch was confirmed at SWCE 2023, and is set to release on Disney Plus sometime in 2024.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch takes place after Order 66 and features an elite squad of clone troopers who purposely disobey orders from the Empire to turn on their comrades and former Jedi companions.
Star Wars: The Acolyte
Fans have been well aware of the upcoming new TV series, Star Wars: The Acolyte, since it was first announced at Disney’s Investor Day Event in December 2020.
We know as of SWCE 2023 that Star Wars: The Acolyte is a new crime series that takes place during the conclusion of the High Republic era, a timeline established by a set of novels that started coming out in 2021.
Given the title, many speculate that Star Wars: The Acolyte would feature a story centered around a Sith apprentice. Leslye Headland, the series creator, made a statement that aligns with this theory. “I really wanted to delve into the Star Wars universe and tell the story of this world I love so much from the perspective of the bad guys… So what I pitched to Kathleen [Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm], was Frozen meets Kill Bill... It’s the furthest back in the Star Wars timeline that we’ve ever been in live action.”
During the official panel, Headland, who has been a fan fiction writer of Star Wars since childhood, was walked out on stage by a Wookie Jedi Master named Kelnaka. This character is being portrayed by Joonas Suotamo, the current actor for Chewbacca, and will appear in Star Wars: The Acolyte.
Star Wars: The Acolyte will release in 2024 for streaming on Disney Plus. The series stars actors Amandla Stenberg, Dafne Keen, Manny Jacinto, and Lee Jung-jae.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor final trailer
Although fans have been hyped for the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor game for a while, despite being delayed several times, Disney showed off the final trailer for the upcoming action/adventure title featuring series protagonist Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan) paying a visit to Coruscant. It also sees him throwing a Stormtrooper directly into a TIE Fighter and the new limb-disembowelment physics.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor releases on April 28, 2023, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. What’s more, Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars, the novel that ties in the events of the previous game, Fallen Order, came out on March 7, 2023.
Star Wars Visions Volume 2
An additional collection of animated shorts to extend Star Wars Visions will be released on May 4, 2023, for streaming on Disney Plus. Visions is an anthology series with standalone episodes created by famous Japanese animation studios and producers that offer a completely unique take on the Star Wars franchise.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew will be released at some point in 2023 and will be available to stream on Disney Plus.
Andor
Disney confirmed at SWCE 2023 during a panel that Andor Season 2 is now in production.
When is Star Wars Celebration happening again?
On the final day of SWCE 2023 at ExCeL London, Disney confirmed that the convention will not happen in 2024. However, it will return in 2025, taking place in Japan for the first time.