In lieu of a D23 event or Comic-Con this year, Disney used a big Investor online event to announce a whole host of incoming series and movies, many of them cropping up on Disney+. Among them are the multiple offerings from Lucasfilm's Star Wars arm. We've already seen news aboutMandalorianspin-offs, but it's not all Mando – there were new details about the Cassian Andor series, Obi-Wan and other shows on the way.
The Cassian Andor show, which serves as a prequel to Star Wars: Rogue One___, is now named Star Wars: _Andor and stars Diego Luna as the rebel operative. The likes of Denise Gough, Genevieve O'Reilly (back as Mon Mothma), Stellan Skarsgard, Kyle Soller and Adria Arjona are aboard the Tony Gilroy series, which has Toby Haynes leading its directorial team. The sizzle reel for the show is below, which somewhat disturbingly, makes no mention of Alan Tudyk as K-2SO, though we're hopeful he's still involved.
Elsewhere, we learned a fair bit of new Information on a series that seems to be the most mysterious for now. It's long been reported that Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland has been working on a Disney+ series in the Star Wars universe, and now we know it's something called _The Acolyte._ Check out that rather intense title-treatment logo.
The Acolyte was described as "a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era". That's a period of the timeline that is largely unexplored – in fact, it's an era that's only recently been announced, with a upcoming set of books set to explore a society highly populated by Jedi, a couple of hundred years prior to the Skywalker Saga. If The Acolyte is described as being set in the 'final days' of the High Republic, it should take place around 100-odd years prior to the Prequels.
More familiar is this guy: Lando Calrissian. The coolest cape-wearer in the galaxy is getting his own Disney+ series too – and while it's not been officially confirmed, it's safe to assume that it'll be Solo's Donald Glover returning to the role rather than Billy Dee Williams. Or hey, maybe it'll feature both of them in a dual timeline. The series is being developed by Dear White People's Justin Simien, and here's the only concrete thing we have for now: this snazzy neon title treatment.
Elsewhere, the presentation saw the debut of a trailer for new animated series The Bad Batch, which follows a Clone Trooper brigade on some wild adventures. This one is set after the final run of The Clone Wars, and is another Dave Filoni joint. Watch the sizzle here:
Also elsewhere on the animated front, Star Wars Visions is letting anime talents from Japan loose on the Wars universe, creating new shorts and stories. And then there's A Droid Story, which will find R2-D2 and C-3PO guiding a new droid character through its own adventures. Beep-boop-beep, etc.
As if all that wasn't enough Star Wars for you, head this way to read all about the other big bombshell news of the day – that none other than Hayden Christensen will return as Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi. Deep, ventilated breaths, everyone.