【ALL OUT: AJ RAVAL】

Star Wars fans have ALL OUT: AJ RAVALwaited patiently for the slightest morsel of news on movies and TV shows coming in the wake of the Disney+ hit The Mandalorian. So it was more than a little shocking when a raft of content larger than the entire Skywalker Saga was announced in a Disney investor video Thursday.

Not only did the unveiling bring us to 10 Star Wars shows on Disney+ and one new named movie (Rogue Squadron, helmed by Wonder Womandirector Patty Jenkins), it also teased some intriguing details about those shows. Mystery has been the lifeblood of the franchise since 1977, and Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy just showed she can dish it out with the best of them.

Perhaps most curious of all: Hayden Christensen will return to play Darth Vader in Obi-Wan Kenobi, a show set 10 years after Christensen's last outing in Revenge of the Sith. Vader — note, specifically notAnakin Skywalker — is supposed to be past his prequel phase at this point; his human body is ruined and he's well into his David Prowse/James Earl Jones more-machine-than-man incarnation.

So how can Christensen play Vader — in a flashback? As a Force projection? Or a figment in the imagination of Ewan McGregor's Kenobi? That question alone will bedevil us until the show launches, likely in 2022.

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In case you missed the news that exploded like a Death Star across social media, here's the Star Wars slate. On top of the previously announced Kenobiand Andor (reprising Diego Luna's character from Rogue One), Disney+ will offer Rangers of the New Republic, from Mandalorianshowrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni; Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) will get her own show, Ahsoka, after appearing in The Mandalorianfor one episode; an "event series" about Lando Calrissian called Lando; an animated series following on from Clone Warscalled The Bad Batch; a set of anime films named Visions; an "adventure film" called A Droid Storystarring R2-D2 and C-3PO; and a "mystery thriller" with "shadowy secrets" called The Acolyte.

The latter may be Star Wars' best opportunity to break new ground. The Acolyte is set "in the final days of the High Republic Era," a pre-Phantom Menacetime when the Jedi were still the guardians of peace and justice and the Sith were still in the shadows. Lucasfilm is about to release a series of books set in this time, but The Acolyte will be the first time that any on-screen entertainment has delved into any part of the galaxy's timeline not covered by the Skywalker saga. (That is, unless Rogue Squadron hits theaters first; the movie is explicitly set in a time beyond the end of Rise of Skywalker.)

The 30-year "New Republic" gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakensis fertile ground too, as The Mandaloriancontinues to prove. That's where we'll find the still-mysterious Rangers, and most likely Ahsoka, as the former Jedi padawan has already teased her ongoing quest from the end of Rebelsto find her friend Ezra Bridger and her antagonist Grand Admiral Thrawn. Meanwhile, Bad Batchin 2021 and Andorin 2022 will delve into prequel territory, the latter featuring Rebel leader and Senator Mon Mothma alongside dashing spy Cassian Andor.

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For most of these shows, all we know is that they're in good creative — and increasingly diverse — hands. Landois being developed by Dear White People's Justin Simien (no word yet on when it is set, or whether Donald Glover or Billy Dee Williams will return in the title role). Taika Waititi's still-unnamed movie was touted as next in line after Rogue Squadron; Kennedy promised it would bring Waititi's offbeat brand of comedy-drama to the galaxy far, far away. Leslye Headland, who co-created Russian Dollon Netflix, is in charge of The Acolyte, while Deborah Chow is bringing us Kenobi.

Throw in Patty Jenkins and we're a long way from the 2016 Rogue Onepress conference where Kennedy testily insisted she couldn't find any female directors worthy of helming a blockbuster franchise.

Mysteries abound, and we'll have plenty of months ahead to tease them out. Also shrouded in a fog of confusion are questions such as: What's happening with Rian Johnson's supposed new trilogy of Star Wars movies? Were rumors of a Boba Fett Disney+ series — well founded on the fact that Temuera Morrison just returned in The Mandalorianto play that role — just so much smoke and mirrors?

All answers will arrive in due course. For now, rest assured that the Star Wars franchise is taking its first steps into an even larger and more thought-provoking world.

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