'Star Wars' spinoffs have franchise's stars, celebrity fans excited: 'I need this now'
The Walt Disney Co. announced 10 new spinoffs coming to the expansive franchise
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Walt Disney Company announced on Thursday a supersized lineup of new shows and movies coming to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming platforms, and included in the some 50 new projects are an astonishing 10 new "Star Wars" spinoffs.
The announcement was made at the media giant's Investor Day and featured shareholders getting glimpses of never-before-seen footage of new shows, films and characters who will enter the "Star Wars" universe over the next few years.
New content making its way to the streamers includes a new series revolving around "Star Wars" favorites Lando Calrissian, Ahsoka Tano and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Obi-Wan Kenobi series will feature Ewan McGregor reprising his role from the most recent sequels and will include Hayden Christensen returning as Darth Vader, according to the head of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Ashoka" and “The Rangers of the New Republic” will be two spinoffs of the Emmy Award-winning Disney+ series "The Mandalorian."
Kennedy also showed footage from “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” a show that centers on characters from a group of clone troopers known as Clone Force 99, or the Bad Batch, from the acclaimed “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animated series.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kennedy also announced that "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins will helm a new Star Wars film set for Christmas 2023 called “Rogue Squadron.”
Of course, many of the "Star Wars" greats took to Twitter to share their excitement of what's to come. Director Jenkins shared a video of herself on her Twitter account announcing her new role as director of the highly anticipated new installment. She explained her desire to create a fighter pilot movie was instilled in her as a little girl.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}From left, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Daisy Ridley as Rey and John Boyega as Finn in a scene from "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker." (Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd. via AP)
"I grew up the daughter of a great fighter pilot and every day I would wake up and go outside and look up at my father and his squadron take off in their F4's roaring across the sky," Jenkins begins.
Jenkins continues: "So when he lost his life in service to this country, it ignited a desire in me to turn all of that tragedy and thrill into one day making the greatest fighter pilot movie of all time. I couldn't find the right story ever...I just couldn't find the right one until now. Now I found a movie about two things I love so I'm going to see you very soon."
"oh YES! cannot wait for this @PattyJenks," replied actor Elijah Wood, who voiced the character Jace Rucklin as a guest role in the 2018 animated series "Star Wars Resistance."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Josh Gad reacted, "This is so beyond exciting. I need this now."
Actor Joonas Suotamo, who played Chewbacca as a double for Peter Mayhew in 2015's “The Force Awakens," retweeted a number of Disney- and Star Wars-related tweets on Thursday, one of which praised filmmaker Justin Simien, who is developing "Lando."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Daisy Ridley as Rey in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." (Lucasfilm via AP)
Suotamo also reacted to "The Mandalorian" on Thursday night, writing, "#TheMandalorian!!!!! That's pretty much all I can say without spoiling it."
Luke Skywalker actor Mark Hamill kept his reaction short and sweet on Thursday, which also marked the beginning of Hanukkah. He tweeted a meme showing a cartoon version of himself waving a green lightsaber in the air.
"Wishing you ALL a: Happy Chanukah," the tweet reads.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Asad Ayaz, president of marketing at Disney Studios, tweeted that he is "so excited" for several of the movies coming their way to the streaming platforms.
"What??" filmmaker Taika Waititi reacted in a tweet to Disney's announcement.
Robin Williams' daughter Zelda responded with a hilarious meme of Lil Jon saying excitedly, "OK!"
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A bevy of new "Star Wars" shows are coming to Disney's streaming services, the company announced at Disney Investor's Day on Thursday. (Reuters)
Another 10 new series hail from the Disney-owned Marvel Comics universe, as well as 15 Disney live-action, Disney Animation and Pixar series, and an additional 15 all-new Disney live-action, Disney Animation and Pixar feature films to Disney Plus.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Disney said it will spend between $14 and $16 billion on streaming content between now and 2024. But the cost of all those superheroes does not come cheap. Disney+ will be raising its monthly cost a dollar to $7.99 in the U.S. in March 2021.
Fox News' Lucas Manfredi contributed to this report.