Disney Plus subscribers, get ready for a deluge of new content across universes, from Marvel to Star Wars and more. Disney announced an impressive slate of new TV shows and movies at its 2020 Investor Day on Thursday.
Star Wars
Mandalorian fans, rejoice! The hit Star Wars TV show will have not one but two spinoff series on Disney Plus: Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka, coming to Disney Plus. Ahsoka will feature Rosario Dawson as Anakin Skywalker’s imposing former padawan. Ahsoka, a key character in Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, featured briefly in The Mandalorian. I’m excited to see her finally get her own show — she deserves it! As for Rangers of the New Republic, the premise remains unclear, although it will likely feature Gina Carano as Ciara Dune, who became a ranger with the New Republic during Season 2 of The Mandalorian.
Ahsoka, a new Original Series, starring @RosarioDawson and set within the timeline of @TheMandalorian, is coming to @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/jD8byvNvDP
— Star Wars (@starwars) December 10, 2020
Clone Wars fans will also be excited to learn that The Bad Batch, the impressive clone trooper team from Season 7, will be getting their own spin-off on Disney Plus.
A sneak peek at Star Wars: The Bad Batch, an all-new animated Original Series from Lucasfilm Animation, coming soon to #DisneyPlus pic.twitter.com/V0jQc4XNIe
— Star Wars (@starwars) December 10, 2020
Rogue One will also get its own spin-off, a TV series called Andor, slated for 2022. Diego Luna will reprise his role as Captain Cassian Andor, the man who dies with Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) at the end of Rogue One.
“Everything I did, I did for the Rebellion.” Andor, an Original Series set in the Star Wars universe, is streaming in 2022 on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/q2IT2qzEeR
— Star Wars (@starwars) December 10, 2020
Other upcoming Star Wars series include: The Acolite, a series set in the “High Republic” era; Star Wars: Lando, a spin-off focused on Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams); and Star Wars: Visions, an upcoming anime anthology series.
Disney Plus will also feature A Droid Story with R2-D2, C-3PO, and an as-yet unknown hero. Last but not least, Obi-Wan Kenobi is finally getting his own separate spin-off series. Ewan McGregor will return for the titular role with Hayden Christensen reprising his role as Darth Vader.
Disney also announced two upcoming Star Wars movies: Rogue Squadron, scheduled for release in December 2023; and an untitled film directed by Taika Waititi.
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Marvel
Disney Plus will also feature a slew of Marvel TV shows. WandaVision, the first Marvel show planned for the streaming platform, got a new trailer ahead of its January 15 release date. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also got a full trailer and a March release date.
Disney also gave fans a first look at Loki, the highly anticipated spin-off featuring Tom Hiddleston. The god of mischief’s show is slated for May 2021.
“Glorious.”
Loki, an Original Series from Marvel Studios, is coming May 2021 to #DisneyPlus. @lokiofficial pic.twitter.com/gqT7AKur2y
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) December 11, 2020
Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) will get his own spin-off, dropping in “late Fall 2021.”
Disney Plus will also feature What If?, an animated Marvel series; Ironheart; Armor Wars, a shot about one of “Tony Stark’s biggest fears” and featuring Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes; and Secret Invasion, a series featuring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.
Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige also gave updates about the already announced Moon Night, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel. Marvel is also working on a new Guardians of teh Galaxy Holidy Special set for release on Disney Plus in 2022 and directed by James Gunn. Guardians fans should also get excited for an I Am Groot series of short films with the tree of limited “vocabulistics.”
Feige confirmed that Black Panther 2 (July 2022) will not recast King T’Challa, played by the late Chadwick Boseman. He announced a third Ant-Man film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, is in development. It will feature Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, one of Marvel’s biggest villains.
Marvel is also developing a new Fantastic Four movie.
Avengers Endgame: A Slow Start, But a Great Movie
Disney and Pixar
Disney Animation announced a few upcoming projects, including: Raya and the Last Dragon, due on Disney Plus Premier Access and in theaters on March 5, 2021; Baymax!, a series based on Big Hero 6, arriving in early 2022; Zootopia Plus, a series based on Zootopia scheduled for spring 2022; Tiana, a show based on The Princess and The Frog, hitting Disney Plus in 2023; a longform musical comedy series for Moana planned for Disney Plus in 2023; Encanto, a movie set in Colombia with music from Lin-Manuel Miranda; and Iwaju, a series hitting Disney Plus in 2022.
Pixar announced new Disney Plus projects, including: Pixar Popcorn, shorts featuring iconic Pixar characters, due in January; Dug Days, a series featuring the dog Dug from Up, due in the fall of 2021; a Cars series, following Lightning McQueen and Mater, due in the fall of 2022; and Win or Lose, Pixar’s first original longform animated series, focused on a middle school softball team and due in the fall of 2023.
Pixar will also release new movies: Luca, a movie set in Italy and scheduled to hit theaters in June 2021; Lightyear, an origin story for Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) and hitting theaters in summer 2022; and Turning Red, a movie about a 13-year-old girl going through puberty who turns into a giant red panda when she gets excited.
Disney also announced that Will Smith and Chris Hemsworth will star in their own shows for National Geographic. Smith will embark “on an awe-inspiring journey to unlock the secrets of this planet’s most extraordinary, unexplained phenomena” in Welcome to Earth while Hemsworth will explore the limits of the human body in Limitless.
Disney Plus is also increasing its subscription fee from $6.99 per month to $7.99 per month, and with all this new content, it seems the streaming service is well worth the price hike.
I grew up watching Star Wars and fell in love with Marvel from Iron Man on. Sure, the Star Wars sequel trilogy proved disappointing and even infuriating, and Marvel had a spectacular misfire in Captain Marvel. But The Mandalorian has proven excellent and I’m hoping the spin-offs will be just as good. Marvel will struggle to top Avengers: Endgame, but I’m excited to see the god of mischief in his own spin-off.
Tyler O’Neil is the author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Follow him on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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