Credit: LucasfilmThe Star Wars franchise is currently in something of a holding pattern while fans wait for a new Disney+ series or a theatrical film. In the meantime, it seems that Disney is hoping a “greatest hits” attraction at its theme parks will keep people interested in a galaxy far, far away.
The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm from founder (and Bob Iger ally) George Lucas over a decade ago, and the results have been mixed, to say the least. The sequel trilogy of films starring Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac kicked off to an impressive show of goodwill with The Force Awakens (2015) but tapped out that resource by the time Cameron Poe flatly declared, “Somehow, Palpatine returned” in The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
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For a while, it seemed that the Disney+ streaming service was the future of Star Wars. The Mandalorian debuted in 2019 to rave reviews and a star-making turn from Pedro Pascal (not to mention a very adorable puppet). But as Dave Filoni has solidified his control over the Star Wars arm of Lucasfilm, new projects have increasingly become his playground to debut live-action versions of characters like Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) and delve into his own esoterica like weird Force Gods, zombie Stormtroopers, and Inquisitors.
Until Daisy Ridley returns with the New Jedi Order film, it seems that Disney is looking to satisfy fans with an updated new version of Star Tours – The Adventures Continue, the themed attraction at Hollywood Studios, Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris.
After the massive failure of Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, Disney has updated its Star Tours ride and has apparently turned it into something of a best-of-attraction without a defined canonical storyline. Instead (per the L.A. Times), riders experience “the latest Star Tours additions, which further deviate the attraction from any strict Star Wars timeline and instead focus it on being a sort of “greatest hits” for the brand.”
Reportedly, the new version of Star Tours is highly focused on Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, and Andor and features on-screen appearances from Ahsoka Tano (Dawson), Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), and Cassian Andor (Diego Luna); fans might note that not all of those characters are from the same time period or even alive in the current continuity.
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According to Walt Disney Imagineering senior creative executive Tom Fitzgerald, the new centerpiece of the attraction involves an appearance from the purrgil, the whale-like space creatures that recently showed up in Ahsoka (and originated in Dave Filoni’s Clone Wars). Fitzgerald describes it as “different from other sequences, to have a moment. You don’t get many moments. It’s so compact. But it’s a moment to let people look at the beauty of this, and the 3-D gives you the scale of those creatures.”
But what Disney really appears to be doing is trying to package the franchise into something of a mashup of some of the current “greatest” features of the franchise rather than telling a Star Wars story. It is not a particularly good sign for the series that tossing some space whales into the mix is the best idea that Disney seems to have.
Have you been to Star Tours or Galaxy’s Edge? Tell us about your experiences!