Potential Star Wars and Galactic Starcruiser Spoilers Ahead:
Almost exactly a year ago, I posted on Pirates and Princesses an article that reverberated throughout the Star Wars community. Some in the blogosphere thought I was crazy, others thought I just might be right. The topic: that Star Wars would be moving to “fix” The Last Jedi through a series of retcons surrounding Baby Yoda (a.k.a. Grogu).
Well, it’s been a year now, and almost nothing has come out about that. WDW Pro must have gotten that one wrong, eh? Well hold your horses… It turns out that the Grogu plan is still the road map for Lucasfilm, even if Kathleen Kennedy is rehired and even if Pablo Hidalgo still isn’t fired. Remember that report about Kathleen Kennedy being removed from creative decisions about future Star Wars movies with Favreau and Filoni being put in charge? It’s getting more and more obvious that the leak I provided was accurate if you just follow along in this article.
In order to figure out how all of this is tied together, you need to watch one of the latest videos from Drunk3po. He’s reporting on alleged leaks from the Star Wars hotel, and 99% of everything he reports is exactly correct. Now I know you can’t verify that just yet because you don’t have the insider information to prove it, but I know from his description of the Rey and Kylo Ren appearance at the hotel that he has a solid source giving him accurate information. Hours before the YouTuber revealed details about the fight scene, I mentioned it in passing:
A special effects and pyro-heavy spectacular featuring Kylo Ren and Rey was dropped from Galaxy’s Edge Phase 2 and moved instead to the hotel.
https://thatparkplace.com/star-wars-galactic-starcruiser-hotel-how-the-train-wreck-happened/
One thing I’ll say about the Rey and Kylo Ren fight in the hotel… just so you know that I’m fully aware of how it all happens and works, here’s your code to remember in March: “Up and around.” When info comes out about the experience (don’t expect photos or videos in great quality — they’re going to try to keep guests from taking photos or videos during their stay), you’ll understand the phrase and you can know both I and Drunk3po had legit information.
Here’s the video from Drunk3po (and no, I am not the source for his leaks):
There are two important notes from the video for the point of this article:
- His source confirms reporting I’ve done that Grogu is coming to Galaxy’s Edge (as well as the hotel).
- His source confirms a report I did a year ago that everything is going to be about Grogu now.
If you’re wondering when I talked about Grogu and Galaxy’s Edge, that was also way back on Pirates and Princesses. However, I recently commented on it over at the WDW Magic Forums where I chat sporadically.
They were supposed to have Mando and Grogu months ago, but everything has been slowed down by the pandemic. My understanding is that they have park-ready Grogu animatronics ready for meet and greets whenever the green light is given.
Having maintained contact with my sources from a year ago, the road map allegedly holds to this day. Also, by pushing Kathleen Kennedy completely out of Star Wars movies, the path is clear for Filoni and Favreau to create a Disney+ / Theatrical Star Wars Cinematic Universe that will look much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The main character in this new, gargantuan attempt is going to be Baby Yoda. From a business standpoint, it is perfect. Everyone loves Baby Yoda… and he can’t get in trouble in the press or have political opinions like normal actors. He sells merchandise like hotcakes. But it’s not just that Baby Yoda fixes that problem. It’s also that Favreau and Filoni allegedly plan to use Baby Yoda as the reason that Luke Skywalker acted so strangely in the sequel trilogy. He had to protect Grogu from Kylo Ren.
And ultimately, this all is reportedly headed for a new trilogy that will star Grogu. I’m told the plan is for Grogu’s trilogy to restore Luke Skywalker, as well as returning Anakin to bring balance to the force. Of course, going any further into details for a road map that likely covers a decade of movies and series would be foolhardy. Things can and will change. But the plan to have Grogu be the character that redeems the story arcs of Luke Skywalker and Anakin is almost certainly not going to change. That is as long as Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are in charge.
Image Courtesy: Student Problems
Oh… and more Mandalorian / Grogu leaks are on the way shortly. Stay tuned…
Feel free to drop a comment below – I really do read them. So do the other authors here at That Park Place. And keep checking out the site; it’s a fantastic source for all your news that should be fun.
Update December 15th, 9:56 AM EST:
Corrected the name of the YouTube channel from the erroneous “Drunk C3P0” to the correct “Drunk3po”. Sincere apologies are given to Drunk3po for messing up the name. Hopefully this mistake didn’t prevent people from finding his channel and potentially subscribing.
Trying to shoehorn in Grogu to the Sequel Trilogy isn’t going to cut it I am afraid. The ST had a lot more issues than just how they treated Luke Skywalker in it. They were just straight up bad movies with mama jokes, space Leia, Holdo, Canto Byte, space horses on a star destroyer, etc. Now if Grogu changes the course of history post Return of the Jedi, then that could work. The Sequel Trilogy needs to become Ghostbuster 2016 to Ghostbusters Afterlife, just not referenced and forgotten about.
That was one of my favorite WDW Pro stories. It restored hope. Grogu is the perfect vehicle to bring all sides together. I really hope it happens. Restoring the Luke Mythos is essential for Star Wars, imo. Star War mimics, mythology and religion, so having inspirational central figures is essential, especially, Luke. I wonder why Lucasfilm doesn’t just use the Pixar structure, where it’s split between a CEO President and a CFO, Chief Creative Officer. It seems that’s what led to the success of the Mandalorian with KK playing to her strengths of supporting visionary creatives that understand the property. I think that’s what Lucas initially intended until they drifted from his treatments. He left, understandably so, without replacing the creative power, so that fell on a mixture of Iger, Kathleen, and JJ.
Is there any possibility that they will retcon away the Sequel Trilogy or make it an Expanded Universe tale somehow? I still haven’t been able to watch all three films fully, and refuse to show them to my kids.
I’m not aware of any plans to retcon the Sequel Trilogy so that it never happened in canon.
Hey WDW my channel name is Drunk3po not C3PO ha! A small oversight.
I’ll fix it right away. Thank you and best regards – great scoop from the source on the hotel!
I’m a little confused on this part:
“I’m told the plan is for Grogu’s trilogy to restore Luke Skywalker, as well as returning Anakin to bring balance to the force.”
If Palpatine didn’t die (per Rise of Skywalker), how would they restore the storylines of balance being brought to the force? Curious on your take. Thank you for the article.
I think that’s something for a future narrative to cover. I don’t know that they have it determined yet to that resolution. I’m sure Filoni has ideas, but it’s not something that I think is distributed within any departments.
It is proven time and again that trying to “explain” the sequel trilogy never works out……. I previously never was supportive of a retcon of the sequels but increasingly I see it as a necessity and something inevitable. Just because people in Disney refuse to let go and accept they need to move on.
The sequel trilogy is stinking up the entire franchise. Explaining away Jake Skywalker doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t fix Rey not needing training and having no personality. It doesn’t fix Han Solo devolving into a dead beat dad. It doesn’t fix the Holdo manuever. It doesnt fix Palapatine returning and being defeated in the silliest way imaginable. It doesn’t fix Leia hugging Rey instead of Chewie. So on and so forth.
They never fixed Padme dying of a broken heart when she had two babies to take care of… to me that remains one of the silliest story beats in the entire saga. Heck, Empire is a great film, but the timeline makes no sense. When did Luke get trained? He spent a few hours with Yoda?
The sequels are broken and cannot be fixed. The story went nowhere and all of the new characters failed to make an impact with audiences. You cannot sell merchandise based on any of the sequel characters. I still see Snoke action figures, hanging on the pegs. They’re retail poison.
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are better off using The World Between Worlds to completely erase the sequels from ever happening and wipe the slate clean. This is the Way!
I’m excited for change… I like that they’re using Grogu as a conduit for fixing what’s wrong with Star Wars, BUT I’m in agreement with several people that have posted, before me. There’s no fixing the Sequel Trilogy. It completely destroyed the main characters of the original trilogy, making them shells of their former selves, and succeeded in destroying the overall mythos of the Star Wars universe. They made Luke a complete joke. They made Solo a deadbeat Dad, who left Leia? Really?
This all started with Lucasfilm/Disney throwing the original EU canon in the trash… giving them freedom to manipulate the Star Wars universe in a new/woke way.
I love that they’re interested in fixing what’s broken, but they need to address the sequels… Like someone else mentioned, this can be done. Ghostbusters Afterlife did it to Ghostbusters 2016. So, too, can this happen with a new Star Wars Trilogy.