Is Disney finally preparing to reset Star Wars? New evidence points to just that… and the way they’re doing it could surprise you.
In a recent focus group of teens conducted by entertainment industry expert, Matt Belloni, at Puck News, it’s obvious why The Mandalorian and Grogu box office projections continue to portend the lowest opening weekend for a Star Wars movie ever for ticket sales.
When asked about Star Wars, the teens didn’t debate storylines, characters, or upcoming films. Instead, the conversation was brief—and dismissive.
“I like the old stuff, but the new stuff… nah. I’m not too excited for The Mandalorian. I never watched it, personally,” one teen said.
Another didn’t even bother sugarcoating it: “Anything that came out after I was born isn’t that great.”
The only semi-positive mention came with a caveat. “Star Wars has been quiet lately, but I liked Andor a lot,” another added—before the conversation quickly moved on.
So how bad is it for Dave Filoni’s first film as a producer (or director… or heck… anything)?
LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 08: Dave Filoni attends the Ahsoka panel at Start Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 08, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is now tracking for about $80M domestic on Memorial Day Weekend. That’s a four-day count, and it’s one of the biggest weekends in the entire calendar. Any blockbuster that releases on Memorial Day Weekend is supposed to easily clear $100M. For Star Wars to come in at $80M… which would mean it’s probably earning less than $70M during the traditional three-day weekend… is a red alert shock to the system.
It’s no longer ignorable for Disney and their new executive leadership. Evidence is everywhere they get the severity of the problem, and the delayed medicine that former CEO Bob Iger didn’t want to initiate, may just be coming very, very soon. In effect, new CEO Josh D’Amaro and his Wall Street execs, could be ready to pull the sequel trilogy rip cord.
Jon Favreau says he “will sit down and talk” with Dave Filoni next week about the future of the MandoVerse movies and shows.
(Source: https://t.co/l2ZAXHsNFc) pic.twitter.com/BpnvPnRYdi
— Star Wars Holocron (@sw_holocron) May 2, 2026
The evidence that Disney has made a 180 for the franchise internally is everywhere. The “May the Fourth” merchandise? All original trilogy stuff. The Fortnite Star Wars special event? Mostly original trilogy with some Dave Filoni cartoon skins thrown in (and no, nobody is buying a Captain Phasma costume). Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland? The timeline was just shifted and now the “Sequel Trilogy” basically exists as a single ride while the Original Trilogy characters are everywhere. George Lucas’ Luke, Leia and Han roam the land. John Williams music finally blasts over speakers. And the chances this comes to Florida’s Disney World version very soon is about as close to 100% as you can get.
Promo Photo Courtesy of Disney Parks; Princess Leia and Han Solo at Disneyland Galaxy’s Edge
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Now, we’re getting confirmation that Disney and Lucasfilm are making moves to – perhaps – phase out the Sequel Trilogy even from the main storyline.
Before we get into exactly why one might believe such an oft-promised, never-yet-delivered, clickbait rumor once again, we need to explain an important detail about how Disney Parks, Galaxy’s Edge and Lucasfilm function.
You see, before Galaxy’s Edge even began construction, Disney Parks and Imagineers were forced to work with Lucasfilm Story Group to set the lands’ timeline chronologically behind a then-unreleased Last Jedi movie. Every detail was carefully curated by Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson and Kiri Hart teams. Even to this day, what happens in Galaxy’s Edge at the Disney Parks is allegedly run through Lucasfilm for approval. According to sources we’ve spoken with, Lucasfilm continues to be an integral part of changes that happen for the characters, the rides, for everything.
That’s why the next video is so important from Disney Parks vlog channel, “Always Believe”:
Beginning at the 5:00 minute mark in the video, the hosts of the channel reveal that they spoke with a cast member playing Ahsoka at Disneyland’s version of Galaxy’s Edge. When the character was asked about Darth Vader, Luke, etc, appearing at the park, her response was that the “World Between Worlds” has been shattered, merging those characters with the Mandoverse and Sequel Trilogy characters (though good luck finding Rey nowadays).
And while you might think that’s an actor pulling something off-the-cuff, it’s far more likely that this is the official canon reason for this anomaly at “Batuu” (a land that is in the canon of Star Wars now), and that Lucasfilm / Imagineers have implemented this in training for a response if characters are asked about it. To give you an idea of why that is, if you’ve ever trained to be a Disney face character at their parks, you’ll know that there are about 500 responses to expected questions you might receive and you have to memorize them all!
What this means is that the rumors we’ve been hearing that Lucasfilm is about to actually use the “World Between Worlds” is already happening and it’s being implemented first at the parks!
(L-R): Dave Filoni and Rosario Dawson on the set of Lucasfilm’s STAR WARS: AHSOKA, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.
Before getting into where Star Wars is likely headed according to a source, I’ll just put this quote out there about Disney implementing the OT characters into the parks. It comes from a former Disney Imagineer who wishes to have their identity protected:
“Oh man. I have a strong bias for OG, and a deep adverse opinion for sequels. Even badly cast, it is all a better ‘product’ now (in my opinion). Star Wars is not as hard as Disney has made it. Good ol’ Bobby has damaged a lot of strong brands in his tenure. I am extremely hopeful that the fans will react in a positive way, and this will begin to set the course for correction? It is going to take time though.”
So now it’s time to get into the rumor portion of our report. We’re going to be talking about products that are in development currently and will release in the future. Plans are subject to change.
According to a source close to Lucasfilm, we now believe that the final season of Ahsoka (as confirmed in recent interviews) is Filoni’s last chance to get ratings for this era of Star Wars. If it does not get ratings, the plan told to us is that there will be a “mini-project” to wrap up the Mandoverse and pivot back to the original Star Wars characters. More importantly, we have been informed that Disney executives have impressed upon Dave Filoni that the Sequel Trilogy needs to be “branched off”.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
The way to do that, we believe based on conversations, is for Ahsoka to interact with the “World Between Worlds” in a way that makes the Kathleen Kennedy Sequel Trilogy exist in its own timeline separate from the rest of Star Wars. We have been told more details, but are refraining from providing the info in order to not spoil possible future stories.
According to our source, there is a significant desire from Lucasfilm to give Ahsoka a movie ending and to make the change in a way that satisfies Original Trilogy, Prequel Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy fans. An internal fear, allegedly, is that doing a franchise-level reset in a Disney+ show, novel, or comic, would leave audiences confused moving forward.
As for why any of us should believe that Disney is finally ready to make the change… it’s basically that they have almost no choice. The Star Wars hotel (Galactic Starcruiser) was based on the Sequel Trilogy. It failed and closed in one year. When Galaxy’s Edge (theme park land) was opened at Disneyland, attendance at the park actually decreased. Heck, they can’t even get a Rey movie into production after trotting Daisy Ridley out on stage! And if you believe for one minute that The Acolyte really is trending on Disney+, we have some tropical real estate in Antarctica to sell you. In other words, Disney isn’t so much making this decision (if they do so), as much as they’ve been completely and totally forced to shift by the market.
P.s. that’s you.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
So we’ll see. Jon Favreau is meeting with Dave Filoni next week about the future of Star Wars. That’s a good sign. It means that Disney has managed to keep Favreau past his contract, which we believe ends with The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Favreau has been all about referencing George Lucas and the OT in the runup to Mando… and a poor box office performance for the film is the sort of thing that might actually free his hands even more. After all, if Disney feels Favreau needs the ability “to cook” without being tethered to a more amateurish Lucasfilm, he might get the chance to do what Kathleen Kennedy never wanted: reset Star Wars.
Whether or not the man behind Iron Man, Elf, and Lion King (2019) gets the greenlight to spider web Star Wars has yet to be seen. But whatever is in development, Disney executives just know one thing: the Sequel Trilogy can’t exist as is and money still be made on a galaxy far, far away.
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