When Star Wars Celebration arrives, it’s always exciting as a fan of this franchise, but if I’m being honest, I wasn’t very enthused about the special day. With The Mandalorian leaving me with a sour feeling in my stomach and Star Wars movies being canceled left and right, my enjoyment has definitely waned. And then, I woke up this morning.

There were a lot of exciting announcements, reveals, and details about the upcoming series, but the news that thrilled me the most was the return of none other than Daisy Ridley to this franchise. Do I have problems with the sequel trilogy? 100%. Do I think there were some poor choices made with Rey’s character (retconning her chance at being special without being connected to a legacy character?) Absolutely. Did my heart skip a beat when I learned she would be in a new movie set fifteen years after The Rise of Skywalker? Yes, it did!

No matter how the sequel trilogies have marred my view of this franchise, I have never stopped loving Rey. She’s one of my favorite Jedi; she’s consistently one of the best things about the sequel trilogy, and every time I see new content with her, I get incredibly excited.

The movie, directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, will be set fifteen years after The Rise of Skywalker and focus on a New Jedi Order. Rey will most definitely be an even more powerful Jedi Master. Who will be joining her in this film? We still don’t know. John Boyega made it very clear that he was done with this franchise, and Oscar Isaac said he’d only come back if there was a great writer or great director…or if he needed money to buy a new house.

All in all, whatever the case, we’re forging into brand-new territory with this movie set after The Rise of Skywalker. Maybe we’ll finally be able to move on from legacy storylines and see something fresh and exciting. If that’s the case, this movie has the potential to be outstanding.

There was plenty of other great news, like Jude Law’s character in the new series Skeleton Crew being Force-sensitive; Kerry Condon has also joined the cast of that particularly under-the-radar series.

A new movie set 25,000 years before The Rise of Skywalker is being made by James Mangold. Set to tell us the story of the first Jedi, he describes it as “a biblical epic” akin to movies like Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments.

And Dave Filoni has confirmed that the stories set within what is now being called the “Mandoverse” will culminate into a film directed by Filoni himself.

Not to mention the first teaser trailer for Ahsoka was released today, and yes, it’s epic. Here it is.

Yeah, this franchise isn’t dwindling anytime soon.

I thank you for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful day.