Baby Yoda on the Big Screen: What to Expect From Star Wars in 2026
SOURCE:IGN|BY:Jesse Schedeen
With a new movie headed to theaters, multiple streaming series in the works, and a brand new podracing game, there's a lot of new Star Wars content to look forward to in 2026.
2025 proved to be a fairly quiet year for the Star Wars franchise, although it’s hard to sniff at something as great as Andor Season 2. Still, it’s safe to say fans are jonesing for new Star Wars content like death stick addicts. Fortunately, Lucasfilm seems poised to deliver in 2026.
2026 promises to be a much more active year on the Star Wars front. For one thing, we’re finally getting a new live-action Star Wars movie, seven years after The Rise of Skywalker landed in theaters. And with a healthy lineup of new shows (both live-action and animated), comics, and even a game, there’s a lot to look forward to in the next 12 months. Let’s break it all down.
Star Wars Returns to Theaters
Again, it’s been a surprisingly long time since there’s been a new Star Wars movie in theaters. The fairly frosty reception to The Rise of Skywalker definitely has a lot to do with that. But if anyone can reverse Disney’s fortunes on the big screen, it’s Mando and his cute little son.
Disney will release director Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu in theaters on May 26. This new film is a continuation of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. In fact, all signs point to it effectively being The Mandalorian Season 4 in a more condensed form. Once again, we’re going to see Pedro Pascal’s Mando and little Grogu accept a mission on behalf of the New Republic. They’ll again do battle with the remnants of the Empire and clash with all manner of scum and villainy.
While we’ll see some familiar faces from the series return (including co-creator Dave Filoni’s character Trapper Wolf and Steve Blum’s Zeb Orelios), the film will introduce several new players in the Mando-verse. That includes Sigourney Weaver as New Republic operative Col. Ward, Jonny Coyne as an Imperial warlord, and Jeremy Allen White as the oddly buff Rotta the Hutt (whom you might remember from the original Clone Wars movie).
The Mandalorian has definitely been one of the big successes of the Disney Star Wars era, but does it have the power to pull in moviegoers in this increasingly fickle theatrical market? We’ll see, especially after the somewhat mixed reaction to Season 3. At least Disney no longer has to worry about releasing in the same period as Grand Theft Auto VI.
Beyond The Mandalorian and Grogu, we’re expecting that Star Wars fans will get a taste of Disney’s 2027 theatrical slate as well. Production recently wrapped on Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter, so we’re almost guaranteed to get a trailer for that movie at some point in 2026 (perhaps in time for Star Wars Day?).
We also know that the long-running rumors are true about Disney releasing the classic, non-Special Edition versions of the Original Trilogy in theaters. Those three restorations will hit theaters in 2027, but hopefully we’ll see trailers for them well ahead of time and get an idea of just what this remastered footage looks like.
The Star Wars lineup on Disney+ this year isn’t quite as stacked as it was in 2023 and 2024. Lucasfilm is definitely pulling back a bit with new streaming releases. Still, there are several key projects to look forward to in 2026.
While not definitively confirmed for a 2026 release, we’re hoping to see Season 2 of Star Wars: Ahsoka at some point in the latter half of the year. Season 2 will pick up right where the original left off in 2023. Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano and Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine Wren are marooned in another galaxy, while Lars Mikkelsen’s Grand Admiral Thrawn has returned to aid the dying Empire in its fight against the New Republic.
Like the first, Ahsoka Season 2 will consist of eight episodes, all written by creator Dave Filoni. Fans can expect most of the Season 1 cast to return, which also includes Ivanna Sakhno’s Shin Hati, Eman Esfandi’s Ezra Bridger, Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Hera Syndulla, and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker. The one major exception is that Rory McCann will replace the late Ray Stevenson as fallen Jedi Baylan Skoll.
Again, Lucasfilm has yet to confirm a 2026 release, though filming on Season 2 did wrap up back in September 2025. We’re expecting this show to be a key part of the studio’s Star Wars strategy going forward, as it’s probably going to directly set the stage for Filoni’s live-action Star Wars movie.
One show that is a lock for 2026, though, is the animated series Maul: Shadow Lord. Like Star Wars: The Bad Batch, Shadow Lord is a Clone Wars spinoff set in the early days of the Empire’s reign. Having recently escaped Republic custody, Maul is determined to rebuild his criminal empire. The series will show us how Maul came to be where he is in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, though we’ll have to see how much of the timeline it ultimately covers.
Sam Witwer will reprise his role as Maul, while the series is executive produced by Filoni, Brad Rau, Athena Yvette Portillo, and Matt Michnovetz.
Also on the animated Star Wars front, Star Wars: Visions is getting a miniseries spinoff called Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi. As the title suggests, this series will be a continuation of Production I.G.’s “The Ninth Jedi” shorts from Visions Season 1 and 3. It’s a natural choice, as there’s clearly far more story left to tell in this bleak yet adventurous take on the Star Wars mythos.
Star Wars Games: Now This Is Podracing
2025 was pretty quiet on the Star Wars gaming front, with the only notable release being some DLC and a Nintendo Switch 2 port for Ubisoft’s Star Wars: Outlaws. The good news is that we can expect at least one major new release in 2026. We hope you like podracing.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is the spiritual successor to 1999’s Star Wars Episode I: Racer and 2002’s Star Wars Racer Revenge. It’s an arcade racer where players take control of those deadly machines in high-stakes contests across the galaxy. And as the trailer reveals, the game even features Sebulba trying to reclaim his crown, so there may be more of a plot this time around.
Galactic Racer is developed by Fuse Games and published by Secret Mode. That’s a good thing, as Fuse Games is made up of several ex-Criterion Games developers. The game will release on PC, PS5, and Xbox at some point in 2026.
Beyond that, it remains to be seen if we get any new Star Wars gaming content in 2026 outside of the mobile world. We’re crossing our fingers that we’ll at least learn more about the future of the Knights of the Old Republic franchise. Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic was recently revealed at the Game Awards. That game may be too far out for another trailer next year, but you never know. And reports suggest that remakes of the first two games are still in development, so it’s always possible we’ll get a trailer for one of those.
What’s Up With the Star Wars Comics?
Normally, Marvel’s Star Wars line is one of the more dependable sources of new content each year. But there’s a big question mark hanging over that corner of the franchise heading into 2026. Despite launching several new ongoing series in 2025, it looks like Marvel is abruptly ending them in the early months of the year. Star Wars writer Alex Segura recently confirmed that his series is ending with issue #10, cutting short this saga of a post-Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. The Kylo Ren-focused Star Wars: Legacy of Vader is also ending with issue #12 in January.
That leaves only a handful of smaller projects on the books for 2026. We know that Marvel will publish Star Wars: Shadow of Maul, a miniseries that serves as a prequel to the upcoming Shadow Lord cartoon. There’s also a Jar Jar Binks one-shot co-written by none other than actor Ahmed Best.
Art by Phil Noto. (Image Credit: Marvel/Lucasfilm)
But beyond that, we’re not really sure what to expect from Marvel on the Star Wars front. We assume the publisher has something in mind to fill the void left by books like Star Wars and Legacy of Vader. The franchise might not be quite the chart-topper it was 10 years ago, but they’re not going to simply phase out publishing Star Wars comics. Will they continue to flesh out the Sequel Trilogy era or move elsewhere in the timeline? Hopefully, we’ll learn more sooner rather than later.
But if you prefer novels to comics, the future is looking a little rosier. Random House has several new Star Wars novels hitting next year. That includes author Mike Chen’s Outlaws: Low Red Moon, a prequel to the game starring Jaylen Vrax and ND-5, Madeleine Roux’s Legacy, focused on Rey’s Jedi training, and Rebecca Roanhorse’s Reign of the Empire: Edge of the Abyss, the second book in the trilogy that traces the early origins of the Rebel Alliance.
And that’s what to expect from the Star Wars franchise in 2026 across film, streaming, games, and books. Which Star Wars project are you most looking forward to this year? Vote in our poll and let us know what you think in the comments below.
