On July 21, 2025, history was forever changed whenDisneyacquired Lucasfilm which meant they acquiredStar Wars. Disney announced production on an entirely newStar Warstrilogy, and in the 10 years since its purchase of the franchise have made some big changes. Disney has released fiveStar Warsmovies theatrically, and eightStar Warsseries. Disney isn’t slowing down anytime soon as the recentStar WarsCelebration 2022 revealed plenty of trailers, announcements, and hints at the future ofStar Warsacross various different media like films, novels, video games, comics, and television, and the recent massive success oftheObi-Wan Kenobiseriesproves fans are still hungry for more content.
Disney’s handling of theStar Warsproperty has been a controversial one to say the least, although this is nothing new toStar Wars,as audience members took many issues with series creatorGeorge Lucas for theStar Warsprequels. From branding the original Extended Universe as non-canon to pushingStar Warsfrom being a rare blockbuster franchise that took years off between films to an ever-present part of people’s lives, theStar Warsfranchise in the past decade at Disney has seen a number of vast changes.
Many changes have received negative attention, but that also doesn’t mean the same changes have not also been positively received by others. The property is so large that it is impossible to please everyone. Yet one thing is for certain, Disney has fundamentally changedStar Warsin a number of ways, from how the property is released to the types of stories and characters it tells. These are the five biggest waysStar Warshas changed under Disney.
Star Wars Became A Holiday Tradition
Prior to Disney,Star Warswas exclusively a summer property, specifically one tied to Memorial Day, as all three films in the original trilogy all released on the weekend and the prequel trilogy the week before. Even the CGI animated theatrical releasedStar Wars: The Clone Warswas released in August. This was the plan originally when Disney acquired Lucasfilm, but delays onThe Force Awakensled the property to be delayed until December (a clever twist of history asStar Warswas originally set for Christmas 1976 but was delayed to summer 1977).
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Then, whenStar Wars: The Force Awakensopened to $247 million with the biggest opening weekend at the time, and went on to gross almost $1 billion domestically, Disney realized the advantage of the property being released during the holiday.Rogue One,The Last Jedi, andThe Rise of Skywalkerall were released in December and grossed over $1 billion worldwide. This even extended with their streaming series, asThe Mandalorianseasons one and two were airing during November and concluded in December. When Disney tried to positionStar Warsback onMemorial Day weekend withSolo, the film was the first bomb.
While this is mainly on the business side of things as opposed to a story change to the franchise, it is an important one. The decision to releaseStar Warsin December now links the property in the minds of viewers with the holiday season. As the holidays typically mean people are traveling and visiting their families,Star Warsis a franchise that is so beloved by multiple generations it makes it an easy pick for families to see together. It then makes the act of seeing or watchingStar Warspart of holiday traditions, something families can look forward to every year. Before,Star Warsand the holidays brought visions of themuch-malignedStar Wars: Holiday Special, but now it is associated with big dollar signs for Disney and precious memories for audiences.
Star Wars' Expansion Into Television
While George Lucas had dipped his toe intoStar Warstelevision, with theEwoksandDroidsanimated series in the 1980s and, before he sold Lucasfilm in 2012, withStar Wars: The Clone Wars, it was the Disney era whereStar Warstruly entered the Golden Age of Television. Disney’s first foray wasStar Wars: Rebelsin 2014, helping lay the groundwork for the upcoming sequel trilogy, which moved away from the aesthetics of the prequels and back to the original trilogy’s iconography. Then in 2019, the franchise took its big swing with the first full live-actionStar Warsseries withThe Mandalorian, which was the launch series for Disney+.
The series proved to be a massive hit and brought the big-scaleStar Warsspectacle to audiences once a week in the comfort of their homes. Since then, Disney+ has released the final season ofStar Wars: The Clone Warsand a spin-off series,Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and they created an anime anthology series withStar Wars: Vision.The Mandalorianhas launched its own mini-franchise withThe Book of Boba Fettand the upcoming seriesAhsokaandThe Skeleton Crew, with Jude Law.
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Obi-Wan Kenobi, which was originally conceived as a film before turning into a streaming series, became the biggest Disney+ series premiere yet. Also coming is theRogue Onespin-offAndor, the first pre-school-centricStar WarsseriesYoung Jedi Adventures,Lando,based on the fan-favoritecharacter Lando Calrissian, and many more. For an entire generation,Star Warswas something that could only be experienced on the big screen, but now it is a massive multimedia story that fittingly feels right at home in the world of television due to the serial nature that inspired the franchise.
Growing The Story Beyond The Skywalkers
Many of theStar Warsprojects under Disney have been accused of relying too much on the Skywalkers, having everything tie back into the family including a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill inThe MandalorianandThe Book of Boba Fett. Disney dubbed the mainStar Warsfranchise The Skywalker Saga and ended the series withRey adopting the surname.
However, despite all that, Disney has also expanded the franchise beyond just the Skywalkers. While stories likeSolo,Obi-Wan Kenobi, andThe Book of Boba Fetthave focused on characters closely associated with the original trilogy and have connections to the Skywalkers, these side characters have also been given stories of their own to delve deeper into them, showcasing their stories and lives outside their roles in the original trilogy.
The Bad Batch,Rebels, andRogue Oneall feature an entirely new cast of characters that expand the scope of the Rebel Alliance, giving insight into the various different factions that helped shape the Galactic Civil War. These various heroes come from different corners of the galaxy, showing that Luke’s story was one small piece of a larger narrative.
Video games likeStar Wars: Battlefront 2give audiences a peek at the story directly followingReturn of the Jedifrom a former Imperial’s point of view, whileStar Wars: Jedi Fallen Ordertells the story of the time period when Jedi were in hiding during the reign of the Empire. The new publishing initiative The High Republic takes readers to a time long before the Skywalker name. While Disney certainly acknowledges the power of the Skywalker name and knows it is nostalgic, thefranchise is still trying to move forwardand flesh out the universe.
Diversifying A Galaxy Far Far Away
One of the most noted and hotly debated elements of the recentStar Warsentries by Disney is a greater amount of diversity in the cast. The original six movies prominently featured white leads, with one or two people of color in supporting roles and strictly one woman in the main cast. Starting withThe Force Awakens, the cast started to diversify as leads were cast by women and people of color. While the number of Star Wars projects with white male leads still is the majority, the fact that even just one project featured a woman in the lead role in a franchise that previously had none was noticeable to some.
This has been a controversial decision to some, and has led to a loud minority of fans to make targeted harassment campaigns against many of the new stars, leading to people likeDaisy Ridley deleting their social mediaaccounts to avoid the onslaught of insults. Most recently, this has been seen with the reaction to Moses Ingram inObi-Wan Kenobi, to the extent that both Lucasfilm andEwan McGregor had to make official postsdenouncing the racist attacks. While some fans claim their antagonistic anger toward certain cast members is a result of poor writing and acting and not racism, it’s certainly the case that the cast members who have been victim to these insults have been women and people of color. Toxic fans aside, this push for diversity has been for the best.
IfStar Warsis to continue as a 21st-century franchise, it needs to reflect the world it exists in and allow audiences from various races, ethnicities, and sexual orientations to see themselves reflected on screen. This leads to more audience members having entry points into the franchise, and increases the number of fans, which is both good for the franchise and, from a business standpoint, leads to more dollars. Franchises that can reach wider demographics typically perform better at the box office and have a long-term cultural impact. While there is still a lot of work to be done, both in front of and behind the camera, it is a positive step in the right direction.
Exciting New Star Wars Characters
The characters from the originalStar Warsare some of the most famous in all cinema: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2, C3PO, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Lando Calrissian, and Boba Fett, just to name a few, are names most people recognize. The franchise was so fascinating to audience members that they began to latch onto small background characters. The prequel trilogy introduced younger versions of many of those characters along with new ones like Padmé Amidala, Qui-Gon Jinn, Mace Windu, Darth Maul, Count Dooku, and General Grievous among others.
Despite all these fan-favorite characters, many of whom Disney has brought back in a number of projects, the latest entries in the franchise have also heavily invested in introducing newStar Warscharactersthat have become favorites in their own right. Rey, Finn, Poe, BB-8, and Kylo Ren captured audiences' imaginations instantly followingThe Force Awakens. Cassian Andor was such a popular character inRogue One: A Star Wars Storythat he is the first character created after the Lucasfilm sale to lead his own spin-off series. The crew of the Ghost inStar Wars: Rebelshave become such fan favorites that many are waiting for them to make their live-action debut in the upcomingAhsokaseries. It is hard to now think ofStar Warswithout thinking of The Mandalorian and Grogu, who is still colloquially known as Baby Yoda.
For younger audiences, these characters are not newStar Warscharacters but just a part ofStar Wars. Disney’s attempts to makeStar Warsa franchise that willgo on foreverare built on the audiences' connection to these characters, and one need only look at the large number of kids dressing up as Rey for Halloween or Baby Yoda merchandise sold to see these characters have become truly a part of the tapestry that isStar Wars.
