Star Wars news: Celebration Japan 2025 brings Ryan Gosling to a whole new galaxy
Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 has officially come to a close, and it produced reams of sneak peeks and bombshells.
From Hayden Christensen returning, to Ryan Gosling’s first Star Wars role, 2026 onwards is an exciting time to be a fan of the saga.
Nevertheless, keeping track of all the announcements from the past few days is quite the task, so luckily Film News Blitz’s Joe Matthews is here to run you through it.
Hayden Christensen returns
Christensen, who has played Anakin Skywalker since 2002’s Attack of the Clones, was confirmed to be returning in the second season of Ahsoka, and said: "I feel even more connected to Anakin now than I ever have."
In the first season, he connected with the titular Ahsoka Tano over the troubles of training a student, which became a powerful image and a notable scene of the show.
‘Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord’
Voted on IGN as the biggest announcement of the entire event, Maul - Shadow Lord will be a follow-on series for Darth Maul, taking off from the last season of The Clone Wars, as he looks to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire.
The show will debut on Disney+ in 2026.
Gosling enters the universe
Gosling has become one of the biggest actors of our generation, and the Star Wars Celebration confirmed that he will be joining the Star Wars universe in Star Wars: Starfighter, which is set to take place five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker.
We don’t know much else about the movie, other than that Gosling will play a brand-new character in director Shawn Levy’s movie, which will release in early 2027.
‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’
The Mandalorian and Grogu was the first major panel of the entire Star Wars Celebration event, and it teased the first big-screen film in the franchise since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.
Based on The Mandalorian Disney+ show that took audiences by storm through 2019, 2020, and 2023, this film will go to theatres on May 22 2026, and will revamp the story of our favourite bounty hunter.
The next trilogy
Lucasfilm has struck a deal with Simon Kinberg to develop the next trilogy of Star Wars movies.
At the Celebration, it was confirmed that work on this was officially underway under the guise of Kinberg, who co-created Star Wars Rebels, which ran from 2014 to 2018.
Rory McCann as Baylan Skoll
Following the death of Ray Stevenson, who initially played Baylan Skoll, a former Jedi Knight gone dark, Rory McCann was confirmed to be the person Disney re-cast in the role for Ahsoka Season 2.
Stevenson’s portrayal of Ahsoka’s secondary antagonist was widely praised as one of the series’ standouts, but sadly, the actor, who had suffered a brief illness, passed away just three months before episode one premiered.
They are certainly big shoes to fill.
Taking his place is McCann, whose notable roles include Lurch in Hot Fuzz and the Hound in Game of Thrones.
Other announcements:
Tales of the Underworld: In a new six-part series, Disney is taking a deeper dive into the villains of the galaxy. Asajj Ventress, who is on the run with a new ally, and Cad Bane, who has to face ghosts of his past, are the main focus of the series.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3 - A new anthology of animated shorts arrives on October 29, 2025, and fans can now await a Visions spin-off series, Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi
New Rey movie: Daisy Ridley will reprise her role as Rey in Star Wars: New Jedi Order, which is set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. Star Wars Celebration confirmed this film remains in development
Star Wars X Fortnite: It was confirmed that the next season of Fortnite will be Star Wars related, with each week in a five-week period having a different Star Wars theme.
Star Wars Zero Company: The latest addition to the Star Wars video game set, Zero Company will allow gamers to step into the shoes of a former Republic officer leading an unconventional outfit of professionals across the galaxy.
What a crazy event Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 was!
We learned so much about what to expect from the next few years of the Star Wars galaxy, and we couldn’t be more excited!
Star Wars Celebration will return in 2027 in Los Angeles.
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