Details trickle through
Begun, the streaming wars have. The Disney+ streaming service isn’t out yet, but the company is already ramping up for the launch and has revealed details of the various exclusive shows that will be coming to the platform.
As you might expect, Star Wars figures heavily in Disney’s plans for Disney+. The headline project is The Mandalorian, a live-action series about a Mandalorian (Boba Fett was one of those, but he won’t be the main character here) warrior in the years following the Return of the Jedi movie. Pedro Pascal – he of Game of Thrones fame – is the lead, and he’ll be joined by the likes of Nick Nolte, Gina Carano, Werner Herzog and Carl Weathers. Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Taika Waititi are all confirmed to direct episodes during the first of what Disney will hope will be many seasons.
The Mandalorian isn’t the only live-action Star Wars series that Disney has in development though; it is also in the early production stages on a prequel series to the movie Rogue One: A Star Wars story which expands the role of Diego Luna, who played Cassian Andor. Described as a ‘spy thriller’, the series will begin full production in 2019.
A new season of the animated Clone Wars series – which was cancelled when Disney snapped up the Star Wars brand a few years back – has also been confirmed, although it’s not known when we’ll see that.
You may have noticed that Disney is keeping its Star Wars movies strictly on the silver screen, but there will be plenty of exclusive films to watch on Disney+ – though a lot of them may well end up being reboots of famous existing properties.
We’ve already seen The Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella get the live-action treatment, and this year Disney will unleash Aladdin and The Lion King on the unsuspecting world. The company also has plans for live-action remakes on Disney+, with a reboot of Lady and the Tramp – starring Justin Theroux and Tessa Thompson in the lead roles – earmarked for the service. Given the fame of the original movie, this is quite a bold move for the company – and is sure to tempt many people to subscribe.
Disney isn’t stopping there, though. Plans are also afoot to remake The Sword in the Stone and Peter Pan, and reboots of Three Men and a Baby, Father of the Bride, The Parent Trap, and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids are all apparently in development. We may even get a third Sister Act film.
Disney will be bringing plenty of other content to the service – including Marvel series and original properties – but we have a feeling that Star Wars alone will be enough to gain the platform plenty of attention, and if Disney starts earmarking live-action remakes for exclusive release on Disney+, then Amazon and Netflix could find themselves in a spot of bother.
Damien McFerran
Damien McFerran has been covering phones and mobile technology for well over a decade. An Android specialist, as well as an expert reviewer of phones, Damien is one of the best technology journalists working today. He is also editorial director over at the excellent Nintendo Life.
