Fixes
Slowly, Disney began to experiment with making exceptions. Last year, they soft-launched the idea of “Story Bubbles”. The notion was that Galaxy’s Edge could learn a lesson from Avengers Campus. Basically, when a character debuted on a Star Wars Disney+ Original Series, they could pop up in Galaxy’s Edge… even if they technically wouldn’t exist in the sequel trilogy timeline. How? A sort of time warp would occur around them such that they wouldn’t ever interact with any heroes or villains from the sequel trilogy, instead minding their own business and sticking to their narrative “bubble” as they walk the streets of Batuu.
It worked. How do we know? Because at the semi-annual D23 Expo in 2024, one of several announcements squeezed into the action-packed Parks Panel was of a major (and much-demanded) change. Two-birds-with-one-stone style, Disney will officially install a much-needed new mission to the often-denigrated Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. And it just so happens that that mission will tie into the 2026 film The Mandalorian & Grogu – a big screen expansion of the Disney+ series.
While we don’t have many details on the planned 2026 ride relaunch, let’s be clear: this is a major reversal from Disney, and an incredibly bold statement on a changing attitude about Galaxy’s Edge. Unless Disney jumps through some substantial hoops, the inclusion of “Mando” and Grogu means that one of the land’s two major rides will officially come untethered from strict adherence to the sequel trilogy timeline and instead take place much closer to the time of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia.
The Future
We aren’t sure yet how overt Disney will be about this. On one hand, Disney might decide that Galaxy’s Edge should expand those “story bubbles” to surround regions of the land rather than characters – for example, as guests walk from the area around the Millennium Falcon, through the marketplace, and toward the old outpost, they might actually walk through time, passing between Star Wars eras.
On the other, Disney’s covert plan might be that eventually, the entire land will make a timeline swap, turning Rise of the Resistance into Rise of the Rebellion. Or maybe, in the style of Avengers Campus, they’re simply “taking a chill pill” and allowing Batuu to be a canvas upon which many Star Wars stories can be told without the pressures of “realism” and strict timelines. And depending on what you thought of the sequel trilogy and of Galaxy’s Edge as a showcase of Imagineering’s mastery, those options may be exciting, disappointing, or somewhere in between.
When it came to Galaxy’s Edge, it’s clear that what sounded astounding on paper didn’t quite translate. Guests didn’t like being stuck in the timeline of a now-concluded trilogy, nor did they like a Star Wars land that didn’t have Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, or Darth Vader. While Disney hasn’t exactly posted a casting call for Carrie Fischer lookalikes, it’s clear that the path is being laid for a very different perspective on what Galaxy’s Edge should be… The question is, are you looking forward to the “fix,” or disappointed to see this best-in-class example of theme park immersion weaken?
