When Disney first introduced Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge to Disneyland and Disney World, the land of Batuu was specifically designed to take place in the Star Wars universe in a timeline that happens just after Episode 8, The Last Jedi.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland
However, that timeline has become a little muddled now that certain characters have been seen walking through the land, including the Mandalorian with Grogu, Ahsoka Tano, and other characters that come from earlier Star Wars timelines. Well, Disney just teased that a character previously BANNED from the land will be appearing soon, and this character, Luke Skywalker, was confirmed by The Orange County Register. So, what is going on here?
Disney Parks posted a tweet recently teasing that a Luke Skywalker meet-and-greet was coming to the parks, with more details to be announced on February 10th. Disney also posted the hashtag #SeasonOfTheForce, suggesting that this meet and greet will be part of its big Season of the Force celebration that happens from March 28th through May 11th.
Incoming transmission with more details expected 2.10.25 ? #SeasonOfTheForce #Disneyland
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) February 7, 2025
What makes this so interesting is that there’s pretty much been an unspoken rule that Disney would not bring any character to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge from the original trilogy, although, technically, Luke Skywalker also exists through The Last Jedi. But this is obviously the younger version of Luke, so this would be a first for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. This means that Disney is just throwing its timeline for Batuu completely out the window.
©Disney
Okay, so how do I feel about that? Well, I’m not sure. There’s been a lot of controversy over the Star Wars sequels, but there’s also been a lot of demand to see more nods to the original trilogy in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. This inherently breaks the storytelling of that land, though, meaning that it’s more of a Star Wars-themed land than an actual setting and timeline from the movies.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland
To put it simply, I’m torn. Meeting Luke and Leia and Han in Disneyland? I’m all in. But I will also grieve the storytelling aspect of Batuu that we’re losing, but it’s already pretty much been lost with Mando running around, right? Interestingly enough, though, shortly after Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge opened, IGN reported that Margaret Kerrison, who was the Managing Story Editor for Walt Disney Imagineering at the time, said:
“We knew that this was going to be a flexible stage for future storytelling, so what you see on opening day might not necessarily be what you’ll see in the near future,” adding, “So we have a lot of new stories coming in from Star Wars, with new films opening and new animated series and new books, all kinds of multimedia storytelling – all of that is going to be incorporated into our land.”
Droids in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
So maybe this was the plan all along: to incorporate more characters from different timelines into Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. I’ll admit, I was excited to see Ahsoka and Hera Syndulla running around Batuu, and how EPIC would it be if we eventually also got someone like Cal Kestis?
I guess we’ll have to see just how Disney fits these characters into the land, or if Batuu’s timeline changes to fit into the original trilogy timeline, but for now, Batuu has become a sort of magical portal into the Star Wars universe where every character from every timeline fits in. And I guess I’m okay with that.
Stay tuned to DFB for more.
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What do you think about the addition of these characters to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? Let us know in the comments!
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We are also torn. As fans of the originally intended storyline (and conversational aspects and gear) for Batuu, we were sorry to see that dwindle, but it has been dwindling almost since the beginning. Very few guests and sometimes even the Cast Members are unfamiliar with the Batuu phrases and lore anymore (at least at WDW). Let’s face it – role-playing and costumes were too much to ask for some people on the Galactic Starcuiser. It wasn’t likely to survive long in the parks. But we also felt since the beginning that the original timeline intention of the area was too narrow, and along with basically everyone else, we want to celebrate a full timeline of the story. Luke has a huge, lesser-known fanbase, including among the very youngest fans. I was as surprised as anyone, but newcomers to Star Wars LOVE Luke. Just one more data point in the lesson to never write off original genius for the new.
I would prefer to see Galaxy’s Edge focused on the original trilogy
There are a few Disney Cannon stories that have included Batuu in other points in the timeline. Anakin, Thrawn, and Vader have visited Batuu in story form. If Galaxy’s Edge became something closer to Avengers Campus where the timeline didn’t matter as much most people would be fine. Just keep some characters apart from each other, no reason for Vader and Kylo to run into each other.
The only problem with these iconic human characters is that they will have an impossible time getting someone who actually looks exactly like Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, etc. It will ruin the effect. I’ve seen Daisys that look the part and even an incredibly identical Jack Sparrow, but in EPCOT recently we ran into someone dressed as Star Lord and even with the bad wig, he really looked nothing like Chris Pratt. So, I’d rather not ruin the fantasy with a phony.
I really don’t care about the timeline. Bring ’em all out! Just let it be “Star Wars Land’. Because honestly, I just don’t have the bandwidth to figure out if a characters belongs or not… Yay Luke!!