Star Wars Weekly: A new look at The Mandalorian and Galaxy's Edge suffers layoffs

Time again for STAR WARS WEEKLY, the SYFY WIRE series that rounds up the most important news of the week from a galaxy far, far away. 

Think of us as your own personal Star Wars Holocron.

THE MANDALORIAN SPECIAL LOOK

With one week left until the premiere of The Mandalorian's sophomore season, we’ve been treated to another special look at the upcoming drama.

The sneak peek doesn’t reveal much more than we’d seen before, though it incorporates some new hints about what we’ll see this season. Perhaps the most intriguing is the idea that in his quest to return the child to his people, the Mandalorian will be seeking out other Mandalorians for help. That opens the door to exploring the lore of the “Night of a Thousand Tears” that Moff Gideon hinted at in the finale of Season 1. With the graffiti in the background of the newly released posters, speculation is high that Sabine Wren could also make an appearance. That would add credence to the rumors of an appearance by Ahsoka Tano, as they had taken off together after the war to find Star Wars Rebels protagonist Ezra Bridger.

The special look also gives us more detail on the team-up between Mando, Greef Karga, and Cara Dune. All of it looks thrilling.

The Mandalorian Season 2 starts streaming next week, on Oct. 30, on Disney+.

GALAXY’S EDGE IN VR AND LAYOFFS

Star Wars: Tales From Galaxy’s Edge brought us a new trailer this week, widening our scope of understanding for the project. It will take us deep into the world of Batuu and help us explore the characters and events just outside the fringes of what we’re able to see in the theme parks.

The VR experience comes out on Nov. 19 with a $25 price tag.

It’s fortunate that we’re getting a VR experience of Batuu, because the pandemic is keeping people from enjoying Galaxy’s Edge in person. That’s caused a lot of problems for cast members who call Batuu their home, though. Disney has begun laying off cast members because of the pandemic’s effect on park attendance, and it seems to be hitting the Galaxy’s Edge cast the hardest.

Part of the reason it’s hitting them the hardest is because of a loophole in union agreements. Layoffs occur based on seniority, and castmembers who transferred from Disneyland’s California Adventure to Galaxy’s Edge lost their place in that line. Still, it's really unfortunate that these average workers are the ones who suffer when massive corporations like Disney face hardships.

L3-37, FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW

We’re now starting to get excerpts and information about the 40th-anniversary story collection for The Empire Strikes Back. From a Certain Point of View retells the story of Empire through the lens of all the characters on the edges of the film.

In this exclusive excerpt for StarWars.com, we get a look at the return of fan-favorite character L3-37 from Solo: A Star Wars Story in a tale called “Faith in an Old Friend,” by Brittany N. Williams.

L3-37, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Solo, was Lando Calrissian’s sassy droid companion and co-pilot who ended up getting incorporated into the consciousness of the Millennium Falcon. Seeing that play out and in the context of The Empire Strikes Back is nothing short of thrilling.

From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back comes out Nov. 10.

MORE HIGH REPUBLIC REVEALS

With The High Republic launching in just a couple of months, more reveals and information are trickling out. This week, we got two special looks at the ambitious new era of Star Wars. The first came in a download of characters from across the media, and all of them are padawans.

These Jedi apprentices will feature in each major form of storytelling Lucasfilm is doing in The High Republic and add an interesting dimension to the storytelling.

We were also treated with a new excerpt of Justina Ireland’s book set during the era of The High Republic, A Test of Courage. The excerpt features a new set of baddies: space pirates known as the Nihil.

The High Republic kicks off in January with the release of Light of the Jedi, an adult novel by Charles Soule.

THE LOVE STORY OF ANAKIN AND PADMÉ

The amount of behind-the-scenes one can find about Star Wars on the internet is endless. I found this particular gem about the love story of Attack of the Clones and just had to share. Attack of the Clones gets a lot of hate — especially for how it handles the love story plot, but this documentary might make you see things differently from, ah, a certain point of view.

Until next week, may the Force be with you!