Star Wars Weekly: Disney's CEO is sending Star Wars stories to a new galaxy (for now)

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.

INTO A HIATUS

Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, had another earnings call this week, which, at this point, seems to be where we get the most news as far as Star Wars is concerned. This call was no exception, and we got some interesting tidbits that will no doubt be misconstrued in the media over and over and over again.

The tidbit that might cause the most consternation among Star Wars fans was Iger's choice of words in regard to future Star Wars films.

He said that after Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the feature films in the Star Wars franchise would be going on a hiatus. This lines up with what we knew already. The next Star Wars film already wasn't slated to premiere until 2022 and was supposed to come from the Game of Thrones team of Benioff and Weiss, but now they're gone.

The part of the quote that's getting used is being held up to claim, once again, that Rian Johnson's trilogy is getting canceled, but if you read the full quote, that's obviously not the case. "Star Wars IX which comes out this December will be the last of the Skywalker saga, and we'll go into a hiatus for a few years before the next Star Wars feature. There will be a lot of creative activity in the interim."

Does that sound like anything is canceled? Or that this is new news at all?

No. This story is everything we already knew and nothing to worry about. Especially with Rian Johnson confirming this week (again) that he's still working on that "creative activity in the interim" for his trilogy.

Expect to see a new Star Wars film in the theaters in or around 2022 (unless plans change), which is exactly what a few years of hiatus means.

To read more about the call, check out SYFY WIRE's further coverage.

DISNEY+ IN WESTERN EUROPE

Star Wars fans who live abroad will, at least for the time being, be getting the short end of the stick as far as Disney+ is concerned. The Mandalorian premieres next week, and there had previously been no indication when it would be accessible to fans outside of North America. Well, we got our answer this week.

The UK and many territories in Western Europe won't be getting Disney+ until March 31, 2020, more than four months after it's made available in the U.S.

That means that an entire season of The Mandalorian will be publicly available in the United States before most audiences are able to see it. With that in mind, be careful with spoilers for those who won't have a way to access Disney+ until later.

The Mandalorian premieres in the U.S. on November 12 with the launch of Disney+.

JEDI MASTER DAVE FILONI

Anthony Breznican (formerly of Entertainment Weekly) wrote a feature on Dave Filoni for the latest Vanity Fair, and it's something every Star Wars fan should read, especially if they have any doubts about the integrity of the creative soul of Lucasfilm.

One thing that stands out in this article more than anything was a quote from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and her work with Filoni. "There isn't a thing that we do in the storytelling space that I don't check with Dave," she said. "What I find about Dave is you don't just sit down and have a discussion about plot or review characters inside the Star Wars world. You end up having meaningful, thoughtful discussions about what it is we're trying to say inside the storytelling. He has a lot of empathy."

And, if you ask me, that's exactly the energy Star Wars needs.

It's good to know that Kennedy trusts Filoni like this, and it's great that he's getting to spread his wings in more media as far as Star Wars is concerned. More than anything, this hardly paints the picture of chaos and disarray that critics would have you believe.

We'll be seeing Dave Filoni's first live-action work on The Mandalorian when it premieres on Disney+.

STAR WARS RESISTANCE

Another week means another episode of Star Wars Resistance. This new episode, "From Beneath," sees Flix headed to his homeworld to ask his family for much-needed fuel for the Colossus. This is another fun episode that is equal parts Jurassic Park and Pitch Black but with more humor.

Here's a preview:

Interestingly enough, this episode is also the first to get more explicit about the relationship between Flix and Orca. It also has a stellar guest appearance from comedian Paul F. Tompkins as Flix's cousin.

The situation builds even further on the plight of the disparate factions of the Resistance, and I think we're heading to a place where it's all coming together and we'll see exactly how this all leads into The Rise of Skywalker soon.

Star Wars Resistance "From Beneath" airs on Sunday on Disney and Disney XD.

BOBA FETT UNDERWEAR

To leave you with this week and to celebrate the release of The Mandalorian, we have a look at one of the best uses of Boba Fett in the history of the character. And perhaps this is why Boba Fett isn't actually a Mandalorian (among other reasons).

Until next week: May the Force be with you!