Star Wars Weekly: We got some massive Starcruiser hotel news and Mandalorian spinoff speculation

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.

GALACTIC STARCRUISER RESERVATIONS

The Disney Parks Blog announced yesterday that Walt Disney World will soon begin taking reservations for the Galactic Starcruiser, its upcoming multi-day, immersive hotel experience. Guests will board a star cruiser and live in the Star Wars universe in a singularly unique and all-encompassing way. You can check it out in the video below.

Additionally, there's a new website that has a lot of information about what we'll be able to do in this new Star Wars Wonderland. Highlights include the ability to train with a lightsaber and hang out in the Silver C lounge, a new bar aboard the Halcyon, the ship where these stories take place. This is definitely a two-day and two-night experience, and we know for sure now that you'll be able to book excursions to go off-planet and visit Black Spire Outpost. Given the depth of the overall Galaxy's Edge experience, it looks to be 48 hours of complete Star Wars immersion.

For notification the second you can make a reservation, Disney is having fans sign up for a mailing list.

THE MANDALORIAN NEWS!

Bob Iger spoke on the latest earnings call for Disney stockholders, which for fans means more news from the world of Star Wars. The biggest news came in the form of information about The Mandalorian.

First and foremost, the second season of The Mandalorian will be hitting Disney+ this October. Iger offered no hints about its story, but he did say that the program would be open to spinning off into other shows with characters we've seen. This isn't outright confirmation of tangential adventures starring supporting heroes, but it does give me some hope and get my synapses firing.

My biggest hope is to see a show about Cara Dune (played by Gina Carano) and her time as a Rebel shock trooper. There are even more places you could take it, too. For example, we learned in Season 1 that Cara is from Alderaan, so the emotional ramifications of its destruction from her perspective could be great. We could also get a look at the early days of the New Republic in her time with them and learn exactly what brings her to planet Sorgan.

Another potential spin-off with what we have could be Moff Gideon's story. We all want to know more about the Night of a Thousand Tears. So why not make that show?

Greef Carga and his work as leader of the Guild could also be fertile territory. The possibilities are endless.

With nary a hint about how this second season will play out, though, it's unclear what other characters (legacy or new) the creators might bring in that could warrant their own storylines. I wouldn't be surprised if the decision about who was getting a new show had already been made — if it's made at all. We'll just have to wait for an announcement.

I would expect that we'll learn a lot more at Star Wars Celebration, which takes place just a couple of months before the second season of The Mandalorian drops.

STAR WARS MOVIES TAKE A BREATHER

The other thing Iger talked about was confirmation that the immediate future of Star Wars would be on television. This isn't completely unheard of and definitely not a surprise; prior to this, Disney announced that the next Star Wars theatrical release wouldn't be until 2022, which fits this timeline to which Iger alluded.

With the films being at least two years out and the frenzy of fake news and delirium from some segments of fandom, it makes sense to keep a lid on what the next steps are. It would be better to develop in secret and just drop a trailer on us when Disney's ready to talk ad nauseam to people who should be enjoying and not heavily influencing. That's not to say they don't matter to the final product — but fans have tried to carve out a say in the creation of Star Wars movies and, to me, it often feels like it oversteps the bounds of art consumption.

PADMÉ IS BACK!

In the new issue of Darth Vader from Marvel comics, it appears as though a shocking twist reveals that a character is back from the dead.

Padmé? Was she safe? Was she all right?

Likely this is some vision in the Force; I wouldn't expect Marvel would suddenly retcon Padmé's death so that she survived through until the period between Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi when this comic takes place. The more interesting idea, though, is that this could be Sabé, Padmé's loyal handmaiden. If that thought doesn't excite you, make sure you read E.K. Johnston's books Queen's Shadow and the upcoming Queen's Peril. You won't regret it.

With Padmé on the cover of the second issue, we should expect some real answers next month. Until then, we get to speculate.

ASHLEY BOONE JR.

There's a name you've probably not heard in connection with Star Wars before. And this name is, in large part, responsible for the success of Star Wars. It's Ashley Boone Jr., and it seems like history had forgotten him until now.

Scott Feinberg from The Hollywood Reporter did some digging and told his remarkable story. I'd recommend every Star Wars fan give the story a read.

Boone was in charge of distribution and marketing at 20th Century Fox, and he was the one who came up with the plans to distribute Star Wars back in the day. He became the first black president of a major motion picture studio and then ended up leaving to help George Lucas continue the effort on the rest of the classic Star Wars films.

Feinberg's profile is in-depth and well written and puts an important piece of the history of Star Wars — and the history of cinema — back in its place.

BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

To continue our celebration of the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, here is a really great behind-the-scenes documentary to watch. Yes, it's an hour, but there are looks at the making of the film I can almost guarantee you haven't seen before.

Until next week: May the Force be with you!