When Disneyland launched its Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge land, the intent was to keep the area focused on the current trilogy of films, episodes 7 through 9. Since then, the resort has loosened its restrictions to include appearances by popular characters like The Mandalorian and Grogu, Asohka, and Sabine Wren. This year, that expansion of the timeline is going even further, with Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge getting a significant chronological makeover.
Starting on April 29, Disneyland (and only Disneyland) is expanding the timeline of Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge to include the original trilogy of films and the characters contained within. This means there will be new meet and greets with popular SW characters from those original George Lucas films, as well as a significant timeline-based retheming of a portion of Batuu, the fictional planet that houses Galaxy’s Edge.
What's Changing in Star Wars Galaxy's Edge
The Best War Games attended an early briefing with Asa Kalama, VP of Creative & Interactive Experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering, Michael Serna, Executive Creative Director of Disney Live Entertainment, and Matt Martin, Senior Creative Executive for Lucasfilm Content, Franchise, and Strategy. The trio discussed at length the changes coming to Galaxy’s Edge, as well as sharing some of their thinking behind such a significant revamp.
The big change begins with a major division within Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge. The Resistance Camp that houses the Rise of the Resistance Ride, easily one of the best rides at Disneyland, will retain its Episode 7-9 timeline. There, you can expect to see Rey and Chewbacca roaming around, along with R2-D2.
Black Spire Outpost, the northern area that houses a handful of vendors and the Millennium Falcon will “travel back in time” to an earlier iteration. This will include new props and some light theming, but most importantly, it will mean that new characters for Galaxy’s Edge, Han Solo and Princess Leia, will be roaming around for meet and greets. This will mark one of the first times (at least in a long while) that Han and Leia have been available for photo ops at Disneyland outside of a Star Wars Nite after dark event.
Han’s look will be the classic open vest design that fans know and love, while Leia will be dressed in a look similar to her outfit in The Empire Strikes Back during the Hoth sequence. The Disneyland creatives also said that they took inspiration from Star Wars Battlefront when designing Leia’s look, where she has a beige vest and a white jumpsuit. I’ve seen early mockups of both Han and Leia and the outfits look exactly like you would hope. It’s a bit surprising that Leia doesn’t have her iconic cinnamon bun hairdo, but I’d imagine that’s a little harder to pull off and make look believable in this setting.
But arguably the biggest character that will make appearances in Galaxy’s Edge is Darth Vader. Disneyland regulars will know that Darth Vader has been part of a photo experience in Tommorowland that is exclusive to Disney Visa cardholders, but he will soon be roaming around Black Spire Outpost with his own entourage of Stormtroopers. An encounter with Darth Vader is a huge deal for Disneyland guests and will surely be one of the biggest draws to Galaxy’s Edge later this year.
Disney says that Kylo Ren will move into the Disney Visa space and I assume they will discontinue his Galaxy's Edge roaming.
The briefing did point out that this will reunite Han and Leia with Luke Skywalker, who was added to the Galaxy's Edge meet and greet roster during Season of the Force last year. Getting a photo with the trio will likely be a tricky (if not impossible) proposition, but seeing them out and about will be exciting for Star Wars fans. Now, if Darth Vader ever crosses paths with the trio that would be something, but I know Disneyland is meticulous about its character planning.
Galaxy's Edge Will Exist In Two Forms, So to Speak
This division between the Resistance Camp and Black Spire Outpost will ensure that you won’t see any confusing character moments like Rey walking past young Han Solo. I can appreciate that Disneyland still wants to preserve the magic for guests, but I am curious how much we might see of those characters once the new ones come in. I do hope Rey continues to roam around Batuu for as long as possible, because even though Leia is a great icon, Rey has ushered in a new generation.
To fit the new expanded timeline of Galaxy’s Edge, the Star Wars land will also start playing John Williams’ iconic scores throughout the land. If you’ve ever been to a Star Wars Nite, you know how magical hearing Williams’ score piping through the park can be, so this added touch will go a long way towards making Galaxy’s Edge feel a little extra special. Not to say that the background sound effects of ships zipping through the sky and droids beeping don’t bring a level of immersion, but Kalama thinks this will be an “unbelievable addition.”
“I think it will further ground and help reinforce that we are in the world of Star Wars.”
Other smaller details that will change as part of this timeline expansion include a renaming/retheming of the First Order Cargo merch store to Black Spire Supplies. Popular stores like Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities and Droid Depot and the Oga’s Cantina bar, on the other hand, will merely exist as earlier versions of their current iterations. You might be able to snag some new droid parts of lightsaber hilts, but the overall offerings should remain the same.
The expectation is that the restaurants within Galaxy’s Edge will feature new food, but old favorites won’t be going away. You will still be able to get Ronto Wraps from Ronto Roasters, even if your scenery is slightly different.
Although Disney had dipped its toes into this expanded timeline concept with the introduction of characters like Mandalorian and Luke Skywalker, this is them fully embracing the idea. I understand why they wanted to lock Galaxy’s Edge to a specific time, but it was also incredibly limiting, especially as existing and new fans called for opportunities to see more and more characters.
And with the 50th anniversary next year, Disneyland wants to ensure it’s in a place where it can embrace all that the Star Wars property has to offer. April 29th is just the beginning, though, with Smuggler’s Run slated to get a new overlay in both Disneyland and Disney World in May that will feature The Mandalorian and Grogu guiding guests on missions to Bespin, Tatooine, and Coruscant. And after that, it sounds like Disneyland might start dipping even deeper into the Star Wars library. Now, the possibilities are endless.
Star Wars Galaxy's Edge will make these timeline changes starting on April 29, 2026 and The Mandalorian and Grogu overlay for Smuggler's Run starts May 22, 206.