What to Expect From ‘Star Wars’ in 2026
2026 is an important year for Star Wars; while quieter in many regards, there is still plenty to look forward to for fans. Rogue One will celebrate its 10th anniversary, and the franchise as a whole heads towards its 50th anniversary. Read on to see what is in store for Star Wars in its many forms this year!
The Mandalorian & Grogu (2026) and Star Wars Starfighter (2027)
It’s been 7 years since The Rise of Skywalker marked the end of the Skywalker saga and, at that time, the end of Star Wars at the theater. Since 2019, Star Wars has been exclusively streaming (outside anniversary re-releases).
But 2026 marks a special occasion as Star Wars bursts back onto the big screen with the release of The Mandalorian & Grogu on May 22nd. The film will take place after season 3 of the hit streaming show and features the Mandalorian, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), alongside his tiny companion, Grogu. We still know little about the movie; other than that, it continues plot threads from the show.
Rotta the Hutt, who first appeared in the Clone Wars movie back in 2008, will appear in the movie (voiced by Jeremy Allen White), which leads to speculation surrounding the exploration of the underworld and the Hutt Cartel.
The end of season 3 of The Mandalorian had Din teaming up with the New Republic to help thwart the remnant of the Empire, this will see him team up with Zeb Orellios, who first appeared in Star Wars Rebels but also appeared in season 3 of the show, as well as Sigouney Weaver playing someone in the New Republic who sets Din on his journey for the film.
It will be exciting to see where this movie takes the franchise; knowing so little about it now means it is challenging to speculate, but rumors hint at many cool aspects of the film. It will be great to see Star Wars back on the big screen after a turbulent streaming era, and I can only hope it will continue for a long time. The Mandalorian and Grogu is set to release in theaters on May 22, 2026.
Star Wars Starfighter isn’t releasing until May 28th, 2027, but with filming having completed late 2025, we will hopefully see our first footage sometime this year, whether before The Mandalorian and Grogu or later in the year at a convention.
This film will mark a turning point for Star Wars, reaching the furthest out in the timeline they have gone with any film. Set 5 years after The Rise of Skywalker, viewers will be dropped into a fresh new look at a galaxy far, far away, alongside Ryan Gosling as the lead.
Star Wars series streaming in 2026
Similar to 2025, it will be a quieter year of streaming shows for Star Wars, but there is still plenty to look forward to.
Maul Shadow Lord is the next in the line of Clone Wars-style spin-offs (similar to The Bad Batch). Maul Shadow Lord aims to explore the underworld of the galaxy after the Clone Wars as Maul rises through the ranks to rebuild his criminal syndicate. Not much else is known about the show other than the return of Sam Witwer to voice Maul and that we will see Maul train an apprentice.
The description of the trailer from Star Wars Celebration teases plenty of action and even the inclusion of the Inquisitor, Marrok, from Ahsoka (presumably, we see how he dies to see how he resurrects as a zombie). I feel this show will be a surprise hit for Star Wars fans, as it covers many of the cooler aspects of the franchise, and seeing how Maul manages to build up Crimson Dawn under the nose of the Empire will make for a thrilling show.
There is no release date for Maul Shadow Lord yet, but I would like to guess it will arrive to Disney+ in early spring, similar to that of The Bad Batch, as it seems a good time for animated Star Wars.
Star Wars Visions presents The Ninth Jedi. Visions has brought about some outstanding animated Star Wars shorts over the years, and with the release of season 3 last year, we got sequels to some of those we first saw 5 years ago in 2021.
One such being “The Ninth Jedi” in which the daughter of a lightsaber-smith is pursued by sinister forces while on a mission to deliver newly created lightsabers to Jedi in hiding so they can rebuild the order. 2025 brought us a sequel where the main character Kara ended up on a large abandoned ship in deep space. There, she meets a droid looking after the ship and helps unlock her Jedi abilities.
The success of these shorts has led to a fully realized and animated limited series by the same animation company, simply titled The Ninth Jedi. The story will continue after these shorts as we follow Kara’s journey to rebuilding the order. The limited series is being overseen by Lucasfilm this time around to help ensure the studio gets things right for the show. It is thrilling to see Lucasfilm give a show to such a popular short from Visions and open the door for more of this to happen in the future. As yet, The Ninth Jedi has no release date, but you can watch the first two parts in seasons 1 and 3 of Visions on Disney+.
Ahsoka season 2, along with The Mandalorian and Grogu movie, will be the next piece of the Mandoverse and will hopefully be released this year. Ahsoka season 2 finished filming not long ago and would mark the return of where we left her at the end of the first season, stuck in a different galaxy alongside Sabine and with Baylan and Shin doing their own evil things. Thrawn has also returned to the main galaxy, aiming to resurrect the Empire and continue its reign as it fights the New Republic.
We know a few things about the show, like the recast of Baylan Skoll due to the death of Ray Stevenson, who will now be played by Game of Thrones star Rory McCann. Season 2 is also expected to be bigger, with bigger sets and bigger action, hopefully marking the start of the final fight against the Empire.
This second season will mark the last announced part of the Mandoverse, telling the tale of the early New Republic’s fight against the remnant Empire, whether it will continue from next year onwards or wind it down with Dave Filoni’s Heir to the Empire movie is yet to be seen but hopefully Ahsoka season 2 will mark a fantastic piece of the era.
There is no date for the season yet, and doubt was cast by Disney that it will even release this year, as it doesn’t show up on their 2026 schedule yet. If it does release, I could see a similar situation to the first season, where we get it around August.
Tales of the (???)… While nothing is confirmed or even rumored, I think it is no coincidence that the last two years we have had a series of Tales each May 4th; it is something quick and easy to watch for fans and opens new avenues for characters we know and love. If we do get one this year, there are plenty of characters and genres to choose from, such as the Dark Side or Bounty Hunters. I do hope we get one, as they are great miniseries to binge on that special day.
Star Wars games releasing in 2026
It is a surprisingly big year for gaming in Star Wars this year, with two rather big games releasing throughout the year.
Star Wars Zero Company is the next game from EA, a new genre for them. Zero Company is a turn-based tactics game. Set at the end of The Clone Wars, a former Republic officer brings together a ragtag group to help save the galaxy. Not much is known about the game yet, but you will be able to create your own base between levels, deploy informants and leverage intel to turn the tide of the war and also customise your own characters.
The trailer looks very promising, so only time will tell how the rest of the game looks. With its announcement early last year, I would expect an earlier release for the game, hopefully in mid-2026.
Star Wars Galactic Racer was a surprise announcement from the Game Awards back in December. Set after the fall of the Empire, this will be a racing game, hopefully in the same vein as the old Star Wars Racer games.
The trailer features a lot of different-sized speeders racing on all manner of planets, and even the return of Sebulba, the podracer from The Phantom Menace that nearly beat Anakin. Comments on how Galactic Racer looks are very encouraging so far. It is supposed to come out sometime this year, but again, no date has been set as of the writing of this article.
Star Wars books releasing in 2026
With the end of The High Republic (for the most part), the world of Star Wars books returns to expanding on different eras and characters.
Outlaws: Low Red Moon will see us brought back into the underworld and realm of syndicates we saw within Outlaws, the video game. The book features the origin of Jaylan Vrax and ND-5, the fan favorite droid with a trench coat from the game.
The book will take us to how the pair met and the fallout from this. We’ll see how Jaylan left behind the name Barsha for this new life of being a scoundrel all while trying to solve the mystery of what happened to his family’s fortune and the charges of conspiracy brought on by the Empire (who subsequently stripped the Barsha company and name of its power).
The code Low Red Moon is all Jaylan and ND-5 have to go on, and it will take them across the galaxy to find the answers. I feel this book will appeal to both fans of the game and those who like the underworld and syndicates of Star Wars. The book, by author Mike Chen, arrives on February 3rd.
Eyes Like Stars is the starting point of a new publishing initiative for Young Adult books, in which genre is the most important part. This is Star Wars’ first romance novel.
Eyes Like Stars is set around 2 years before The Force Awakens and features a couple on the search for their happily ever after on the run from the First Order. This should mark the first in a line of genre-based Star Wars novels, and we hope to see them tackle other genres such as horror or mystery. Eyes Like Stars is written by Ashley Poston and will be released on July 21st.
Legacy taps into an era not often explored in Star Wars, the time between Episode 8 and 9. It is only recently that Star Wars has begun to explore it in comics and stories, but with this new novel, we are expected to get even more Sequels era content.
Legacy follows Rey and her new master, Leia Organa, on a mission to mend the Skywalker lightsaber that broke at the end of The Last Jedi. The book will take the pair to Tython, an important planet to the Jedi, as they aim to unlock the secrets to a long forgotten Jedi temple. The book, written by Madeleine Roux, releases on July 28th.
Reign of the Empire: Edge of the Abyss is the long-awaited sequel to last year’s The Mask of Fear. The sequel will continue the journeys of Bail, Saw, and Mon Mothma throughout the reign of the Empire, this time being set one year before that of Andor season 1. (And yes, it has been teased that we will meet some characters from the show in the book.)
With The Mask of Fear being one of the best pieces of Star Wars we got last year, the excitement levels for the sequel are through the roof. Even with its delay from early 2026 to later in 2026, I strongly believe it will be worth the wait for all. Edge of the Abyss, written by Rebecca Roanhorse, will arrive on September 15th.
With the release of The Mandalorian and Grogu movie in May, there are a few tie-in books coming along with the release. A long-awaited visual dictionary covering all three seasons of the show, Book of Boba Fett releases in April, along with an art book to the movie featuring concept art along with concept art from season 3 of The Mandalorian, which will release in November.
As always with Star Wars books, we aim to cover and review almost all of them here on The Cosmic Circus! So check back for reviews throughout the year from yours truly.
Comics releasing in 2026
As of the time of writing this, there are not many Star Wars comics releasing in 2026. It seems new structuring at Marvel is meaning that ongoings are being shortened by a lot or cut down, meaning a lot of the Star Wars ongoings that started last year will be ending in the first few months of the year!
Legacy of Vader will be the first ongoing to end in 2026, with Issue #12 arriving on January 14th, followed by the final issue of the new Star Wars (2025) run ending with Issue #10 on February 18th.
A new one-shot comic starring Jar Jar Binks and co-written by his actor, Ahmed Best, will arrive on February 11th. It will feature both Jar Jar and Kelleran Beq, both played by Best, and will follow the consequences of Jar Jar’s actions of giving Chancellor Palpatine emergency powers during The Clone Wars.
Shadow of Maul will be a 5-issue mini-series to coincide with the show Maul Shadow Lord and will serve as a prequel to the show itself. It will follow the characters of Brander Lawson and his droid companion Two Boots as they investigate shadowy dealings on the planet Janix, the setting for Maul Shadow Lord.
This is the first time Star Wars is doing such a comic crossover that will directly impact a show in a long time. It should be exciting to see and read about the world of the show before we see it on screen. The first issue releases on March 4th.
Despite the High Republic having officially ended its multimedia publishing initiative last year, there is still content to come for the new hit era of Star Wars. Pathfinders will be a new 6-issue miniseries written by longtime High Republic writer George Mann.
Pathfinders will be set around 20 years after the events of Phase 2, which took readers back 150 years from the main High Republic timeline. The story will follow a team of Republic Pathfinders sent to investigate the strange death of a Jedi Master. The first issue will be released on March 11th. Dark Horse will also release new graphic novel collections of their Phase 2 and 3 comics, all collected together for fans to pick up sometime in 2026.
Manga releasing in 2026
With Star Wars Celebration taking place in Japan last year, it was a good opportunity for Star Wars to delve more into the world of manga. There are a few books releasing this year that are sure to appeal to people.
Visions: Tsukumo will release in July 2026, brought to us by Viz Media. This manga will follow a Jedi Knight accompanying two droids to a rumored Droid Paradise as they are pursued by the Empire.
Jedi Fallen Order is set to get an adaptation in manga form this year as well. It will follow the game’s story, but through an anime lens. The first volume is set for release on March 3rd, alongside the second volume releasing May 5th. This will be an interesting read to see what they include and don’t include from the gameplay aspects of the story, but it will be great to have the full game available in readable form for anyone who can’t play it!
Finally, a new adaptation of the novel Thrawn by Timothy Zahn is set for the manga treatment, alongside already having a comic adaptation. The book is one of Star Wars’ most popular canon books, so it comes as no surprise. While there is no set date yet, the first volume of the manga should release sometime in 2026.
News for Star Wars in 2026 and beyond…
With Star Wars saving Celebration for its 50th anniversary next year, the best place for any news will be at D23 on August 14th-16th. This is the big 3-day event that celebrates all the Disney franchises. They may save a lot of Star Wars news for celebration, such as new announcements, but it would be a great time to learn more about Star Wars: Starfighter and Ahsoka season 2.
As always, Star Wars publishing has several panels throughout the year at various large conventions. It is always great to see what new books and comics they announce, with them starting to cover more different eras. With Rogue One celebrating its 10th anniversary in December, we could see some celebrations held for it nearer the time, but with Avengers: Doomsday dominating the month, a re-release could be unlikely.
The other big news of the year comes in the form of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. Created by George Lucas, the museum will explore narrative art and how it shapes the world around us. It is expected to have several film-related exhibitions alongside a large area for Star Wars props, exhibitions, and costumes from Lucas’s films. The museum is set to open in the heart of Los Angeles on September 22nd.
There is plenty to look forward to in 2026 for this ever-growing franchise, and I am sure there will be plenty more announcements for things later in the year. What are you excited to see from Star Wars this year? Let us know on social media @MyCosmicCircus or join our Discord (via Patreon) to discuss with other fans.
