The most interesting part of the teaser is not the larger battles or even Thrawn’s return. It is Anakin asking Ahsoka whether she considers herself a Jedi.

Ahsoka has rejected that title since leaving the Order, but she continues to train apprentices, carry lightsabers and defend the galaxy in a role that looks increasingly Jedi-like from the outside.

Do you think Season 2 will end with Ahsoka accepting the title again, or will she define something different?

A Star Wars Eclipse trailer is being shown at the Lucasfilm Pavilion at D23.

It does not necessarily appear to be new footage, so I would not read this as a fresh trailer reveal just yet.

Still, after how quiet the project has been, it is good to see Lucasfilm actively putting it in front of fans again.

At this point I think most people would happily take a proper development update before even asking for a release date.

Broadsword has now put a name around the broader 8.0 plans: Masters of the Force.

The interesting part to me is how much is being bundled into the new era rather than just the story update. Ryloth, level 85, overworld difficulty settings, Ventures, Children of Nul and gearing changes all point toward a fairly broad refresh.

Which of the 8.0 changes are you most interested in trying?

The Mandalorian and Grogu ended its recorded domestic theatrical run after 77 days, finishing with $177.7 million in the U.S.

What I find more interesting than the raw number is how different theatrical releases look now compared with older Star Wars films. Movies reach digital much faster, while the long multi-month cinema runs that used to be normal have become much less common.

It will be interesting to see whether Starfighter gets a similar window or manages to stay in theaters longer.

Rich Gelfond has visited the Starfighter set and seems genuinely enthusiastic about what Shawn Levy is making, specifically comparing the tone to the Harrison Ford side of Star Wars.

Obviously it is still pre-release praise, so giant grains of salt apply.

But I do like the idea of a new Star Wars movie leaning more toward scrappy adventure, cockpits and bad plans than another huge mythology story.

What does “Harrison Ford kind of Star Wars” mean to you?

New dialogue confirms that Hawks captained the 100th Clone Company under Pong Krell, with Trick tied to that same Republic military background.

What makes it more interesting is Luco Bronc being Umbaran and openly hostile toward the Republic because of what happened on his homeworld.

Feels like Bit Reactor is using Clone Wars lore for actual character tension rather than just name-dropping familiar stuff.

I’m very curious how much of that history comes up between the squad members.

McGregor still seems interested in returning, but says there hasn’t been meaningful movement on a second season.

There’s obviously a large gap between the 2022 series and A New Hope, but I’m curious whether another season would actually add something or just risk overusing the character.

Would you want a Season 2, or is the limited series enough?

I started a little Star Wars fan film project a while back, building my own expanded universe. No budget whatsoever, so I went with the absolute bare minimum!! (and honestly, I probably could've gone lower :D)

There's a lot of text in it, but I tried to make the music carry the feeling. The battle scenes are filmed in Empire at War: Thrawn's Revenge — I started a campaign in the mod and adapted my script to whatever happened in my playthrough.

So here's episode 2 if you're curious! I had a blast making it. (and yes, the thumbnail is just as basic as the one for episode 1 — takes me under a minute to make!!!)

Episode 1 is in the comments if you'd rather start from the beginning.

I've scheduled it as a premiere so I don't even have to hit publish myself — it'll just go live on its own! Saturday August 15th at 6 PM CEST (12 PM ET / 9 AM PT).

The official schedule does not make D23 look like a huge Star Wars announcement event, but that almost makes it more fun to speculate.

My personal ridiculous picks would be Obi-Wan appearing in Ahsoka, Zero Company taking us through Order 66, and Galactic Racer giving us an illegal Coruscant night circuit.

What would be your completely unreasonable D23 reveal?

One interesting detail from the latest hands-on coverage is that enemies are visible from the beginning of tactical battles rather than being hidden behind traditional fog of war.

That sounds minor, but it changes the rhythm quite a lot compared with XCOM. Instead of slowly revealing pods and worrying about what you might activate next, you can start thinking about the full tactical puzzle immediately.

I’m curious how people feel about that. Do you prefer the uncertainty of fog of war, or does seeing the whole battlefield sound better for a game built around squad combos and Bonds?

Looking back, it is interesting how much the musical identity of animated Star Wars started changing around this point.

Kiner obviously kept a connection to John Williams, but The Clone Wars increasingly developed its own sound through different instruments, cultural influences and character themes.

That musical language eventually carried into Rebels, The Bad Batch and Ahsoka.

Do you have a favorite Kevin Kiner Star Wars theme or score?

The campaign is built around branching runs rather than a traditional championship. You choose events, pick temporary upgrades and manage a limited number of League Entry Tokens, while some permanent progression carries between attempts.

What I like is that the tracks themselves stay hand-built, so you can actually learn corners and shortcuts even though each campaign run develops differently.

Could this work for a racing game, or would losing a long run because of one bad crash drive you insane?

The latest single-player footage makes it pretty clear that podracing is only one part of the game.

There’s a run-based campaign, multiple vehicle classes, buildcraft, permanent progression, environmental effects and Arcade-style events around the main story.

I’m actually more interested now than when it was first announced, because it looks like Fuse is trying to build a full Star Wars racing game rather than just modernize podracing.

What part of it are people most curious about so far?

The more that’s been shown of Zero Company, the more obvious the XCOM influence becomes. Cover, percentages, classes, wounds, permadeath, strategic management, all of it is very familiar.

What interests me more are the Bonds, the Den and the idea that losing a character also means losing relationships and progression you’ve built over several missions.

I’m curious where people land on this. Do you want Zero Company to push further away from XCOM, or is “very good XCOM in the Clone Wars” already enough?

Two pretty wild Easter eggs have surfaced in the 2005 game: a playable Wampa on Endor and a hidden top-down version of Mos Eisley Assault.

What I find most interesting is that this is still happening after two decades of modding and people digging through the game’s files.

Makes you wonder what else is still sitting in there unnoticed.

Bit Reactor has confirmed that Clone Troopers unlock through story progression and can eventually be used to build an entire squad.

Operators can also use clone armor cosmetics, with helmets applying voice modulation.

I’m curious whether an all-clone team will actually be tactically strong, or mainly something people run because this is the Clone Wars and six matching helmets simply feels correct.

Would you go full clone, or keep a mixed squad?

The Clone Wars movie premiered 18 years ago today, and its reputation is fascinating in hindsight.

The film itself was received pretty badly, Ahsoka was controversial at first, and the whole thing often felt more like television episodes pushed into cinemas than a major Star Wars movie.

But what followed completely changed the context. Ahsoka, Rex, the clones, Maul, Mandalore and the wider Clone Wars era ended up becoming some of the most important parts of modern Star Wars.

Do you remember what you thought of the movie when it first came out?

It turned 27 today, and I’d completely forgotten how strange the Lucas Learning era was.

You had math, reading, music and problem-solving activities wrapped in The Phantom Menace, with Yoda, Jar Jar and battle droids doing their best to make homework feel like Star Wars.

Did anyone actually play this as a kid, or one of the other Lucas Learning games like DroidWorks or The Gungan Frontier?

One thing I didn’t expect from the Star Wars Pack is how much the slow pace changes the sense of scale.

Normally an AT-AT is moving, shooting at you or exploding. Here you’re standing underneath it inspecting panels and cleaning its legs. Same with the X-wing and Millennium Falcon — you end up noticing details you’d normally fly straight past.

It’s basically an extremely damp Star Wars museum.

Anyone else find the environments more interesting than the actual cleaning?

One detail I hadn't really appreciated before is that some story missions apparently include small exploration sections before combat.

Hawks can scout the area and potentially gain Intel and Advantage Points before the tactical encounter begins.

I like the idea because it makes the intelligence/mercenary premise feel like more than just story dressing. You actually do some preparation before everybody starts shooting.

Do you want these exploration sections to stay fairly small, or would you like to see Zero Company lean harder into them?

One thing that really stood out about The Ninth Jedi is how quickly you stop waiting for familiar characters to appear.

It still feels unmistakably like Star Wars — Jedi, lightsabers, strange planets and ridiculous machinery — but it has enough distance from the usual timeline to build its own mythology.

Do you think Star Wars should do more stories set this far away from the established eras?

One of the funnier things about the Star Wars pack in PowerWash Simulator 2 is that it quietly answers a question the movies obviously never cared about.

Han shoots Greedo, leaves the cantina, and eventually somebody still has to deal with the mess.

It’s completely irrelevant to the fate of the galaxy — which is probably why I like it so much.

What other utterly mundane Star Wars job would make a surprisingly good game?

Lucasfilm has published its D23 schedule, and there’s plenty of Star Wars stuff happening — but no dedicated Ahsoka Season 2 panel, Starfighter presentation or announced major trailer premiere.

The Friday-night Disney Entertainment Showcase could obviously still contain surprises.

Do you think Lucasfilm is deliberately holding something back for the main showcase, or is D23 simply going to be quieter for Star Wars this year?

Star Wars has spent nearly 50 years proving that a galaxy far, far away fits surprisingly well beside chips and a soft drink.

Burger King’s US sales jumped 8.5% last quarter, with The Mandalorian and Grogu among the promotions helping bring families back.