Cantina Talk: Don't Expect New Star Wars Movies on Disney+

If 2019 is going to be a big year for Star Wars—and it really is, with two TV shows and a movie on the way, as well as two theme park attractions and the usual ton of comics and tie-in novels—it really doesn't feel like it based on how the year is starting. Things are still relatively quiet when it comes to the ongoing space conflict, a state of affairs that will probably feel quaint 12 months from now. In the meantime, let's take it easy.

Adam Driver Knows the Fate of Kylo Ren

The Source: Kylo himself, Adam Driver

Probability of Accuracy: There's absolutely no reason for Driver to lie about this, so it's more than likely very accurate.

The Real Deal: While everyone involved in the new trilogy has talked about how free filmmakers were to make their own decisions regarding the plot of each movie, Adam Driver has dropped an interesting nugget for fans to ponder: He's known the end of Kylo Ren's story since he took the role. "With Star Wars, I had one piece of information of where it was all going, and that's where it has been in my head for a long time, and things were building toward that," he told Deadline. "It feels very theatrical, if anything. Because in the plays that I've done, a six-month run, on the very last day, you finally feel like 'Oh, now I have a better understanding of what it is that I want to do. I wish we could do this all over again.' Working on a play, the questions you can ask yourself are infinite, and that's what's torturous about film sometimes—you only have one shot to get it right. And you can do a lot of takes, but we're not all going to get back together again and do this. But for something you're doing for six years, you still have a chance to go back and make something a little bit more articulated." Fire up your speculation engines about what that piece of information could be right now.

A Very Unlikely Character Could Return for Episode IX

The Source: An anonymous poster on Reddit

Probability of Accuracy: This almost certainly has to be inaccurate, but at the same time, it's not necessarily impossible either.

The Real Deal: OK, this one is genuinely strange; according to a now-deleted Reddit post (I know, I know), Han Solo might return in Episode IX. It's unclear exactly how this would happen—flashback? a ghost?—but one plausible explanation is that he could appear as part of the unseen footage featuring Carrie Fisher that may or may not end up in the final movie. Given how dramatically Han was killed in The Force Awakens, it would seem highly unlikely that the character would return to life in the final movie of the trilogy, and yet more outlandish things have happened, as we all know. For now, though, file this under "surely not." (Meanwhile, the other rumored return in the movie—Supreme Leader Snoke, according to a British newspaper—seems much more likely, if only to tie up loose ends left from the earlier movies. Loose ends like, you know, what was his whole deal, anyway?)

Don't Expect New Star Wars Movies on Disney+

The Source: Disney CEO Bob Iger

Probability of Accuracy: If Iger is saying it, it's definitely the case. He doesn't speculate wildly.

The Real Deal: Ending speculation, Disney boss Bob Iger has stated definitively that Disney is not looking to add original full-length Star Wars movies to the forthcoming streaming service Disney+ after all. The idea had come up because Disney is making full-length live-action movies for the service that aren't connected to either Marvel or Star Wars, but is also investing in The Mandalorian and an untitled Cassian Andor series. Surely, the logic went, it's not too much of a stretch to imagine Lucasfilm might go a step further and make a full-length Star Wars movie for Disney+, right? Wrong. "Almost every movie the studio makes is a $100-million-plus movie, and we're not looking to make movies at that level for the service," Iger explained. "We're looking to invest significantly in television series on a per-episode business, and we’re looking to make movies that are higher-budget, but nothing like that. We wouldn't make a Star Wars movie for this platform. When everybody goes out on the weekend and you have a movie that opens up to $200 million, there's a buzz that creates that enhances value. We like that. And eventually, the movies we're making are going to [end up on] the service." So, there you have it.

Yes, the Resistance Will Continue

The Source: An official Disney announcement

Probability of Accuracy: It's an official announcement. This is 100 percent accurate.

The Real Deal: In what might be the least surprising news in a while, Disney XD has renewed Star Wars Resistance for a second season. In addition to that announcement, the channel also dropped a trailer for the second half of the first season.

With the announcement of a second season, it's now expected that Resistance could be the first canonical Star Wars release to tell a full story past the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi ahead of the release of Episode IX. (Yes, we know there was a framing sequence set after TLJ in Marvel’s Poe Dameron comic, but that really barely counted.)

Star Wars Is Open-World No More

The Source: Online reporting, via sources from EA

Probability of Accuracy: It seems to be confirmed to be accurate.

The Real Deal: Videogame publisher EA, according to Kotaku, is ending development of an open-world Star Wars game it had been working on for more than a year. Instead, the publisher is going to make something smaller-scale that will arrive sooner than the open-world game EA Vancouver had been developing. Following Kotaku's report, EA released a statement saying "as a natural part of the creative process, the great work by our team in Vancouver continues and will evolve into future Star Wars content and games. We're fully committed to making more Star Wars games, we're very excited about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from Respawn, and we’ll share more about our new projects when the time is right." Bad news for those who wanted that open-world game, but look on the bright side: Pretty soon, you can just go to a Disney theme park and explore the galaxy far, far away in person.