Maul is apparently not done taking trophies. Disney has submitted Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord for Emmy consideration in Outstanding Animated Program, giving Lucasfilm’s darkest animated Star Wars swing a chance to step into the awards conversation. That does not mean a nomination is guaranteed. The Emmys are not decided by red lightsaber intensity, which is probably for the best, because Maul would have several unfair advantages. But it does mean Disney clearly sees Shadow Lord as more than just another Disney+ Star Wars side project. And honestly, that feels right. Star Wars Animation Is Back in the Awards Conversation Maul – Shadow Lord arrived as one of Lucasfilm Animation’s boldest recent projects, picking up after The Clone Wars and pushing Maul into a darker, more focused corner of the galaxy. The official StarWars.com series page describes the story as following Maul after The Clone Wars, as he tries…
SWTOR Adds Age Verification for Players in Brazil
Star Wars: The Old Republic is getting a small but important account change for players in Brazil. According to the official SWTOR update, EA is working to comply with Brazil’s Digital ECA Law, which is affecting features and services across EA titles. That now includes SWTOR. Starting May 28, players located in Brazil who have not yet verified their age will be prompted to log in to their SWTOR account page and complete an age verification process. What Changes for Brazilian Players? The key part is simple: players in Brazil who do not meet the age requirements will not be able to play the game or make purchases through the SWTOR website. This follows a similar compliance pattern we saw with Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, where underage players in Brazil recently had chat disabled as part of a server update. SWTOR’s change is broader, because it affects access to…
Galaxy of Heroes Turns Grogu and the Anzellans Into Tactical Chaos
Grogu is officially back on the Holotables, and this time he brought mechanics, snacks, and what appears to be a small hovercraft full of bad decisions. EA and Capital Games have revealed the kit for Grogu & Anzellans, a new Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes unit inspired by Grogu’s recent adventures alongside the tiny droidsmiths. According to the official kit reveal on the EA Forums, the unit arrives as a Light Side Healer with Mandalorian, New Republic, and Unaligned Force User tags. So yes, this is not just “cute Grogu in vehicle” content. This is “cute Grogu in vehicle who may quietly ruin your enemy’s turn plan” content. A Healer With Annoying Little Teeth Grogu & Anzellans are built around healing, durability, debuffs, and New Republic synergy. The unit’s basic ability, Good Shot, Baby!, deals only 1 True damage, which sounds hilarious until the rest of the kit starts making…
Ashley Eckstein Is Right: The Clone Wars Helped Save Star Wars
Before Star Wars became a Disney+ machine with Mandalorians, Ahsoka, Grogu, Boba Fett, Thrawn teases, animated spin-offs and enough interconnected lore to make a Jedi archivist quietly resign, there was a much stranger period. There was just The Clone Wars. Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano, recently reflected on that era during a Clone Wars cast reunion, saying that when the show was on the air, it felt like Star Wars might genuinely be over. As covered by GeekTyrant, Eckstein said the animated series was basically the only Star Wars thing keeping the flame alive before Disney bought Lucasfilm. And honestly? She has a point. The Clone Wars Arrived When Star Wars Felt Finished It is easy to forget now, because modern Star Wars never really stops moving. There is always another series, film update, game rumor, book release, comic arc, convention panel, or suspiciously marketable alien child waiting…
Obi-Wan Kenobi Premiered Four Years Ago and Still Feels Complicated
Four years ago today, Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived on Disney+ carrying one of the heaviest backpacks in modern Star Wars. The series premiered on May 27, 2022, with its first two episodes launching together, bringing Ewan McGregor back as the exiled Jedi Master and Hayden Christensen back into the shadow of Darth Vader. That alone was enough to make it feel like an event. But four years later, Obi-Wan Kenobi still sits in a strange place. It gave Star Wars some genuinely powerful moments, a few unexpected emotional punches, and one of the most anticipated rematches in the franchise. It also remains one of the Disney+ shows people still argue about like the fate of the Republic depends on it. Ewan McGregor Was Never the Problem The easiest part to agree on is Ewan McGregor. He understood exactly where Obi-Wan was supposed to be: broken, guilty, exhausted, and hiding from the…
Christopher Lee Gave Count Dooku the Class Star Wars Needed
Some Star Wars villains enter the room like a thunderstorm. Count Dooku entered like a man who had already judged the furniture, the wine, the government, and your lightsaber technique. Christopher Lee, born on May 27, 1922, brought something unusually sharp to the prequel trilogy when he arrived as Dooku in Attack of the Clones. Star Wars already had monsters, tyrants, masked nightmares, cackling Sith Lords, and bounty hunters with jetpacks. What it did not have, at least not quite like this, was a villain who felt like aristocracy had personally discovered the dark side and decided it was better managed with a cape. Dooku was not loud. He did not need to be. A Sith Lord With Manners The official Star Wars Databank describes Dooku as a former Jedi trained by Yoda, later disillusioned with the Order and drawn into Darth Sidious’ grand design. On paper, that is already…
Skeleton Crew Season 2 Just Got a Tiny Bit More Hopeful
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is not officially back for Season 2. But it may not be dead in space either. Kerry Condon, who played Fara in the Disney+ series, has given a small but hopeful update on the show’s future. Speaking to ScreenRant, Condon said: “I mean, I heard maybe possibly, but I don’t know. You never know in this business, but I really hope so, because the kids were great.” That is not a renewal. It is not a production start date. It is not the Lucasfilm logo appearing over a surprise trailer while everyone screams into their caf. But for a show that has been sitting in the uncertain corner of the Star Wars galaxy, “maybe possibly” is at least better than silence. Skeleton Crew Still Has a Strange Little Charm Skeleton Crew was always an odd fit in the modern Star Wars machine. It was not a…
Starfield Just Got the Mando and Grogu Crossover Bethesda Never Made
At this point, Starfield modders are not just adding Star Wars flavor. They are quietly building the galaxy Bethesda never officially gave us. The latest example is The Mandalorian and Grogu, a new Starfield mod by TheSniper9 that turns Bethesda’s space RPG into a much more familiar kind of sci-fi playground. The pack is built as a tie-in to The Mandalorian and Grogu, but it is not just a quick armor drop or a single cosmetic swap. This thing brings Din Djarin gear, Grogu as a follower, a questline, weapons, and even a new vehicle into Starfield. So yes, the modding community has once again looked at a game and said: “Nice universe. We’ll take it from here.” This Is More Than a Beskar Outfit The mod includes a Din Djarin Beskar Armor set, complete with Grogu hanging onto the left shoulder, plus Din’s Pre-Beskar Armor from the first episode…
Galaxy of Heroes Disables Chat for Underage Players in Brazil
Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes has received a small server update with one very specific purpose: legal compliance in Brazil. According to the official EA Forums update, underage players in Brazil, meaning players under 18, will now have chat disabled in-game. When they try to interact with chat, they will temporarily see the message: “This feature unlocks at Player Level 999.” No, that does not appear to be a real new level cap. It is just a very Galaxy of Heroes way of saying the feature is unavailable. A Small Patch With a Legal Reason There are no character changes, balance tweaks, new events, or surprise kit reworks in this update. EA says the change was made to remain compliant with Brazilian law. For most players outside Brazil, nothing changes. For younger Brazilian players, however, in-game chat will now be unavailable. That could affect guild communication for some players, though…
SWTOR’s Forgotten Fortress Is Exactly the Sith Weirdness We Needed
Star Wars: The Old Republic is going back to the kind of place SWTOR does better than almost anyone else: a frozen Sith ruin full of ancient bad decisions. The latest spotlight around The Dark Lord’s Forgotten Fortress points players back toward Khar Shian, the icy moon tied to the legendary Sith Lord Naga Sadow. Before the Great Hyperspace War, this was where Sadow shaped a fortress, plotted galactic domination, and generally behaved like a Sith Lord with access to architecture, ambition, and absolutely no healthy hobbies. Now, in SWTOR’s upcoming Game Update 7.9: Legacy Reborn, those ruins are about to matter again. And honestly, this is exactly the kind of deep-cut Sith history that makes The Old Republic still feel like its own corner of Star Wars. Khar Shian Brings the Old Darkness Back According to the official SWTOR Game Update 7.9 livestream recap, Legacy Reborn brings the current…
Cal Kestis Is Getting More Star Wars Stories After Jedi 3
Cal Kestis may not be heading for the Star Wars exit door after all. According to a Disney representative speaking to GameRant, there are “more Cal stories coming,” even beyond the upcoming sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The full line is the kind of thing Star Wars fans will immediately start dissecting like an ancient Jedi mural: “Never say never. We’ve got his lightsaber in the park. We’ve got more Cal stories coming.” That is not a live-action announcement. It is not a Disney+ series reveal. It is not Cameron Monaghan walking onstage in costume while someone plays the Jedi: Fallen Order menu theme. But it is still a very interesting signal. Because the important word there is “stories.” Plural. Cal Kestis Is No Longer Just a Video Game Hero Cal Kestis started as the lead of Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in 2019, then returned in Star…
Mando’s Helmet Was Hiding More Emotion Than We Thought
Spoilers for The Mandalorian and Grogu below. Din Djarin’s helmet has always been the point. It hides the face, flattens the expression, and forces The Mandalorian to do something Star Wars has always loved: make emotion visible through posture, silence, timing, and one extremely expensive suit of armor. But apparently, the helmet was hiding more than we realized. In a new Entertainment Weekly interview, Brendan Wayne, who physically portrays Mando in the armor, said he had “tears coming out of the helmet” while filming one of The Mandalorian and Grogu’s biggest emotional moments. That is not just a nice behind-the-scenes anecdote. It is a reminder that Din Djarin is not only a voice, a suit, or a helmet. He is a performance built from all three. The Body Behind the Beskar Pedro Pascal is the name on the poster, and rightly so. His voice gives Din Djarin that tired, controlled,…
Ahsoka Season 2 May Be Disney’s Leanest Star Wars Bet Yet
Disney may finally have found something rarer than a peaceful Jedi Council meeting: a cheaper Star Wars production. According to a new Forbes report, pre-production on Ahsoka Season 2 cost around 30% less than The Acolyte, making it one of Disney’s leaner Star Wars projects. That is not the same as saying Ahsoka is suddenly being made for pocket change. This is still Star Wars, where “budget-conscious” probably means someone only built three ancient temples instead of five. But after years of expensive streaming swings, the number is still worth noticing. Ahsoka Is Getting a More Disciplined Season 2 The comparison point matters. The Acolyte became one of the most debated Disney-era Star Wars projects, not just because of the story, but because of its reported cost. Forbes previously reported that The Acolyte spent $49.2 million during pre-production alone, before the full production spend entered the conversation. Now Ahsoka Season…
Star Wars (1991): The Game That Made A New Hope Weird, Hard, and Weirdly Memorable
There are Star Wars games that feel elegant. Clean. Heroic. Cinematic. And then there is Star Wars (1991), which looks at A New Hope and decides the best way to honor one of the most beloved films of all time is to make Luke Skywalker jump over bottomless pits, fight a surprising amount of hostile wildlife, and occasionally take on giant enemies that feel like they wandered in from a different genre entirely. And somehow, against all odds, that version of Star Wars stuck. Released in 1991 for the NES and later adapted for the Game Boy in 1992, this was one of the first really visible Star Wars console action games of the 1990s. It was published by JVC Musical Industries and developed by Beam Software, taking the broad story of A New Hope and reshaping it into a side-scrolling action-platformer that was much stranger, harder, and more game-y…
Battlefront II Fans Just Proved the Game Still Has a Pulse
Star Wars Battlefront II is not dead. It is just apparently waiting for the community to yell loud enough. After Battlefront Resurgence Day 2026, the old DICE shooter has once again reminded everyone that there is still a real audience for large-scale Star Wars multiplayer. Not a theoretical audience. Not a “wouldn’t it be nice if EA noticed” audience. An actual, log-in-and-play audience. According to SteamCharts, Star Wars Battlefront II has seen a major jump over the last 30 days, with average players up more than 100% compared to April and a recent Steam peak of 9,377 players. That is only Steam, not the full picture across console and PC platforms. But it is still a very loud signal from a game that officially stopped getting new live-service support years ago. Resurgence Day Was More Than Nostalgia The community-led Battlefront Resurgence Day 2026 was set for May 23, inviting players…
Dave Filoni Says He’s Becoming Lucasfilm’s Little Obi-Wan
Dave Filoni has found a very Dave Filoni way to describe running Star Wars. Not “brand architect.”Not “content overseer.”Not “the guy trying to stop the galaxy from collapsing under the weight of canon spreadsheets.” No, Filoni sees himself a little differently. Speaking to USA Today, via AOL, the Lucasfilm creative chief described his role as helping bring out the best in the people around him and being “a little Obi-Wan” when creators need guidance through the galaxy. Honestly, that may be the most Star Wars management quote ever given. The Mentor Role Fits Filoni Almost Too Well Filoni has always been a slightly unusual figure in modern Star Wars. He began as George Lucas’ animation apprentice on The Clone Wars, became one of the key voices behind Rebels, helped shape the Disney+ era through The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, and is now one of the central creative leaders steering Lucasfilm into…
Mando and Grogu Just Made Starfighter’s Job Harder
The Mandalorian and Grogu has done its job. Star Wars is back in theaters, the opening weekend was strong, and Grogu has once again proven that he may be less a character and more a tiny green economic stabilizer with ears. But that success also makes the next Star Wars movie more interesting. Because if The Mandalorian and Grogu was the safe theatrical restart, Star Wars: Starfighter is shaping up to be the real test. The Safe Bet Worked The numbers are good. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened with roughly $165 million worldwide, according to Reuters, giving Lucasfilm exactly what it needed after years away from cinemas: proof that Star Wars can still pull people into theaters. But it did so with a lot of help. Din Djarin and Grogu are familiar. They have years of Disney+ momentum behind them. They are family-friendly, toy-friendly, meme-friendly, and emotionally simple in the…
Star Wars’ Streaming Detour May Not Have Hurt the Franchise After All
For years, the big worry around Star Wars was simple: had Disney trained audiences to see the galaxy as a streaming franchise? After The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, Ahsoka, and several animated series, Star Wars had spent a long time living on Disney+. Good for subscription value. Good for weekly discourse. Good for Grogu GIFs. But maybe risky for theaters. Now The Mandalorian and Grogu has opened with around $165 million worldwide, and the early answer may be less dramatic than expected. Star Wars did not return to cinemas like The Force Awakens. But it also did not come crawling back with a broken hyperdrive and a note from accounting. As box office analyst David A. Gross told Variety: “For Star Wars not to be hurt in any obvious way by its long detour onto streaming is good news for the franchise.” That is the…
May 25 Is the Real Star Wars Day, and the Movies Prove It
May the 4th has the pun. May 25 has the receipts. Long before Star Wars Day became a hashtag, a merch wave, and the annual moment where every brand with a social media intern suddenly discovered lightsabers, May 25 was already the date that changed the galaxy. The original Star Wars arrived in theaters on May 25, 1977. Six years later, Return of the Jedi opened on May 25, 1983. That is not just trivia. That is the franchise’s cinematic birth certificate and the original trilogy’s victory lap landing on the same calendar square. So yes, May the 4th is fun. But May 25 is the day Star Wars actually became Star Wars. The Day the Galaxy Opened When the film now known as A New Hope first opened in 1977, it was not yet a sacred text, a streaming category, a theme park ecosystem, or a multi-generation licensing empire….
Mando and Grogu Opens Big, But Star Wars Still Has Something to Prove
Star Wars is back in theaters, and the opening weekend number is doing exactly what Star Wars numbers usually do: starting an argument. The Mandalorian and Grogu opened to an estimated $165 million worldwide over Memorial Day weekend, with about $102 million coming from the U.S. and Canada, according to Reuters and AP. That is a big number. A very big number, in fact. It is also the lowest domestic opening for a Disney-era Star Wars movie. So yes, welcome back to theatrical Star Wars, where even success has to arrive carrying a small glowing discourse grenade. A Strong Opening, But Not a Supernova For almost any other franchise, a $165 million global launch would be a clear victory lap. For Star Wars, it comes with an asterisk shaped like the Millennium Falcon. The good news is obvious: The Mandalorian and Grogu brought Star Wars back to cinemas after a…
How the Star Wars Universe Became One of the Most Iconic Mod Inspirations in CS 1.6
Imagine this: you join a server, round starts, and instead of the usual AK-47 fire you hear the unmistakable hum of a lightsaber. Your enemy isn’t a CT or T – he’s Darth Vader. The map isn’t Dust2 – it’s the scorching desert of Tatooine. If you’ve ever experienced this in CS 1.6, you already know what we’re talking about. If you haven’t – buckle up, because this rabbit hole goes deep. Why the Star Wars Universe Is a Perfect Fit for CS 1.6 Modding There’s something almost poetic about the combination of Counter-Strike and Star Wars. Both are legendary franchises with massive, passionate communities that refuse to die out no matter how many years pass. The Star Wars universe is a goldmine for modders. It offers an enormous variety of characters, weapons, environments, and lore that translate beautifully into a first-person shooter format. Instantly recognizable aesthetics – the sleek…
SWTOR Bounty Contract Week Returns Next Week
The galaxy is about to reopen its most respectable excuse for legally questionable bounty hunting. Bounty Contract Week returns to Star Wars: The Old Republic from May 26 to June 2, giving players another chance to sign up with the Bounty Brokers Association and chase targets across the galaxy for credits, reputation, weapons, armor, mounts, and the warm inner glow of making someone else’s problem disappear. Professionally, of course. According to the official SWTOR May 2026 in-game events calendar, the event begins and ends at 12:00 PM GMT and is open to players at level 15 and above. Time to Dust Off the Contract List Bounty Contract Week is one of SWTOR’s most straightforward recurring events, and that is part of why it still works. You pick up contracts from the Bounty Brokers Association, track down your target, gather intel, confront the problem, and decide whether you want the job…
Can Mando and Grogu Make Star Wars Feel Big Again?
Star Wars is back in theaters, but the real question is slightly more uncomfortable: Does it still feel huge? The Mandalorian and Grogu has finally brought the galaxy far, far away back to cinemas after a long theatrical break. It is the first new Star Wars movie since The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, and Disney is clearly hoping Din Djarin and Grogu can do more than sell popcorn. They need to remind people that Star Wars still belongs on the biggest screen possible. That is a heavier job than it sounds. The Galaxy Returns With Smaller Expectations According to Reuters, The Mandalorian and Grogu has been projected to open somewhere between $75 million and $100 million in the U.S. and Canada. For almost any other franchise, that would be a strong launch. For Star Wars, it is more complicated. Disney-era Star Wars used to open like a cultural emergency….
Fortnite’s Mando Crossover Is Only the First Step
Fortnite is not just borrowing Star Wars costumes anymore. It is starting to look like one of the places where Star Wars tests what the franchise can become next. With The Mandalorian and Grogu now tied directly into Fortnite through a dedicated Watch Party Island, quests, rewards, and a full Nevarro-inspired experience, Lucasfilm and Epic Games are doing more than tossing Din Djarin into the Item Shop and calling it a day. According to StarWars.com, the Watch Party Island gave players a special message from Jon Favreau and a 10-minute sneak peek of The Mandalorian and Grogu ahead of the film’s theatrical release. That alone is unusual enough. But Favreau’s comments to GamesRadar make the whole thing more interesting. He called the collaboration “a very first step” toward what he sees becoming a much larger project. That sounds less like a one-off promo and more like Lucasfilm quietly opening a…