The Star Wars universe is expanding with a TV and movie addition

It’s safe to say that a lot of new things are cropping up in the Star Wars universe.

On Oct. 21, the trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released, much to the excitement of many fans.

This film will be the ninth and final instalment of the series and is set to premiere in Canada on Dec. 19.

What’s more is that the second trailer for the Stars Wars spin-off, The Mandalorian, was released on Oct. 28 and is set to premiere on Disney Plus on Nov. 12.

With all of the recent commotion over the newest spin-off addition, I can’t help but think of Solo: A Star Wars Story and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story — the almost-forgotten non-“episode” movies in the series.

Most fans can probably say they’ve at least seen these films, but likely don’t remember any major plot-points — I know I don’t at least.

So, while the two non-“episodes” pretty much flopped, I have high hopes for The Mandalorian.

To be fair though, it’s not unreasonable to have high expectations when the budget for The Mandalorian is $120 million; a huge amount of money to invest in an eight-episode series.

The trailer is action-packed and even though it’s a TV series, it almost presents itself as a big-scale movie, so the budget justifies itself.

The series takes place five years after the fall of the Empire, and 25 years before the First Order emerges, following a Mandalorian bounty hunter who works independently from the New Republic.

Many reviews on the trailer have been positive, with fans saying it feels on-brand with the series while still introducing new concepts, characters, and layers to the cinematic universe.

As for The Rise of Skywalker, I feel confident that it will successfully conclude the series.

The trailer is visually appealing and gives off an impression of grandiosity — understandably, since this will be the conclusion to the beloved series.

The film takes place a year after the last episode, with the surviving members of the Resistance still facing-off against the First Order. The final battle between the Sith and Jedi will supposedly commence as well.

Interestingly enough, Carrie Fisher will be included in the film as Leia Organa, through the implementation of unreleased footage from the previous two films.

As the Leader of the Resistance and a central figure to the series, I’m interested to see how these clips will be inputted, but I have no doubt in my mind that seeing Leia will cause emotions to rise in movie theatres all over.

Billy Dee Williams will also return to the film as Lando Calrissian, for the first time since Return of the Jedi.

Ian MacDiarmid will also be returning to play Palpatine, which was revealed in the second trailer. This probably would’ve had more of a shock-value if it was saved for the film instead, but regardless, this has been garnering much conversation among fans.

I can’t help but feel like the series will be wrapped up nicely, especially with the return of old characters.

It goes without saying that fans can expect all the loose ends of the series to be finally tied up; namely Kylo Ren’s internal conflict between good and bad. Some speculate that he will follow the same redemption arc that Darth Vader did.

The trailer also depicts Rey and Kylo Ren facing off, which surprisingly doesn’t signal much at all in terms of what might happen.

The series has expanded rapidly in recent years, with some saying that episodes have been released too quickly or frequently, but I still feel as though the series will be properly concluded with The Rise of Skywalker.

The Mandalorian will hopefully pacify the restless fans who want more content before the series conclusion.