It’s May already!? We’re five months into 2015, spring has been here for a while, summer is soon arriving, and school is almost over. Most importantly, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens is almost here! Since the announcement back in October 2012 there has been a lot of news and information regarding the future of Star Wars, so I’m going to summarize a lot of news in this article.

Starting off with the movies, not only has Disney announced Episode VII: The Force Awakens, they have announced Episodes VIII and IX. Disney also has confirmed release dates for most of this sequel trilogy, with Episode VII releasing on December 15, 2015, and Episode VIII on May 26, 2017. Disney isn’t just making a new trilogy, they are also releasing stand-alone films, called Anthology Films, and the first of these is titled Rogue One and will be telling of how the Rebellion acquired the blueprints of the first Death Star and is planned to be in theaters December 16, 2016. Personally, I am excited for the new movies and can’t wait until this December and next December as well.

Moving on to video games, in case you missed it, Disney has made a 10-year partnership with Electronic Arts, otherwise known as EA Games or simply EA or even The Consumerist “Worst Company in America” Winner in 2012 and 2013. This deal means that EA is going to be exclusively developing and publishing Star Wars games for the next decade. I will let the following quote explain my feelings for this; “I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” The only ‘good’ thing that has come out of this deal so far is a new Star Wars: Battlefront, which fans have been waiting nearly ten years for another entry since Star Wars: Battlefront II. EA has released a few trailers of the game showing off the graphic engine and some staff from DICE, EA’s studio that is developing the game, but has not shown any real footage of gameplay. EA and DICE have stated they are planning DLC and the first DLC map will be of the planet Jakku, the new desert planet that has been featured in The Force Awakens trailers, but will be a free gift to players. Staff working on the game have stated that they are not including Space Battles or The Clone Wars era, which disappoints me because Space Battles were so much fun in Star Wars Battlefront II. I am attempting to keep my feelings neutral regarding Battlefront by not losing hope and by not overhyping.

The biggest announcement Disney has made concerning Star Wars is about ‘Expanded Universe’, which includes characters, stories, etc. from Star Wars books, comics, and video games. The Expanded Universe used fit in with the official canon, Episodes I-VI and The Clone Wars TV show. Disney has wiped out the old Expanded Universe and now new official canon is being worked on, examples include Marvel’s new Star Wars comic books, new novels, The Force Awakens, the Star Wars Rebels TV show, and future video games. Episodes I-VI and The Clone Wars are still official. At the time of the announcement many fans, including myself, were outraged over this. Over a year has passed and Disney has proved that they are handling the new canon with care and are allowing new authors to write their own pieces of Star Wars history. I have read and watched some of the new canon, the Marvel Star Wars comics are really great and Star Wars Rebels had a decent first season and season two looks great. Speaking of Star Wars Rebels, I highly recommend you to watch it if you were a fan of The Clone Wars.

Ultimately, since Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars, things had been off to a rough start but now that time has passed, things are going well for the future of the franchise and I am really excited to see where the franchise goes. May the Fourth be with you, and Happy Revenge of the Fifth!