When Disneyland announced the “Star Wars land” known as Galaxy’s Edge in 2015, one word was emphasized again and again: immersion. This was a place where Star Wars not only felt real, but it felt real on a specific planet, Batuu, at a specific point in history: between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. Every feature, from the ride involving Rey Skywalker and Kylo Ren to the shops and cantina, had an in-universe story behind it.
But variety has trumped continuity over the last decade. The setting of Galaxy’s Edge has slowly become less focused, from the addition of The Mandalorian characters (despite the show being set decades earlier) to the rebranding of food and drink away from their often confusing Star Wars names. Now, this shift has become official.
Disney Parks recently announced plans to expand the timeline of Galaxy’s Edge, meaning it will no longer be focused on a specific moment in Star Wars history. Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa will now be available for character moments, alongside the already-established Rey, Chewbacca, R2-D2, Din Djarin, and Ahsoka Tano. The rides will remain untouched, but certain shops will be rebranded to earlier in the Star Wars story.
What’s more, one of the most immersive parts of Galaxy’s Edge will be removed. Unlike many other Disney Parks, Galaxy’s Edge doesn’t use music played over speakers. Instead, there’s an in-universe soundscape full of voices, droid noises, and other things you’d expect to hear on Batuu. But this will be replaced by John Williams’ iconic score, so you’ll have to provide your own droid noises going forward.
This move may make Galaxy’s Edge less “immersive,” but after a certain point, immersion can have diminishing returns. When fans go to a park, they probably don’t want to see a slice-of-life portrait of an Outer Rim planet; they want to see all their favorite characters and take a picture in front of the Millennium Falcon. The in-universe details of how the ship got there in the first place aren’t all that important. This might be a sign that Disney is moving away from the sequel trilogy, but maybe it just proves that Luke and Leia are timeless.
