Good Morning Youtinians. We are well into 2025, with news and rumors heating up from a galaxy far, far away. The lead-up to Star Wars Celebration 2025 in Japan is sure to bring us some exciting revelations, so be sure to follow weekly updates from this Newsletter and on Youtini.com!

— JG Carse, Emmi Conner, and Doc B

Update on James Mangold’s Film

James Mangold is directing an upcoming Star Wars movie that is at least tentatively titled Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi.

A Few Revelations: Mangold sat down with MovieWeb to discuss what he envisions for his new Star Wars film:

• Dawn of the Jedi is set a whopping 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga. It will dive deep into the origins of the Force and, as you may have guessed from the title, the Jedi themselves.

• One of the most important things to Mangold when it comes to Star Wars storytelling is originality. This can be very difficult to achieve in a setting that so many storytellers have already had a crack at. That is why he wanted his Star Wars tale to take place long before anything movie fans would be familiar with.

• These revelations are not groundbreaking, but they give us an idea of what will be on the top of Mangold's mind in making Dawn of the Jedi.

Mangold’s Other Work: James Mangold has directed many successful movies throughout his career, and they hint at what we might see from him on the Star Wars stage:

• A Complete Unknown (2024) is Mangold’s most recent film, telling the story of legendary musician Bob Dylan. The movie has been received pretty well so far. Of course, time will tell whether it has the staying power we know and love in Star Wars.

• In that same vein, Mangold also directed Walk the Line (2005), another musician biopic focusing on Johnny Cash and June Carter. Walk the Line had great critical success and is now remembered as one of the best of its genre, even with so many musician biopics over the last several years.

• Of course, Mangold directed Logan (2017), which Wolverine fans enthusiastically received. The film has a truly impressive 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

We're all fine here now — how are you? With a history of shelved projects and extremely long production timelines, we really don’t know when Mangold’s Star Wars film will hit theaters. But the ideas he has discussed publicly and his obvious connection to the galaxy far, far away as a fan himself give us hope that we will get something worth waiting for!

A Skoll By Another Name

We continue receiving little snippets of information regarding the highly anticipated second season of Ahsoka. With each little morsel, the meal is becoming more and more enticing! In the latest news, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the enigmatic Baylan Skoll, an icon from Ahsoka Season 1, has been recast for Season 2 (first reported by The Insneider).

A New Bearded Villain: Introducing Rory McCann! Let’s find out a little about our new Force user:

• Born in 1969 in Glasgow, Scotland, he is five years younger than Stevenson, who was born in Ireland.

• He is even more imposing, standing at 6’6’’; Stevenson was 6’3’’.

• His working life started as a painter before he starred in a cereal ad on TV. That led him to a part in The Book Group, for which he earned a Scottish BAFTA.

• His first Hollywood part was in Alexander, directed by Oliver Stone. He has also starred in Shameless, Peter the Great, though he is most famous for his role of ‘The Hound” in HBO’s mega-hit Game of Thrones.

The Ray Legacy: The extraordinary Ray Stevenson was announced as playing an antagonist at Star Wars Celebration 2023. In an interview at the time, Stevenson stated:

• “There’s nothing scary about Baylan; I would describe him as stoically lethal.”

• “Basically, if you’re in his way, he’ll politely request you get out of it. And if you don’t, you’ll be removed."

Then, sadly, our fandom was rocked by the news of Stevenson’s untimely death in May 2023, just before the live-action premiere of his Star Wars work on TV. 

What we are left with: The first season of Ahsoka was amazing. Stevenson, as Skoll, was brilliant from the moment he appeared on the Republic cruiser Vesper, disposing of Captain Hayle with his orange blade, to battling Ahsoka and manipulating Wren, to the moment on Peridea, where from the hand of The Father, he looked to the horizon, determined and stolid. But we have big unanswered questions for Filoni and McCann to address:

• What is the meaning of the orange lightsaber? And, is he a disgruntled Jedi, a Dark Jedi, a non-Jedi, or a Sith?

• How did he survive Order 66? And how did Shin Hati enter his life?

• Why was Peridea his destiny, and what Force power does he seek?

• Will he return to the known galaxy, and if so, what will his relationship be with Thrawn, The New Republic, Luke Skywalker, or even Snoke?

• What will the Skoll/Hati and Ahsoka/Wren battle on Peridea bring us?

We’re all fine here now — how are you? Ahsoka Season 2 paves the way for some amazing story arcs that may lead to the plotlines presented in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Episode VII). Which character’s arc are you most excited to see?

🛰️ In the Youtiniverse

• The Youtini Show, formerly The Living Force, is back LIVE on Mondays at 8 PM EST! If you can’t catch the show live, rewatch it later at your convenience.

• The Cosmic Force is back from holiday break to catch you up on Star Wars comics. The Battle of Jakku maxiseries is reaching a fever point as Moff Adelhard returns and reestablishes himself as a threat to the galaxy.  

• Legends Lookback kicks off 2025 with a new episode featuring all the Star Wars Legends updates you'll need! Plus, we play a countdown-style game in which our hosts list as many items per Legendary category as they can.

🚀 Ready for Dispatch

• In an exclusive preview from Polygon, we get our first glimpse of Madibek Musabekov’s stunning artwork alongside an interview with writer Marc Guggenheim!

• John Knoll & John Goodson recently chatted with StarWars.com about bringing their legendary modeling and effects techniques to Skeleton Crew!

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