Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 Roundup
Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 brought heaps of announcements and news before it came to a close for two years. New films, shows, games and more that audiences have to look forward to over the next two years. At the event itself there was plenty to enjoy, with plenty of special guests, panels, and excellent cosplay. There were even some rewards for the best cosplay.
News – film, TV, gaming, publishing
Past Star Wars Celebration events have always dropped huge reveals for fans, with what they can expect for the future of the franchise. Star Wars Celebration Japan was no different, with plenty of news for new projects that fans will be eager to see, play, and read.
By far the biggest news out of Japan was the announcement of another ‘Star Wars’ film in development, ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’. Shawn Levy will direct, Ryan Gosling will star and it will fly into cinemas on May 28, 2027. It will take place after the events of ‘Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker’ but will be a standalone project.
Attendees of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ panel saw an action packed trailer for the film, in which Din tackles an AT-AT. It’s something that will bound to get them excited while audiences patiently wait for the film to come out on May 22, 2026.
While that’s all for film news, fans did get to learn about the future of Lucasfilm Animation. Maul will be returning to the screen once again, this time helming his own show. ‘Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord’ releases in 2026 and will tell the story of Maul’s criminal ventures during the reign of the Empire.
‘Star Wars: Visions’ volume three has had a release date confirmed for October 29, with some stories continuing from volume one. That’s not all though, as a spin-off series called ‘Star Wars: Visions presents – The Ninth Jedi’, though no release window was revealed for this.
‘Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures’ will return for a third season in the fall, with new characters Beepers, Dozer, and Gigi – a quirky band of droids, each with their own unique and hilarious personalities – that will join heroes Kai Brightstar, Nubs, and Lys Solay on their adventures.
There will be a continuation of ‘LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy’ with ‘LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy: Pieces of the Past’ coming to Disney+ on September 19, which will see Ashley Eckstein return as Ahsoka Tano and Ahmed Best as Darth Jar Jar. The character Jaxxon will also appear, and be voiced by Ben Schwartz.
Turning away from TV and movies, and focusing on video games, ‘Star Wars’ fans got the announcement of another crossover with Epic Games ‘Fortnite’ with Galactic Battles. Darth Jar Jar takes centre stage, but also full on battles coming to the game. This will take place during May 2025.
‘Star Wars: Outlaws’ will be getting some DLC on May 15 called ‘A Pirate’s Fortune’ with the returning character Hondo Ohnaka. This is the second DLC for Ubisoft’s ‘Star Wars’ game, which saw players team up with Lando Calrissian.
Finally, the biggest game announcement was by far the new game coming from Bit Reactor and Respawn Entertainment, a turn based tactics game set in ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ called ‘Star Wars: Zero Company’, a game which sees players control ‘Star Wars’ characters in a bid to win battles as the Republic.
On the publishing side, audiences will be able to get a deeper look at the history of Industrial Light and Magic with ‘Industrial Light & Magic: 50 Years of Innovation’ by Ian Failes, which will be available from November 5, 2025.
Fans of ‘Andor’ will be able to explore more about the show with ‘The Art of Star Wars: Andor (The Complete Series)’. The book is described as “The fully comprehensive coffee table book, covering both Season 1 and Season 2”, and will be released in March 2026.
Several new comics got announced, including ones set in the High Republic, ones focusing on Kelleran Beq, and even manga adaptations of Thrawn will release in the coming months. Jecki, Yord and Master Sol will return in a new young adult novel ‘The Crystal Crown’, available from July 29, 2025.
Guests
Fans who hung out on the live stage were lucky to hear from esteemed stars of the ‘Star Wars’ universe, from both the behind the scenes brains and on camera talent. Dave Filoni, Pedro Pascal, Jon Favreau and Sigourney Weaver came to the live stage to tease fans about the upcoming ‘Mandalorian and Grogu’, Filoni returned with Rosario Dawson to tease the epic naval battle upcoming in ‘Ahsoka’ season two and that audiences can expect exciting things on Perida.
Turning to releases that are imminent, Diego Luna, Tony Gilroy, Genevieve O’Reilly, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, and Alan Tudyk came out to promote the second season of ‘Andor’, teasing the behind-the-scenes antics, the fashion of ‘Andor’ and the creepy romance Dedra Meero and Syril Karn share. It gave fans something to be excited about while they waited those final couple of days. ‘Andor’ season two has started to come out, and audiences can check it out on Disney+.
But it wasn’t just live-action ‘Star Wars’ that was represented on the stage. Sam Witwer and Athena Portillo came to tease the upcoming ‘Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord’ animation show, with just how hard Witwer had to work this time around. Ashley Eckstein appeared to talk about her time as Ahsoka, and Vanessa Marshall appeared to talk about her voice role as Hera Syndulla. Finally, Ahmed Best came out to help promote the new ‘Fortnite’ crossover with ‘Star Wars’, which sees a Darth Jar Jar skin being added to the game.
Fans were spoiled with the calibre on display, and that’s not to even mention some of the other guests that came on.
Interviews for the guests were live streamed to the official ‘Star Wars’ YouTube channel.
Cosplay
Cosplay is a huge part of Star Wars Celebration, with fans eager to display their love for their favourite characters. Many different characters were present, like Ahsoka, Mandalorians, Luke, Maul, and lesser known characters like Marchion Ro and Darth Talon. This diverse display can be seen in the photos Kieran Burt from SciFiction took, available to view on the SciFiction Facebook page.
Some people love to put their own unique twists on their costumes, and that’s certainly the case for the winner of the Best in Show category at the Cosplay Showcase. Stephen Wong won as Shogun Vader, a Japanese twist on the classic ‘Star Wars’ character.
Speaking to ‘Star Wars’ after his win, Wong explained how he made the costume “The main chest part is made of leather, and I have a friend who made this to my specifications. As for the helmet, I used ABS plastic and molded it myself. Using boiling water is my little tip. Bend it into shape, boil it for a bit, let it set, and then it’s good.”
What’s next?
At the end of the event, during the closing ceremony, audiences got even more news to look forward to. In 2027, Star Wars Celebration will be returning to America, and going to Los Angeles. While two years is a long time to wait for fans, that time will fly by. In the meantime, there are plenty of shows, books, games and more to look forward to and enjoy.
