Star Wars Celebration was the place for some huge announcements regarding the future of theStar Warsfranchise in April 2023. New footage forAhsoka, Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte, and more were shown, and there were also details of new upcomingStar Warsmovies that will release in the comic years. A New Jedi Order film was announced at the event. Daisy Ridley is set to be the star of that film, reprising her role as Rey Skywalker for the first time since 2019 inThe Rise of Skywalker.Dave Filoni was also confirmed to be getting his own movie in the future, which will be the finale of the MandoVerse shows and looks set to be anHeir to the Empireadaption (at least to a certain extent).
Also in attendance was James Mangold. Mangold was there to promote his current Lucasfilm productionIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, but was also announced to be directing a Dawn of the Jedi film, which will focus on the first Jedi and the discovery of the Force. Based on what was teased in the initial announcement at Celebration, it seems a real possibility that the movie could go to Ahch-To, the planet shown in the sequel trilogy that was the home of the first Jedi temple.
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In the sequels, Ahch-To was the world that Luke Skywalker fled to after the fall of his Jedi Academy, which led to Ben Solo turning to the dark side and becoming Kylo Ren. Luke hid on the planet as a self-punishment of sorts, believing he had failed as a Master. He felt that he was unable to live up to the legend that the galaxy had given him after he defeated Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine on the second Death Star.InThe Force Awakens,Han Solodiscussed what he knew about Luke’s disappearance, stating that he went looking for the first Jedi temple.
Ahch-To is said to have a mystical quality to it that only a few other planets have (like Mortis and Dagobah). All of these worlds have a distinct connection to the Force in some way, which makes sense given the sheer amount of history that the Jedi as a group have gone through on the planet. Luke was far from the first Jedi to visit the planet. As stated,one of the first Jedi templeswas created on Ahch-To, roughly 25,000 years before the events of the Skywalker Saga.
That is why the ancient Jedi texts wereon Ahch-To inThe Last Jedi, and the old library where they were held was where Luke and Rey had their first meaningful conversation.The Last Jedimade a point of the heroes moving beyond the teachings of past Jedi in order to create a better, more effective Jedi Order in the future. However, there are clearly a lot of stories to be told there in the past, hence why Lucasfilm are developing a Dawn of the Jedi movie.
It’s not entirely clearly whether Ahch-Towas the location of the first Jedi templeor just one of the earliest ones. Coruscant, Jedha, Tython, and Ossus have all been named in canon as potential candidates for the birthplace of the first Jedi temple. However, given the events of the sequel trilogy, it’s possible that the new movie will return to Ahch-To and focus on what happened there in the past.
Doing this would not only allow the creators to tell a unique, interesting new story, but it would also connectthe entire franchise togetherby relating the new movies back to the sequels. The Dawn of the Jedi movie could also tie into the New Jedi Order movie through the sequels and Ahch-To, as Rey clearly has a history on the planet. This would help to unify the franchise and the story into one overarching narrative. This kind of continuity is something thatmany fans have been begging forfor a few years now, particularly with the changing of direction in each sequel trilogy movie.
A possible hint to a return to Ahch-To could be in the logo that was shown at Star Wars Celebration. Lucasfilm debuted an updated timeline for the franchise that included the new eras of the Dawn of the Jedi and the New Jedi Order, as well as the fan-favorite Old Republic era. Each era was given a distinct logo; for example, the Reign of the Empire’s isan Imperial symbol.The Dawn of the Jedi erawas given a logo that looks remarkably similar to a symbol seen on Ahch-To inThe Last Jedi: a drawing of an ancient Jedi holding a lightsaber and the colors reflecting balance in the Force.
These two visuals are extremely alike. Given their similarity, it feels not only possible, but genuinely probable, that Ahch-To will feature in James Mangold’s new movie. The Prime Jedi were located on the planet tens of thousands of years before the Skywalker Saga, so it could be the natural place to start the story of a galaxy far, far away.
