Star Wars has one final series lined up to debut in 2025, and its first episode is already available for viewing. 2026 is set to be a big year for the galaxy far, far away, as multiple new movies and TV shows are lined up to premiere in the next 12 months. However, for the immediate future, this long-running franchise has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Star Wars announced the release of a new kids show titled Star Wars Minis, which will be released on the Star Wars Kids YouTube channel. Officially announced by StarWars.com, this show will run through the end of 2025 and into early 2026, making it the first Star Wars project to be released next year.
The official Star Wars social media pages also released a trailer for this new series, highlighting a few key scenes from Star Wars history that will be recreated with new visuals. Along with commentary from the series' development team, fans can see short bits from recreated Star Wars moments like Anakin Skywalker's podracing antics from Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Ewoks zooming through Endor in Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and Din Djarin's flights through space with Grogu in The Mandalorian.
The show uses a combination of stop-motion animation and motion capture, as the trailer highlights the process behind making these shorts. The development team is seen taking still images of reimagined characters before uploading those images into a computer and having actors in mo-cap suits perform scenes from Star Wars' 48-year history.
The full trailer for Star Wars Minis can be seen below:
Star Wars Minis is the final release for Disney and Lucasfilm in 2025. It marks the fifth new entry of the year, coming after the final episodes of Skeleton Crew, Andor Season 2 (Star Wars' most successful project to date), Young Jedi Adventures Season 3, and Tales of the Underworld.
What Happens in Episode 1 of Star Wars Minis
Shortly after the initial announcement confirming Star Wars Minis' release, Lucasfilm and Disney posted the first episode of the short on the Star Wars Kids YouTube channel. In honor of the show's opening, the first episode took fans back to one of the first major moments in Star Wars history: the trench run from 1977's Episode IV: A New Hope.
Running for just under two minutes, fans can see Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker fly into the trench on the Death Star. However, this scene reimagines the moment with the scenery and characters made out of gingerbread to celebrate the holiday season (see more on other Christmas classics to stream here).
Avoiding candy cane-esque blaster shots, Luke gets backup from Harrison Ford's Han Solo before shooting a couple of gumdrops into the hole in the Death Star. The Empire's home base then blows into pieces, with the circular part cracking into smaller gingerbread cookies as a ring of frosted gingerbread expands around the explosion.
Cookie versions of Luke, Han, and Chewbacca celebrate the moment as they did in A New Hope before the voice of Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke, "Remember, the Force will be with you, always." While the rest of the slate is not fully confirmed, this kicks off an exciting run of animated shorts recapping some of Star Wars' most iconic scenes.
The full short, titled The Gingerbread Death Star Crumbles, can be seen below:
Richard Nebens joined The Direct in March 2020, now serving as the site's Senior Writer and also working as an assistant editor and content creator. He started his journalism career as a hobby in 2019 and is passionate about sharing news and stories from the entertainment industry, especially comic book movies, comedy, and sci-fi. Richard looks to expand his knowledge about movies and TV every day, and he is eager to stay locked into the latest releases and breaking news at every opportunity.
