Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge

"On a remote outpost planet, new adventures await..."

- Construction sign at Disney's Hollywood Studios

Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge is a themed land currently in development by The Walt Disney Company. It is set in an outpost on the planet Batuu. The events portrayed there take place between the films The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. New music was composed for Galaxy's Edge by John Williams.

It is slated to open in phases in parks in the United States with all of the land except for the Rise of the Resistance attraction opening May 31, 2019 at Disneyland and August 29, 2019 at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. Rise of the Resistance will open later in that year. The land will open sometime after 2021 at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris Resort.

Development
Disney CEO Robert Iger first announced at the D23 Expo on August 15, 2015 that the company would be building a Star Wars–themed land in Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California and in Disney's Hollywood Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The announcement stated that these lands would be fourteen acres, making them the largest single land expansions in company history. During the Q1 FY17 Earnings call for The Walt Disney Company on February 7, 2017, Iger announced that the new lands would open in the year 2019. During the "Star Wars and Disney Parks: A Galaxy in the Making" panel at Celebration Orlando, Asa Kalama of Walt Disney Imagineering stated that what they were building would be canonical. It was later revealed to take place after The Last Jedi through promotional material for the book series Flight of the Falcon. During development, the attraction had as many as 1,100 Disney employees working on the project. By early 2019, this had dropped to 600.

In the lead-up to the annual D23 Expo, the Disney Parks Blog unveiled a logo for the event "Walt Disney Parks and Resorts: A Galaxy of Stories," which would debut on July 14–16. The event gave guests a glimpse of the locations, starships, creatures, and droids that would populate the outpost that will act as a setting for the park, and unveiled a detailed model for the 14-acre theme park that would debut in 2019, alongside artwork and media showcasing its development. On December 16, 2017, during the parks' Galactic Nights event, more information about the ride and its development process was unveiled to the public via Lucasfilm vice president Doug Chiang as well as Imagineers Chris Beatty, Robin Reardon, and Scott Trowbridge. In particular, it was revealed via construction photos that development had recently "topped out" after the highest construction point was in place. It was also revealed that, among other things, there will be a toy shop with concept art unveiled, with Beatty explaining that the inspiration for its design was from marketplaces in Morocco, and that, fitting with its design inspiration, all the wares are handmade arts and crafts similar to those found in Moroccan marketplaces. In addition, the water fountains would have a unique design.

Chiang also revealed that they are building X-wing models for the theme park and differentiated them from the movie models. Some concept art also showcased the Millennium Falcon portion of the attraction, including an entirely new location composed of overgrowth in a sewer-like area. A set of trading cards were also unveiled to the public, which revealed some new details about the ride, in particular confirming that BB-8 and Kylo Ren will be present in the ride, as well as hinting at a droid character called "R3X" that was later revealed to be RX-24 from the original Star Tours ride. The same cards also had map pieces that revealed some locations on Batuu, in particular the Surabat River Valley, Docking Bay 9, Merchant Row, and Black Spire Station, would be present in the ride and gave some details about the location and a translation key for an Aurebesh poem on the borders of some cards.

On January 11, 2018, the Star Wars Launch Bay attraction at Disneyland included a piece of the full model of the upcoming attraction that was unveiled at D23, marking it the second Disney theme park to include part of the scale model, the first being Disney's Hollywood Studios. A short preview video was released on May 22.

Layout
Galaxy’s Edge is set on Black Spire Outpost on Batuu, a planet on the edge of the Outer Rim Territories, just before Wild Space. It was designed to feel like a real world, blending seamlessly into the park and having no obvious ride markers. Visitors will be able to use a special app to aid in navigating the land.

Two attractions announced for the park so far include Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run (which puts guests behind the controls of the Millennium Falcon) and a Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (which throws guests into the middle of a battle between the First Order and the Resistance). The official names for the attractions were announced November 17, 2018 at the Destination D event. The Target-exclusive Blu-ray for Solo: A Star Wars Story includes a featurette called "The Millennium Falcon: From Page to Park," which details how a Millennium Falcon ride was developed for Galaxy's Edge.

Oga's Cantina will be a small dining establishment that will serve Star Wars-themed food and drink. Coca-Cola products will be available at the attraction, with special in-universe Aurebesh designs. There will also be various shops throughout Galaxy's Edge that sell in-universe items; In developing these vendors, Disney Imagineers visited Istanbul and Morocco, and looked at old concept art from the Lucasfilm Archives. Visitors will get to build their own lightsabers, with the option to either make custom lightsabers or choose pre-established designs.

Opening
Galaxy's Edge will open on May 31, 2019 at Disneyland and on August 29, 2019 at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. Rise of the Resistance will open later in that year. The land will open sometime after 2021 at Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris Resort.

On April 13, Galaxy's Edge featured in a panel at Celebration Chicago. During the panel, Mark Hamill appeared via pre-recorded video to announce a Twitter sweepstakes to win a trip to the attraction.

Marketing
The attraction received extensive press coverage in February 2019, after select journalists were given a tour of the Anaheim version. During this time, the cast members' costumes were unveiled.

In April 2019, Lucasfilm Ltd. launched a Galaxy's Edge publishing campaign, which will included a Marvel comic series and the novels Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire, A Crash of Fate and Star Wars: Myths & Fables. John Williams' full symphonic track was released on May 3. Several elements from the attraction are being made into Hasbro toys.