Today, Disney dropped a bombshell on the Star Wars and Disney Parks fandom with the announcement that Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will be shifting its internal timeline to bring the much-loved George Lucas Original Trilogy to the land in a big, permanent way.

Beginning on April 29, 2026, the land will split and represent multiple Star Wars eras simultaneously—both the Original Trilogy/Galactic Civil War period and the Sequel Trilogy/First Order era.

The Original Trilogy will take over the bulk of the land, including Black Spire Outpost (the area with the land’s main shopping and dining locations, as well as the setting of Smuggler’s Run), while the Sequel Trilogy will be confined to the area around Rise of the Resistance.

This will allow for distinct “character bubbles” throughout the land. The Falcon courtyard becomes Original Trilogy central, with Han, Leia, and Chewie. Vader and his stormtroopers patrol the outpost hunting Luke, who himself roams in search of Jedi artifacts. Meanwhile, Ahsoka and the Mandalorian hold down the marketplace—existing in the timeline-ambiguous space their characters already occupy in canon. Rey remains anchored to the Resistance camp near Rise of the Resistance, effectively cordoning off the Sequel era to that corner of the land.

This structure will allow guests who enter the land via the tunnels near Big Thunder Mountain to physically walk through time in a linear fashion as they progress through the land.

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This is interesting because this isn't the first time Disney has employed the narrative concept of walking through time in addition to space. Before the closure of the Rivers of America at the Magic Kingdom in Florida, guests could walk through time beginning in Fantasyland by Peter Pan's Flight in the "Old World" and transitioning into the colonial era as they enter Liberty Square. From there, guests could follow the river and travel with the pioneers as America pushed westward. Every building in Liberty Square and Frontierland represents different time periods and regions, moving forward in time as guests progress toward Adventureland.

This timeline shift means that the various in-universe proprietors around the Outpost may be different from what park veterans remember. For example, an earlier generation of the Mubo family will operate Droid Depot, where they are just beginning to prototype BB-style droids. Other local entrepreneurs may be just starting out as well, like Oga Garra, who has only recently opened her cantina.

This will also result in changes to the various buildings and thematic elements in and around Black Spire Outpost. For example, the goods displayed in Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities will be different from what he currently has “on offer.”

You can also expect the First Order banners to come down near the Blue Milk Stand, and First Order Cargo will become Black Spire Surplus—a military salvage operation offering artifacts from across the history of the galaxy, including Imperial and Rebel items from the Galactic Civil War.

Disney is also addressing the land’s lack of music by incorporating the iconic John Williams score throughout the land. In the tunnel portals used to enter the land, guests will now hear the iconic “Main Title” music that accompanies each installment’s opening crawl, as well as the “Force Theme.” Other pieces will be heard throughout the land, including in Oga’s, where you’ll be regaled with the iconic “Cantina Band” song by Figrin D’an and the Modal Nodes.

Taken as a whole, this news is a huge step in the right direction. Disney is finally giving Star Wars fans what they want out of an immersive theme park experience, rather than shackling the entire multibillion-dollar land to three movies that a large portion of the Star Wars fanbase didn’t like (or at least didn’t like as much as the original trilogy, or even the prequels).

Personally, I’m not a diehard Star Wars fan, and I really like it when Disney and others in the themed entertainment industry take big swings, even if they don’t completely pan out. Committing as hard as they did to timeline-locking Galaxy’s Edge was a big swing. It would have been really easy to open the land—or any Star Wars land—and fill it to the brim with a hodgepodge of references to various eras of the franchise. Instead, Disney chose to do the difficult thing and create a world grounded in a singular place and time. The only problem was that the place was generic and the time wasn’t popular.

In hindsight, I’m glad that Black Spire Outpost was generic Star Wars and not someplace more explicitly tied to the Sequel Trilogy, which would have made a correction like this one unfeasible or impossible.

This change will also open up a galaxy of possibilities for the land going forward. We could potentially see Rise of the Resistance re-themed, or—better yet—a third ride of some kind that keys off the classic films.

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