Disneyland’s Galaxy’s Edge Is Finally Letting More of Star Wars In

Batuu is getting bigger without physically getting bigger

For years, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland has looked incredible while also playing by some oddly narrow rules. Batuu was locked mostly to the sequel-era timeline, which meant the land could be stunning, expensive, and immersive while still feeling a little boxed in. That is finally changing. Beginning April 29, 2026, Disneyland’s version of Galaxy’s Edge will expand its timeline to pull in more Star Wars eras, including characters and story elements tied to Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian, and Ahsoka.

And honestly, it feels overdue.

Darth Vader, Luke, Han, and Leia are coming to Batuu

The biggest headline is the character roster. Darth Vader is coming to Batuu alongside Imperial stormtroopers, while Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia Organa are also being added to the land’s evolving story. Disney and StarWars.com both frame this as a major shift away from Galaxy’s Edge being tied almost entirely to the era between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

That matters more than it may sound in a press release. Vader is not just another walkaround character. Luke, Han, and Leia are not random fan-service drops. They pull Galaxy’s Edge closer to the wider Star Wars identity people actually carry around in their heads. For a lot of guests, Star Wars is still the original trilogy first. Letting those characters into Batuu makes the land feel less like a timeline experiment and more like an actual Star Wars destination. That last point is an inference, but it is hard not to draw from the scope of the update.

The update goes beyond just familiar faces

Disney is not only swapping in iconic characters. Parts of the land itself are being refreshed. First Order Cargo is being rethemed into Black Spire Surplus, with artifacts tied to both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities is also getting new screen-used props from recent Star Wars series, while the land’s soundscape will expand to include John Williams themes from the first six films.

That sonic change may end up doing a lot of invisible work. Music is one of the fastest ways to make a place feel emotionally “right,” and Galaxy’s Edge has sometimes felt more clever than soulful. Pulling in classic Williams material could help fix that. That is an inference, but it lines up with Disney’s own emphasis on giving the land a broader emotional connection to the saga.

Disneyland gets the bigger sandbox, and that is probably smart

There is one important catch: this timeline expansion is for Disneyland Resort only. Walt Disney World’s Galaxy’s Edge will stay rooted in the sequel-era version of Batuu, which means the two coasts are now officially becoming different Star Wars experiences instead of near-mirrors.

That is probably the right call. It gives Disneyland the freedom to become the more expansive, era-spanning Star Wars playground, while Florida keeps the original framework intact.

There is also a nice little timing hook here: guests attending Disneyland After Dark: Star Wars Nite on April 28 will be among the first to experience parts of the expanded timeline before the changes fully open during regular park hours on April 29.

Galaxy’s Edge may finally feel more like Star Wars itself

The bigger story here is not just that Vader has been invited to Batuu. It is that Disney seems to have realized Galaxy’s Edge works better when it feels like it belongs to the full saga, not one tightly managed slice of canon. That makes this less about adding a few famous faces and more about fixing one of the land’s oldest limitations.

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