D23 Expo 22 So Far: ‘Mandalorian’ Season 3 Trailer, More Star Wars, Marvel News

Disney fans flocked to California on Friday for D23 Expo 2022, a three-day convention celebrating all the entertainment behemoth has to offer. It’s the first D23 convention since 2019 — the year its Disney Plus streaming service launched, and will also mark the company’s 100th anniversary (which is next year, but companies love to prolong these celebrations) — so you can expect some major announcements from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and more.

D23 2022 runs Friday, Sept. 9, to Sunday, Sept. 11, at the Anaheim Convention Center, right beside Disneyland. Tickets are sold out, but people who can’t make it will be able to livestream certain parts of the event.

Beyond the animated classics that Disney was built on, the company owns Marvel, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Avatar, Pixar and other beloved franchises. So you can expect plenty of updates about upcoming movies, shows, video games and theme park rides set in those universes. It’ll be a bit like Star Wars Celebration, which happened at the same location in May, with a wider scope.

Disney created a delightful D3 Expo poster that includes 58 Easter eggs and hints for the show. It’s tough to know exactly what each symbol means, but superfan YouTuber Dave Lee Down Under ran through the whole lot in a handy video.

CNET will be reporting live from the convention show floor, capturing the hype of panel reveals and reunions, and checking out the creative cosplay. If you can’t make it to Anaheim or just want to plan out your convention, here’s a quick look at where and when big news is likely to drop.

Friday, Sept. 9

Disney kicked off the convention with announcements that Disneyland’s Avengers Campus will expand with a new ride (more details will be revealed Sunday) and that season 33 of The Simpsons will stream on Disney Plus starting Oct. 5. Disney also revealed new details about the transformation of Disneyland’s Splash Mountain into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure. The ride, based on The Princess and The Frog, is set to open in late 2024. 

There were three major panels on the first day of D23, with only two likely to yield major news. The opening event was the Disney Legends Awards Ceremony (10:30 a.m. PT), where CEO Bob Chapek honored a bunch of Disney’s major stars. That group included the late Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, as well as Kristen Bell and Frozen’s Idina Menzel. This one was livestreamed.

The Disney & Marvel Game Showcase saw a bunch of reveals:

• Nintendo Switch co-op platformer Disney Illusion Island, which lets you play as Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy and is coming in 2023.
• Puzzle mystery game Tron: Identity, out in 2023.
• Gargoyles Remastered, an updated version of the classic ’90s platformer. The release date is unclear.
• An untitled World War II-set game starring Captain America and Black Panther, which didn’t get a release date.
• AR mobile game Marvel World of Heroes from Pokemon Go developer Niantic, coming in 2023.

We also got first looks at mobile MMO shooter Avatar: Reckoning (which is coming soon) and tactical squad-based action game Aliens: Dark Descent (coming to consoles and PC next year). Marvel’s Midnight Suns was delayed to Dec. 2, and prequel shorts will build up the narrative when they start hitting YouTube on Oct. 31.

The Disney and Pixar Studio Showcase was the day’s main event, shining the spotlight on upcoming live-action and animated movies and Disney Plus shows:

Live-action

• The first trailer for the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, with Halle Bailey playing Ariel, along with a clip showing the new version of show-stopping song Part of Your World. 

• We also got our first glimpse of the Snow White live-action remake, which stars West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler as the titular hero and Gal Gadot as the evil queen and is due out in 2024.
• A new trailer for Hocus Pocus 2, which hits Disney Plus on Sept. 30.

• A glimpse at Mufasa: The Lion King, the prequel coming from Moonlight director Barry Jenkins. It’ll reveal the story of Simba’s father in 2024.
• A trailer for Peter Pan and Wendy, which stars Jude Law as Captain Hook and will stream on Disney Plus in 2023.
• A look at Haunted Mansion, based on the Disney Parks ride. It’ll star Jamie Lee Curtis as the spooky Madame Leota, and it’s set to come out in 2023.

• A trailer for Disenchanted, the sequel to 2007’s Enchanted starring Amy Adams. It’ll hit Disney Plus on Nov. 24.

Pixar

• Amy Poehler made an appearance to announce Inside Out 2, the sequel to the 2015 classic. It’ll follow a teenage Riley, introduce new emotions and is due out summer 2024.

• We got an early look at new movie Elemental, which comes out in the summer of 2023. It follows Ember, who’s made of fire, and Wake, who consists of water, as they grow close in a city where people are defined by their elemental makeup.
• A first look at new movie Elio, which follows a bookish kid as he makes first contact with aliens. He’s brought to their world and becomes Earth’s ambassador to the rest of the universe. It’s scheduled for release in spring 2024.
• Win or Lose, an animated series coming to Disney Plus in fall 2023, follows a co-ed middle school softball team in the week leading up to their championship game. Each episode takes place that week, jumping to the perspective of a main character.

Disney animation

• Disney Plus short series Zootopia Plus, which will consist of six new stories set in the world of 2016 movie Zootopia. These will come out Nov. 9.
• A look at animated series Iwájú, which will explore “a futuristic version of Lagos, Nigeria” when it hits Disney Plus in 2023.

• We got another look at Strange World, an animated movie that stars Jake Gyllenhaal and comes to theaters Nov. 23.
• The announcement of animated musical movie Wish, which explores the concept of wishing upon a star and is set to come out in the fall of 2023. It’ll star West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose and Rogue One’s Alan Tudyk.

Saturday, Sept. 10

Day two started with another big one: Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Studios Showcase (10 a.m. to noon PT).

Director Ryan Coogler showed an exclusive scene from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, revealing that the international community is after the county’s supply of vibranium in the wake of T’Challa’s death.

Lucasfilm delivered some Star Wars news. Fans were probably most thrilled by the reveal of a new Mandalorian trailer for the upcoming third season of the hit show that brought us Baby Yoda in all his cuteness. He’s adorable-ing all over the trailer, but things look tough for his dad, as Mando is grimly informed that because he took off his helmet, “you are a Mandalorian no more.” Sure, whatever, but we bet they’re not changing the name of the show.

Lucasfilm also dropped a final trailer for upcoming Disney Plus series Andor. Diego Luna plays Cassian Andor as he’s recruited into the rebellion against the Empire. The show takes place five years before the events of Rogue One.

The studio also presented a trailer for Tales of the Jedi, which offers six original shorts about Ahsoka and Dooku, and arrives Oct. 26.

Fans also got a glimpse, though not a trailer, showing Jude Law, who’s starring in Skeleton Crew, a story about a group of younglings lost in space.

An exclusive clip from The Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania featured Kang holding Cassie Lang hostage and trying to force Scott to steal something for him. Also featured: Bill Murray!

Finally, 20th Century Studios has one major movie coming this year: Avatar: The Way Of Water, James Cameron’s long-awaited sequel. D23 attendees will probably see a new trailer or clips from the movie ahead of its Dec. 16 release.

Sunday, Sept. 11

The highlight of the show’s final day will be the theme park-centric A Boundless Future: Disney Parks, Experiences and Products presentation (10:30 a.m to noon PT). This will reveal plans for US parks like California’s Disneyland and Florida’s Disney World, along with international locations Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and Tokyo Disney Resort.

We could get details about changes coming to Epcot. This panel will be livestreamed.

How to watch

A selection of panels will be livestreamed, giving you eight hours to watch from home each day. Between panels, hosts like Ashley Eckstein (who played Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the upcoming Tales of the Jedi) will interview stars, reveal merchandise and tour the show floor.

We’ve embedded the livestreams for Friday, Saturday and Sunday above, so you can watch the whole lot right here.