6 Urgent Questions We Have for Disney Ahead of D23

It’s that time again, when Disney and its thousands of devoted fans descend into Anaheim to partake in the biennial fan convention D23 this weekend. There, all arms of the Walt Disney Company — the multiple studios, television, parks, streaming, gaming, music, and more — simultaneously bask in the glow of nostalgia and take the time to tease their future. Barely a month after Comic-Con, Kevin Feige will be back onstage to treat Disney fans to news of Avengers: Doomsday and, if the rumors are true, X-Men. Meanwhile, new Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni will likely head up his own first D23 panel after taking the leadership reins from Kathleen Kennedy. This will also be the first time Josh D’Amaro, the former Parks Guy, takes the D23 stage as the head of Disney overall. How will he fare? Especially since previous CEO Bob Iger won’t be too far away; he’s being honored with the con’s Disney Legend award alongside the likes of Anne Hathaway, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Jerry Bruckheimer. With all that in mind, we have some questions.

Will we get a better idea of Disney+ and Hulu’s future?

Despite former CEO Iger announcing their two main streaming services would be officially integrated in 2026, Disney has been fairly bullish on how Hulu and Disney+ together would look. One app? A tab? Will Hulu go away completely? It seems as if the company is content with how the two work in tandem now, supplying each other with their titles and coaxing subscribers to buy into their multiple streaming-bundle deals. But will there be any additional announcements this weekend? In his first earnings call as CEO earlier this month, D’Amaro did speak on the possibility of introducing a free streaming offering of some kind. Maybe he will unveil a sneak peek at what that entails.

Is D’Amaro going to keep talking about AI?

After Sora shuttered, ending Iger and Disney’s investment in OpenAI, D’Amaro eagerly picked up the AI thread for his reign. During his said earnings call, D’Amaro shone a spotlight on all the company’s AI tools, but that messaging was aimed at shareholders, which has us wondering, Will he continue his positive AI spin in front of the legions of Disney fans, especially during a convention that has on the docket a handful of panels celebrating the company’s most beloved hand-drawn animated flicks? We’re curious what this crowd’s temperature on AI will be if D’Amaro decides to pitch the fans the way he pitches the shareholders.

Will Marvel finally announce the X-Men?

Marvel might have had a grand return to Comic-Con’s Hall H, but just a month later, rumors are running rampant about some even more exciting reveals at D23. That’s all thanks to the X-Men. We’ve known that Beef and Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier had been tasked with helming the MCU’s forthcoming X-Men movie. Our first bit of X-casting came from Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s introduction of (spoiler!) Sadie Sink as Jean Grey. Since then, reports have run that Samara Weaving was recently cast as Emma Frost, while Kit Connor is currently in talks to play Scott Summers. Obviously, Marvel has another movie out this year to focus on, Avengers: Doomsday, so that’ll be the main jewel in its portion of the company’s entertainment showcase on Friday evening. We’ll likely get more Robert Downey Jr., the Avengers cast, and the original Fox X-Men, but could they possibly pass the baton on to the new gen? More so, will we finally get a look at the MCU’s new Professor X and Magneto? Time will tell.

How will Lucasfilm fare?

This D23 is not only D’Amaro’s first global fan-facing appearance as CEO, it will also be Filoni’s and Lynwen Brennan’s first time addressing Star Wars fans as, respectively, the new chief creative officer–president and co-president of Lucasfilm after taking over from Kathleen Kennedy. Lucasfilm hasn’t had a terrific year with its first movie in theaters after 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian and Grogu, notched an all-time low for the franchise. But it does have a second season of Filoni’s Ahsoka to promote and, even splashier, a Ryan Gosling–starring Starfighter film out next May. We have little to no details on Starfighter other than a fantastic cast composed of Gosling, Amy Adams, Matt Smith, and Mia Goth, so maybe D23 will be the time to reveal something, anything else. Surely, there has to be some footage from Starfighter and Ahsoka, but aside from those two projects, we can’t be too sure how much of a swing Lucasfilm will take with this panel in terms of additional announcements since it has Star Wars Celebration in April 2027.

Do we think we’ll hear any Muppets news?

When it comes to the Muppets, Disney giveth and Disney taketh. Parks fans lost Muppet*Vision 3D but got a Muppets overlay in (the formerly Aerosmith) Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster. Meanwhile Rizzo the Rat and Bean Bunny rejoined the Muppets, the gang got a special with Sabrina Carpenter in February that received an incredible reception, and yet there hasn’t been word on whether they will order a full season or not. Looking at the D23 schedule, the only Muppets panel is … Seth MacFarlane promoting his Muppets cover album by discussing Muppets musical moments. Then there is the Miss Piggy movie that Jennifer Lawrence, Cole Escola, and Emma Stone have talked up this past year on various podcasts and in interviews, but will Disney actually let them run with it? The House of Mouse has yet to officially confirm the movie, and it feels too good to be true. But the Muppets — and the rest of us — could use a win.

Can we stop with the live-action movies?

My friends, no. Up next in the live-action from animation pipeline are Lilo & Stitch 2 and Tangled. But there does seem to be fewer of them in the works lately, especially after the muted box-office performances of Snow White and Moana. Will this give Disney a chance to focus more on its feature-animation studios, Disney Animation and Pixar? Hopefully, we should be getting a look at Hexed, Frozen 3, Gatto, and Incredibles 3. Two sequels, two originals, and no more live-actions, one can hope.