Percy Jackson, Star Wars + More: Here's Everything Disney Dropped at D23

(SPOT.ph) If there's a single word to describe the current era of Disney filmmaking that we're living in, it'd be "nostalgia." Whether through book adaptations, the revitalization of the Star Wars universe on the big screen, or the many live-action reimaginings of their beloved animations from the 20th century, Disney has undoubtedly got this content machine locked down for the next decade or so, and their presentations over the weekend's D23 Expo proves it.

While Marvel Studios took the stage over the D23 convention weekend to introduce brand new properties like the Werewolf by Night, the Thunderbolts team, and more, the buzz from the expo was ultimately carried by the revealed footage of the upcoming Percy Jackson series, the live-action Little Mermaid adaptation, and the long-awaited sequel to Enchanted. Of course, we round up the highlights below.

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Here are all the buzzy announcements from Disney's D23 2022 Expo:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Series)

The announcement making the biggest waves on the Internet: our first look at the Rick Riordan-produced Percy Jackson series is finally here and everything about it hits the right notes. From Walker Scobell's voice-over narration taken straight out of The Lightning Thief's first page to the orange T-shirts and Camp Half-Blood's design (and, hey, even a cameo appearance from Thalia!), this looks like the Percy Jackson that grew up in our minds throughout the 2000s. The demigods actually being kids this time may also even make us care for them more.

Also read: 10 Lesser-Known Disney+ Series That Are Giving Us Major FOMO

The Little Mermaid (Movie)

The seaweed is always greener, except perhaps when you're an upcoming live-action adaptation of a beloved Disney property that millions of people have a rock-solid attachment to. Then, it's an uphill battle of trying to win those people over. The first trailer for the upcoming, live-action Little Mermaid film makes its case with a stunning look at Ariel, portrayed by Halle Bailey (who seems to have gone to Beyoncé's "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" school of riffing), but that's only when you can see anything at all. The teaser is so dark and murky that we're starting to see Ariel's point about wanting to hit up the surface world.

Disenchanted (Movie)

Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, and Idina Menzel are finally back! We've been waiting for a true love's kiss in the form of an Enchanted sequel for what feels like decades, and now, we're only mere months away. Set 15 years after the original, Disenchanted delves into a story of a spell gone wrong and the fairy tale world colliding with the regular world like never before. Everything sounds great and all, but we better get a musical face-off between Adams and Maya Rudolph.

Hocus Pocus 2 (Movie)

Speaking of long-awaited sequels... the witches are back in 2 Hocus 2 Pocus—er, we mean Hocus Pocus 2—the follow-up to the 1993 horror-comedy classic from Disney. The sequel will see the return of Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the chaotic trio of Salem witches stirring up trouble on Halloween night. Dropping on Disney+ at the end of September, the film seems like it'll provide just the right amount of spooky vibes, as a Halloween movie for kids (or cowards).

A lot of Star Wars series

While we didn't get any new info on Taika Waititi's Star Wars movie, Lucasfilm did provide a hefty amount of announcements regarding their slate of Star Wars streaming series. The 12-episode Rogue One prequel series Andor will have a three-episode premiere on September 21st. Following that in October will be Tales of the Jedi, an animated series detailing the early days of both Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku. The first trailer for The Mandalorian's third season was also dropped, following status reports on the productions of the live-action Ahsoka series and Spider-Man director Jon Watt's Skeleton Crew series. As Anakin Skywalker once said, "this is where the fun begins."

High School Musical 4: The Reunion (Series)

An odd announcement that flew relatively below the radar over the weekend was the reveal that the fourth season of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series will revolve around the original cast of the film trilogy heading back to East High in order to film High School Musical 4, where the series' cast and characters are allowed the opportunity to be part of the shoot as extras. No word who among the original cast, including Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, and Ashley Tisdale, will be returning for this meta outing. However, considering Corbin Bleu has already appeared on the series and Efron recently posted a picture of him returning to East High, chances are likely for a reunion!

Wish (Movie)

To close out the round-up, we have the strangest announcement from the expo: an origin story about the wishing star from the Disney logo. Frozen directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck co-wrote the film's story, which asks the question, "how did the star so many Disney characters have looked at and wished upon come into existence?" It's perhaps not an exaggeration to say that no sane person has ever pondered that question, but the fact that the film is happening does have us endlessly curious. How many Disney characters will appear? Isn't the star inherently tied to the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio? Will we get a No Way Home team-up scenario with hot princes? One can dream (or wish)...

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