From screen-used props to a sweeping John Williams soundtrack, go behind the scenes of the exciting new changes coming to Batuu.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland has always been a treasure trove for eagle-eyed Star Wars fans. Seemingly every corner of Batuu is packed with hidden details waiting to be discovered, from scorched blaster marks on the walls of Oga’s Cantina to rare objects tucked in the rafters of Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities.
Now, visitors to Batuu will have even more to explore. Beginning April 29, 2026, Galaxy’s Edge is expanding its timeline to introduce elements from the original Star Wars film trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi). As a result, there are a number of exciting new updates coming to Black Spire Outpost — including hidden Easter eggs, transformed shops, and even a John Williams soundtrack.
When Batuu first opened to guests in 2019, the original experience was set during the era of the Resistance and the First Order, sometime between Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Now, visitors encounter an expanded timeline that includes the events of the original trilogy and the upcoming film The Mandalorian and Grogu, which meant that many of Batuu’s shops and locations needed an update to fit the new timeline.
To maintain accuracy, Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Live Entertainment worked closely with Lucasfilm to make sure every new detail felt era-appropriate — from the backstories of the shops to sightings of familiar faces like Darth Vader, Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker. The Imagineers even borrowed actual props used in recent Star Wars films and TV shows, which you may spot around Batuu.
“We’ve always strived for authenticity in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and there’s truly nothing more authentic than the actual screen-used version of a prop,” says Asa Kalama, vice president executive for creative and interactive experiences at Walt Disney Imagineering. “If you are a core Star Wars fan, so many of these items have additional meaning. It becomes a fun little surprise and delight moment of discovering, ‘Wait, that’s familiar. Where do I recognize that from?’”
As for exactly which props will be on display, Kalama is remaining tight-lipped, inviting fans to discover the secrets for themselves. But he does offer one tease: “There are a couple of really lovely pieces from Andor.”
Novel and Unique Items
Some of the biggest changes are coming to the shop formerly known as First Order Cargo, reimagined under the new name Black Spire Surplus. Every shop and proprietor in Galaxy’s Edge has a rich backstory, and this new military supply shop is no exception. Located near the TIE Echelon, Black Spire Surplus is run by two ex-clone troopers, who fought side by side in the Clone Wars before finding themselves on opposite sides of the Galactic Civil War. One fought for the Rebellion and the other served the Empire as a stormtrooper, but the two ultimately decided to retire together and open Black Spire Surplus as friends and colleagues.
“It’s really fun to look at the before and after photographs,” Kalama says of the new space. “We’ve gone from the very orderly, clean sterility of the First Order to something that feels really weathered and lived-in. We had a lot of fun talking about tangled cable swags and how we can introduce chipped paint to the crates that adorn the shop.”
Visitors to Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities will also notice some exciting changes. The curiosity shop has always held a galaxy’s worth of rare objects, offering everything from kyber crystals to ancient Jedi artifacts, but guests should keep their eyes peeled for new objects decorating the walls and ceiling. For the new updates, the Imagineers drew particular inspiration from another iconic antiquities shop elsewhere in the galaxy: Luthen Rael’s exclusive Coruscant gallery from Andor.
“We tried to curate items that felt novel and unique,” Kalama explains. “Obviously, Dok-Ondar is less about commodities and things that you can get anywhere. It’s more about the highly rarefied.”
Droid Depot
Over at the Droid Depot, owned and operated by the Mubo family, visitors can still tinker and assemble their own custom astromech droids. But the droid parts strewn around the workshop may look a little different: During the time of the sequel trilogy, BB-series units like BB-8 are commonplace and available around the galaxy. But in the new timeline, BB units are still early prototypes, not quite the sleek, high-tech versions they will eventually become.
“You’ll see the finish and paint on those move from something that feels like it just came off the production line to something that feels like the Mubo family hand-created it,” Kalama says. “You’ll see mismatched panels. You’ll see the work in progress and the visual storytelling of those items, which is another fun little Easter egg to show the passage of time in a visual way.”
DJ-R3X
And what about everyone’s favorite galactic watering hole? Oga’s Cantina will remain largely the same, with DJ-R3X still spinning familiar bops. But visitors who are fluent in Aurebesh should take a close look at the job board posted inside the cantina door. “For those who are well-versed in the ability to translate or read Aurebesh, you may notice that some of those jobs have actually changed or been updated,” Kalama teases.
Sounds of Star Wars
One of the biggest changes coming to Galaxy’s Edge won’t be visual but audible. Kalama’s personal favorite update is the introduction of John Williams’ iconic film score, and visitors will soon be able to hear excerpts of familiar music as they wander through Batuu.
“Obviously, music has always been at the heart of what makes Star Wars feel like Star Wars,” Kalama explains. “It also has an outsized impact on our emotional perception of a physical space.”
He can’t wait for visitors to take their first steps into the new Galaxy’s Edge as Williams’ iconic “Force Theme” swirls around them. The goal is to make visitors feel like they’re truly walking into another galaxy — the same way they felt when they first watched the films or picked up a Star Wars book.
“The sense of emotion that we were trying to capture in Galaxy’s Edge when we started developing the land was the wish fulfillment of what it is to step into the world of Star Wars,” Kalama says. “For everyone, that means a slightly different thing depending on when you were first introduced to the universe — or the galaxy, as it were. We’re delivering for guests maybe not literally the Star Wars they saw on screen, but the Star Wars they remember in their mind.”
