Disney will have us going back to ‘Star Wars’ future

Above : Ewan McGregor is set to star again as the Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi in a coming “Star Wars” series. (Photo: Disney Studios)

One of the things I do late at night, besides reading chapters of some book or another, is to check out what’s on YouTube.

(Quick digression: I just finished reading Philip Kerr’s “Berlin Trilogy” and am now a hundred pages into M.R. Carey’s dystopic novel “The Girl With All the Gifts.”)

As for YouTube, I’ve gotten to be a big fan of a couple of comedy series. One is anything by the Irish sketch-comedy trio Foil Arms & Hog . The other is the New Zealand troupe Viva La Dirt League that shapes much of its skit material around online gaming.

One of the funniest series of VLDL’s bits revolves around “Star Wars” movies , namely the debate between two of the Kiwi comics over what is the best installment of the three main trilogies.

Trigger warning : Though delivered in delightful New Zealand accents, the clip contains a fair amount of profane language .

Both comics say “the first one.” But then they figure out they don’t actually agree on which film the first one actually is. And mayhem is the result.

Anyway, it’s clear that even all these years later – some 43, if my math is correct (never a sure thing) – the “Star Wars” universe is still alive and well. Thriving, in fact.

And for that we can thank, if that’s the right sentiment, the Disney empire. According to IMDB.com, Disney is working hard at producing “an expanding ‘Star Wars’ galaxy,” amounting to a dozen new movies or shows.

You can see the complete list by clicking here. Note, though, that some of what the narrations tells us is pure speculation regarding what some of the new offerings may boast both in characterization and plot.

Also, we may have to wait until at least 2023 to see some of them.

Let’s just hope the world will have evolved back into something close to normal by then.

Which will happen – if it turns out that the Force indeed is with us.