We were excited when Disney filed a patent for a realistic, automatically retracting lightsaber replica in 2021, and even more when a teaser video was dropped promising that they would be made available at the (ill-fated) Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel. Nothing ever materialized, but a new hope has arrived in the form of a comment made by the replica’s lead inventor, Lanny Smoot. Smoot is a storied engineer, inventor, and Disney Imagineer who most recently made headlines by being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in conjunction with the unveiling of his HoloTile Floor.
When asked about the possibility of a wide release of the light saber replica at this year’s Disney D23 Fan Expo, Smoot replied by saying:
“I think the company would like to do that. And I think Josh D’Amaro, our number two guy, our head of Disney Parks, said it at a public — I hope — meeting of toy vendors to say, hey, we’d like you to take what we have learned in terms of making a lightsaber, and translate that to something that would be maybe a little bit more accessible to the average person. So yeah, I think it’s going to come.”
To make things even more unclear, Smoot, via a spokesperson, issued the following statement to The Verge: “I’m not aware of anything in the works but hope to see it come to fruition in the future.”
Since Disney’s original announcement, third party knockoffs have hit the market sporting a similar design, but skirting the Star Wars brand just enough. It may be that Disney is considering a wide release to drive off the imposters, but this is all speculation for now. We’ll be sure to keep you updated with any further developments related to the Jedi’s trusted weapon.
