Mario is going to space, and Nintendo could not have picked a better launchpad. During today’s Nintendo Direct, on September 12, 2025, Illumination and Nintendo finally lifted the curtain on their “Super Mario Bros. Movie” follow-up, and the title tells you everything: “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” For anyone who owned a Wii and lost entire weekends to gravity-bending planetoids, that name is a jolt of pure serotonin. The sequel to 2023’s billion-dollar smash is building itself on the back of what many fans consider the single best Mario game ever made. That is either the safest bet imaginable or an enormous amount to live up to. Probably both.
Let us talk about why “Galaxy” is such a shrewd choice, because it is not a random pull. The first movie was a joyous, breathless tour through the Mushroom Kingdom greatest hits — Bowser, Donkey Kong, Rainbow Road, the works. It made a fortune and delighted kids while gently winking at the adults who grew up with the games. But a sequel needs somewhere new to go, and “Super Mario Galaxy,” released for the Wii in 2007, is exactly that: a cosmic, melancholy, wondrous adventure across tiny worlds strung through the stars, built around a mysterious figure who could give this franchise its first real emotional depth on screen. Warning: beyond this point there are spoilers for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and its expanded cosmic cast.
For anyone who owned a Wii and lost entire weekends to gravity-bending planetoids, that name is a jolt of pure serotonin.”
That figure is Rosalina, and while the reveal kept its cards close, you cannot make a “Galaxy” movie without her. In the game she is the guardian of the cosmos with a quietly devastating backstory — a storybook tucked into the adventure that has made grown players tear up over a Nintendo platformer. If the film has any sense, and the first one showed plenty, Rosalina is the doorway to a sequel that is bigger and stranger and a touch more heartfelt than its predecessor. The Mushroom Kingdom was the warm-up. The galaxy is where you can actually break some hearts.
The voice cast is where the announcement really flexed. The core crew is all coming back: Mario (Chris Pratt), Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Luigi (Charlie Day), Bowser (Jack Black), and Toad (Keegan-Michael Key). Jack Black’s Bowser was, let us be honest, the runaway MVP of the first film — “Peaches” lived in everyone’s head rent-free for a year — so keeping him is non-negotiable. But the newcomers are what made jaws drop. Benny Safdie, Donald Glover, Glen Powell, and Brie Larson are all joining the cast, and that is a startlingly heavyweight group of names to fold into a Mario movie. Nintendo and Illumination are clearly not treating this as a cash-grab sequel. They are stacking the roster.
Naturally, the internet immediately started casting the roles itself. A “Galaxy” movie opens the door to Rosalina, to Lumas, to cosmic villains, and possibly to deeper corners of the Mario universe the first film did not have room for. We will resist the urge to state as fact who is playing whom, because the reveal wisely left some mystery on the table, but the sheer wattage of the additions suggests the film has real ambitions beyond another victory lap. When you bring in talent like this, you are planning to give them something to do.
Here is our one note of caution, and it is a gentle one. The first movie succeeded on charm, pace, and fan-service more than on story — it was a delight, but nobody walked out calling it deep. “Galaxy” hands the sequel a chance to add genuine emotional weight, but only if the filmmakers, returning directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, are willing to slow down and let the quiet moments breathe. Get that balance right and this could be the rare sequel that outshines the original. Play it too safe and it is just the Mushroom Kingdom tour with a starfield background. The source material is begging for the braver version.
The film is set to launch in April 2026, which gives Nintendo plenty of runway to tease, market, and inevitably plant another impossibly catchy song in the global consciousness. For those of us tracking the Illumination-Nintendo movie universe as its own growing timeline — the first film, its cameos, and now this cosmic expansion — “Galaxy” is the moment the series proves whether it has staying power or was a one-hit wonder riding nostalgia. The pieces are there: a beloved source, a stacked cast, and a setting built for wonder. Now Mario just has to stick the landing among the stars. If any plumber can, it is this one.
What Do You Think? Is “Super Mario Galaxy” the perfect foundation for a sequel that finally gives these movies real emotional depth, or is Nintendo leaning on its most beloved game to paper over the same thin storytelling? With heavy hitters like Donald Glover and Brie Larson joining, which cosmic character are you most hoping one of them is secretly voicing? And after the first film coasted on charm and catchy songs, do you want the sequel to swing for something more heartfelt, or is fun-first exactly what a Mario movie should always be?
See you on the next binge!
