Check this page frequently to get our thoughts and observations as we cover Star Wars Celebration in Chicago!
Thursday, April 11
- Mark Hamill has confirmed he will not be at Celebration.
- EA has announced Star Wars Pinball for the Nintendo Switch.
Disney Conference Call
- Disney+ is launching in October and will cost $69 annually
- The Mandalorian will be a launch title and have eight episodes
- TCW Seasons 1-6, Rebels, the first six films, TFA and Rogue One will be available at launch.
- TLJ, IX and Solo will come later during the year.
- TCW S7 will also come at a later date.
- Cassian will also have eight episodes initially.
- Alan Tudyk will be returning to play K2 (AWESOME! – robotical712)
Friday, April 12
Episode IX 11am – 12pm (Streaming)
- Surprise host is Stephen Colbert!
- Teams back together an goes on an adventure at the start of the film!
- Threepio fights back!
- Anthony Daniels is releasing his memoir.
- Lando!
- The whole ST cast (except Adam)!
- Naomi is playing Jannah.
- Phasma is dead.
- The Skywalker saber lives!
- Rey and Rose meet!
Wow, what a teaser! It left me in a state of shock and bliss for a while afterwards. The Rise of Skywalker, wonder who that could possibly be referencing? -robotical712
I went outside and ran laps around my office after watching this. That just about sums it up. -sprinx
I was an optimist before today’s reveal, but this title and trailer exceeded my expectations! I’m thrilled!-conn8d
Vader Immortal 1:30-2:30pm (Streaming)
Lucasfilm Publishing Panel 4:45 – 5:45pm
Justina Ireland (Lando’s Luck) involved in a secret book project
Other
- Bob Iger confirms a film hiatus for the films after Episode IX.
- Kathleen Kennedy on TRoS and the next ten years.
Saturday, April 13
Galaxy’s Edge 11 – 12:30pm
Cola Cola products are canon now?
Coming soon to a galaxy near you: specially designed @CocaColaCo bottles will be available exclusively at @StarWars: #GalaxysEdge beginning May 31 @Disneyland and August 29 @WaltDisneyWorld! https://t.co/tGGrNbpnCg pic.twitter.com/PARP1JYyl2
— Star Wars (@starwars) April 13, 2019
Rebels Remembered 12:45 – 1:45pm
Del Rey Books – Behind the Scenes 12:45 – 1:45pm
Fallen Order 1:30 – 2:30pm (Streaming)
Marvel Comics 2:30 – 3:30pm
Grek Pak and Phil Noto taking over the core monthly comic series. New series ties into the Journey to The Rise of Skywalker series, Star Wars: Age of Resistance will start in July and contain:
- Age of Resistance: Finn
- Age of Resistance: Rey
- Age of Resistance: Poe
- Age of Resistance: Hux
- Age of Resistance: Captain Phasma
Sunday, April 14
The Mandalorian 11 – 12pm
- Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni open up with story about first meeting, and exchanging first cuts of Iron Man and The Clone Wars at the Ranch
Setting explores post-RotJ, and fall of the Empire. What types of characters would survive, flourish in the chaos before the New Republic is established? Scum and Villainy, inspired by the original Cantina scene and its characters, smugglers, scoundrels, playing up this underworld of SW.
Imagery that inspired George, westerns, samuri’s. This transition of when the “Age of the Warrior” was starting to die out and move into a more modern conflict.
Sounds like a lot of inspiration and perhaps even porting over some of EU/Legends material into the Mandalorian.
Pedro- [paraphrasing] The Mandalorian is a mysterious, lone gun fighter, with questionable moral character. Which is in line with some of our best-westerns, and “he’s a bad ass!” Favreau and Filoni have created an incredible, iconic character, that I GET TO PLAY *laughing*
Gina Carano – plays a character names, Kara Dune (sp?); MMA background “I guess I’m an actress now” Dune is an ex-shock trooper. Performed many of her own stunts – Favreau recalls a specific instance of her falling off a high ledge, also tells about a scene where she picks up and carrying a wounded soldier off of the battle field etc. Gina jokes that they had to do that cut so many times, and she was glad that she’d been doing her squats, ha!
Carl Weathers – plays the head of a bounty hunter guild, mentions that there are nefarious sides to everyone. He has a job, and is looking for someone to go after a specific product that he needs to deliver to a high-profile client – enter the Mandalorian.
Exclusive footage not shown to live-stream 😦
OT Fans are going to be pleased, sounds like a lot of call-backs will be in this one (characters and easter eggs)
Fav- brining in vestiges of the Empire, needed extra Storm Troopers for one scene, but didn’t have enough troopers. Made a quick call one Thurs. afternoon to 501st; men and women of the 501st showed up and got to film several scenes; used them as a test-audience of sorts, rolling out different props and seeing which ones they got excited about, ha. Filoni mentions that now all their armor is “$creen-u$ed.”
Fav- first time filming SW in LA and US, using game engine tech, but blending with the feel of hand made, practical effects, so lots of animatronics and puppetry.
Razor Crest (sp?) is the Mandalorian’s new ship!
Fav- let’s do a shot with a miniature, ILM senior staff got super excited, huge star wars fans. Favreau hand-built, in his personal garage, motion-control components to shoot ILM ship models just like George and co. did in the OT!
The Clone Wars Sneak Peek 3:30 – 4:30pm
Monday, April 15
Resistance Season 2 Sneak Peek 1:30 – 2:30pm
- The first episode of Season 2 was shown at the panel, but not streamed.
IDW Panel
A second Tales from Vader’s Castle miniseries is coming in October.
Interviews
Fast Company’s Interview with JJ Abrams
Some notable points in this interview: JJ Abrams pretty much confirms TLJ didn’t followup on a number of threads that were setup in TFA and he fully intends to address them in IX. There also seems to be an undercurrent of frustration with how LFL has handled the ST. At the same time, he seems genuinely happy with how the movie has turned out and believes it will be able to tie up a lot of the dangling threads left from TFA. -robotical712 4/9/19
Interview with Erin Kellyman (Enfys Nest) appears to let slip that, “…obviously, [Solo] is the first movie in like, the series.” Is she aware of future plans/development not officially announced regarding a series of Solo movies? Listen in at the 3:48 mark here: -HanSpinel 4/13/19
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