A lot of people have asked me what exactly we do at Star Wars Celebration, so here’s a spreadsheet of all of (well, most of) the things that were happening today:
Today was day one, and it always proves to be action-packed and an emotional roller coaster, so I put on my newest floofy Star Wars skirt and pretty rebel sweater and followed the crowd down the road to the convention center bright and early, surrounded by nerds who unapologetically spoke my language.
The convention always kicks off with the Lucasfilm Showcase, an hour-and-a-half panel that gives sneak peeks of everything coming up in Star Wars, including stuff that could be YEARS ahead. There’s really no knowing what to expect; we have some ideas what the next couple seasons of television might be, but it’s anyone’s guess what else they might reveal, or who might show up. Last year in Anaheim, the panel opened with a live choir singing ‘Duel of the Fates’, and ended with a live orchestra conducted by John Williams himself.
On my way into the panel, I was given a mysterious silver wristband. Last year, we similarly got a shiny wristband on our way in, and it turned out that anyone who made it into the panel that day (and subsequently got a wristband) was invited back that night to a red carpet premiere of the new Obi Wan series. What would the wristband mean this year? There was nothing premiering that I was aware of, though we are in the middle of a season of The Mandalorian…
Anyway, DJ Elliott always does a fantastic job hyping up the crowd while we wait for things to start. But Finally, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy kicked off the panel, and of course, the first thing we talked about what Andor.
Even B2EMO was there.
Andor season two will be out next year, so they didn’t have much new stuff to show us, but Diego Luna is adorable when he talks about his part in Star Wars.
The next bombshell they dropped on us was something I’d heard little about except the title, and it’s now quite possibly the thing I’m most excited about: The Acolyte.
Director Leslye Headland was escorted onstage by a JEDI WOOKIEE.
We got to meet the cast, which includes Amandla Stenberg (of The Hunger Games) who is so hyped to be in Star Wars that she wore her Padme cosplay to the panel. Also starring Lee Jung-jae of Squid Game, who plays a Jedi Master. Speaking through an interpreter, he described holding a lightsaber for the first time and told us ‘I’m still shaking from it.’ Joonas Suotamo, Peter Mayhew’s protégé who took over as Chewbacca in the sequel trilogy, will play the freaking wookiee Jedi, and I’m super hyped that they’re finding reasons to keep him in the Star Wars universe because he’s freaking delightful.
Set during the High Republic, the era of Star Wars before the prequels, The Acolyte will be, as the panelists pointed out, the furthest back in time we’ve ever seen onscreen in the Star Wars universe. (For now.) Since it’s a time of peace, Headland described the ‘war’ in this Star War as being more personal: master and student, parent and child, sibling and sibling. She is drawing heavily on George Lucas’s original influences for the Star Wars films: the Hero’s Journey of mythology, and classic samurai films.
They’re still filming, but there are enough finished episodes that the director could put together a short super-cut reel that was awe-inspiring, with glimpses of the Jedi at their height and some crazy Jedi fight sequences. I can’t wait until we get to see this!
Next up: The Mandalorian.
Directors Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Rick Famuyiwa are such unapologetic, excited nerds, and I love it. They spent a lot of their time talking about how amazing Dave Filoni is as a storyteller, and hey, they’re right.
They brought the cast out, and they didn’t want to say too much that would spoil anything, but the armorer was excited to finally get to do some scenes with Bo Katan.
And we finally found out what the wristbands were for: we all got to come back tonight for an advance screening of next week’s episode, the penultimate one of the season!
Okay: Skeleton Crew. I lied. THIS is the thing I’m most excited about.
It’s ‘Goonies meets Star Wars’, and Kathleen Kennedy (who was at Amblin Entertainment when ET and the Goonies were made!) says it gives her serious Goonies vibes, so it must be pretty epic.
Jude Law joins the Star Wars Universe!
They brought out some of the child stars, and they’re all absolutely adorable little ragamuffins who are so completely stoked to be in Star Wars. They are all giant Star Wars fans themselves, because, as they told us, their dads were all giant Star Wars fans, and they were raised right.
The wildest thing, to me, about the footage they showed us is…can you imagine regular, middle-class suburban life in the Star Wars Universe? Normally, they’d have no reason to show us that. Stories about the war between good versus evil aren’t usually set in suburbia. THIS is exactly the type of story that gets to give us a glimpse of that completely average galactic family, removed from war and possessing no powers. It was super surreal to glimpse of the average galactic family’s living room. Like, it was distinctly Star Wars, and yet somehow it was EXACTLY what you would expect to see in an 80s movie about kids having epic adventures on their bikes. It gave me feels.
By now, it was 12:25. The panel was supposed to end in five minutes. But they couldn’t end things without giving us Ahsoka!
This comes out in August, so we won’t have to wait long. Rosario Dawson, you can tell, really gets this character.
We got to see our first glimpse of Sabine at last year’s celebration, but it was nice to get more than a glimpse.
And we FINALLY get a look at live-action Hera!
EVERYONE wants to know about Ezra, but Dave Filoni plays it irritatingly coy, and we move on:
Pinewood Studios in London has officially been Star Wars’s base of operations and primary filming location for ten years! Since we’re so close, their chief creature creator got to bring a selection of his favorite galactic critters for us to see up close and in person.
When the set piece moved out, we thought they were all mannequins, until a few broke away and began walking around!
By now, the panel should have been well over, but they kept “and that’s not all!”-ing us. Kathleen Kennedy told us that they’re nowhere near done with Star Wars: they now have projects spanning the whole galactic timeline.
But they’re also EXPANDING THE TIMELINE—with three new FILMS, covering the past, present, and future of galactic history.
James Mangold will be directing a film that covers the founding of the Jedi—25,000 years before the Star Wars setting we know.
Dave Filoni FINALLY gets to make a movie, set in the present: one that will tie together threads from many, if not all, of Lucasfilm’s varied recent projects.
And Charlene (something, I didn’t catch it and I can’t google it because I don’t know what else she’s done) will be making a film about the New Jedi Order, set after the First Order’s destruction.
Which begs the question: who will be leading the Jedi in that time?
And we immediately got our answer:
While we all settled down from shrieking with delight, the directors left the stage, except for James Mangold, who happens to be involved in another Lucasfilm venture just at present: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Mads Mikkelsen and Phoebe Waller Bridge came out to tell us a little about it, and I have really high hopes for it.
Then we were treated to SIX MINUTES cut from the middle of the film—a chase sequence that was hands-down the best chase sequence I’ve seen in any recent movie, and its tone is spot-on for Indiana Jones.
And on that very high note, the panel finally ended, more than 40 minutes after it was supposed to (not that I’m complaining). At that point, I felt like I needed a nap. After grabbing lunch and recentering myself a bit, I decided to forego the rest of the panels I had planned to attend and walk around the show floor a little bit. It never really feels like Celebration until I get to do that. (Plus, since the first panel went so far over time, I’d missed a couple of the ones I wanted to see anyway).
After window-shopping at the Hasbro, Lego, and Funko booths, checking out some prop replicas and some designer Star Wars fashion, I found the Asmodee booth, one of my favorite spots on the convention floor because they let you play their board games.
I got to try a brand new Star Wars deck building game. I love deck building games, and this one had a lot of mechanics I was familiar with, with the added challenge that in this two-person game one player is the rebellion and one is the Empire. The card pool you can buy from contains cards that are neutral and others that are specific to each faction and cannot be purchased by the other. Your objective is to destroy all the enemy’s bases. You can purchase capital ships from the card pool, which function a bit like the constructs in Ascension with the added bonus of protecting your base from immediate harm. It required some interesting new strategies. The game’s creator was hanging around giving tips as we played our demo round. I bought a copy and asked him to sign it.
Yesterday, while waiting in the insanely long line to purchase souvenirs, I’d bonded with Frank, one of the artists featured in this year’s artist alley, and Keith, his partner. So the last stop I made before heading back to the Celebration stage was to their booth! Genuinely some of the nicest, coolest dudes I’ve ever met at Celebration, and LOOK HOW PRETTY FRANK’S ART IS. Frank Sansone. Go check out his stuff.
https://www.franksansoneart.com/
Finally, it was time for The Mandalorian.
I promised Jon Favreau I wouldn’t spoil anything for you guys, but next week’s episode? You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. It’s better than Empire Strikes Back. (I’m exaggerating, but only slightly.)
Last but not least, back to the hotel for a nightcap.
Laura Writes 