New “micro-short” series Forces of Destiny to highlight the women of Star Wars

Announced overnight, just ahead of the official opening of Celebration Orlando, is Forces of Destiny, a new series of animated shorts highlighting Rey, Jyn Erso, Sabine Wren, Leia Organa, Ahsoka Tano and more.


The series will launch in July on the Disney Youtube, with additional shorts debuting on the Disney Channel in the fall. Daisy Ridley, Felicity Jones, Tiya Sircar, Ashley Eckstein and Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata) are among those returning to voice their characters.

The series will also have book and action figure tie-ins. We’ll learn more later Friday at the “Heroines of Star Wars” panel here in Orlando.

No Oscars for Rogue One

Rogue One didn’t take home either of the two Oscars it was nominated for last night. Hacksaw Ridge took sound mixing, while The Jungle Book won VFX. (Having Felicity Jones and Riz Ahmed present it was a bit weird when a win wasn’t really expected, but hey, that’s Hollywood.) Alas. Unlike last year’s Ex Machina upset, this was far from a surprise – and the ceremony had even bigger shocks later on with a Best Picture mixup.

Kenny Baker and Carrie Fisher were both part of the In Memoriam segment. Mom Debbie Reynolds and Carrie closed it out, with the “May the Force be with you” clip from The Force Awakens.

Alum Natalie Portman – who didn’t attend due to her pregnancy – lost out Best Actress to La La Land’s Emma Stone.

Better luck next year, Star WarsJ.J. Abrams is already campaigning for Mark Hamill in The Last Jedi. Is his guilt is getting to him?

Today in Rogue One: Behind the red carpet, weapons, and fashion

The Star Wars Show goes behind the scenes at the Rogue One red carpet and takes a look at the film’s weapons.


→ Entertainment Weekly has a roundup of the major publication reviews. They’re a little more mixed than seems the standard, but there are honestly so many reviews out there that I lost track. (Lots of “best Star Wars since Empire!” Again. A new yearly tradition?)

→ Speaking of traditions, Lining Up is still at it (and sold out,) though only for 48 hours this time.

→ Ben Mendelsohn is all about the cape. The real world fashion is all over the blogs: Although they think she started strong, Tom and Lorenzo are increasing disappointed in Felicity Jone’s dresses. (And the men get dinged for showing up in jeans while she’s in full formalwear, which is pretty par for the course.) The Fug Girls cast a wider, but less critical, net. No one likes the lavender.

→ FYI, I know the film was shown in some international markets today, and I’ll have a discussion post up on the site tomorrow, just ahead of the first U.S. showings at 7 p.m. EDT.

Today in Rogue One: (Almost) everyone’s on The Star Wars Show


ro-teaser1-stardestroyerThe cast was on The Star Wars Show! And here’s even more interviews: Gareth Edwards on how they filmed the X-wing battle. John Knoll is also talking space battles and the full-size X-wings and the (not so full-sized) Star Destroyer models. Ben Mendelsohn on where Krennic ranks on the Star Wars villain scale and addresses his relationship with Tarkin. And finally, Mads Mikkelsen on fighting Darth Vader.

→ Entertainment Weekly’s Anthony Breznican on the origins of K-2SO. Speaking of the Brez, check out his interview on the latest Steele Wars, a must-listen for anyone curious about Star Wars journalism.

→ The film has a release date in China: January 6, 2017.

→ More takes on the Rogue One press event from /Film and Fangirl Blog.

→ Shockingly, Reddit Neo-Nazis are pissed about Rogue One. More seats for us, dude.

Today in Rogue One: The first 28 minutes, new clips

ro-teaser1-jgn-lights1

Some journalists got a look at the first 28 minutes of Rogue One last night, and USA Today’s Brian Truitt is surprisingly forthcoming about what he saw. The veil of secrecy is so thin this time! (Yes, that’s a spoiler warning.) Underworld rounds up some more reactions.

→ A good portion of the Rogue One cast – Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, Alan Tudyk, Ben Mendelsohn, and Mads Mikkelsen, plus director Gareth Edwards – will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live on December 9. Some of The Force Awakens cast did a similar appearance last year, so expect it to go something like this.

→ Even more clips! There’s a new TV spot, a Jyn featurette and a scene at the Yavin base featuring a familiar face.

Cast, director Gareth Edwards talk Rogue One live on Twitter, Facebook

ro-twitterlive

The live Rogue One event on Twitter turned out to be, basically, a live press conference at Lucasfilm. In attendance were director Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Riz Ahmed, and Alan Tudyk.

Here’s the chat:


The new scene:


And the Lucasfilm tour, which was quite honestly the highlight of the whole thing:


They also did a Facebook chat yesterday. The highlight? Gareth Edwards stole the Death Star plans.