Del Rey’s 40th Anniversary offering is a new anthology

Del Rey will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of A New Hope with From a Certain Point of View, a new anthology that will feature 40 stories from the viewpoints of the movie’s minor characters.

Coming in October in an oversized hardcover, the anthology will feature more than 40 authors, including both established Star Wars writers (Chuck Wendig, John Jackson Miller, Gary Whitta) and those new to the franchise (Meg Cabot, Ken Liu, Nnedi Okorafor.) All the authors are donating their proceeds to the charity First Book.

The book will be out in October and is available for preorder now.

More on how Rogue One’s Lyra Erso didn’t end up being a Jedi

We learned in The Art of Rogue One that Jyn’s mother was a Jedi in early drafts of the film, but Gareth Edwards and Gary Whitta go into much more detail with Entertainment Weekly on why they choose otherwise. Galen was always the scientist in the pairing, and Chirrut Imwe was developed to bring in the Force side of things instead.

Still, given Star Wars‘ surplus of daddy issues, it would have been a nice change if they’d decided to make Lyra the scientist instead…

The catchup: Rogue One commercials, why the movie’s message matters

ro-trailer2

First off, there are two new Rogue One commercials out this week:



Anyone seen them in the wild yet?

→ CBR’s Brett White on why, after the presidental election. Rogue One matters more than ever. The film’s screenwriters Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz are also showing solidarity for those fearful of a Trump presidency.

→ Over at Entertainment Weekly, there’s a new excerpt from Catalyst featuring Galen and Jyn Erso. Meanwhile, Jennifer Heddle has 6 reasons the novel is essential.

→ Interviews with Riz Ahmed and Gareth Edwards.

Gary Whitta is writing an episode of Rebels

@garywhitta: Writing an episode of @StarWars Rebels while my daughter sits in my office in Rebels pajamas, watching Rebels. #StarWarsRebels

Screenwriter Gary Whitta tweeted today that he’s writing an episode of Rebels. As Whitta was the first writer on Rogue One – and in fact came up with the title – this has naturally launched some speculation that the episode may tie into the film, which is due out December 2016. Both the show and the movie predate A New Hope and involve the Rebellion, so connections are by no means out of the question.

If Rebels continues to air the bulk of their seasons beginning in the fall, 2016 would mean season 3, which is as far as the show has been renewed for at the moment.

But that really is all speculation – all we really know is that he’s writing an episode, nothing more.

Chris Weitz, Gary Whitta on the mysterious Star Wars spinoff

/Film talked to Chris Weitz, the new screenwriter for Spin-off #1. We don’t learn much (will this mystery box ever open?) but he does more or less confirm that Garry Whitta’s draft is still in play. When asked to compare it to Cinderella:

I think in this case I’m not working from a whole cloth, right? So there’s a very strong structure from Gary’s work and that’s a huge advantage to me. But just like with Cinderella, it’s a director’s medium so it’s really about my making what Gareth needs to do his film.

They also talked to Whitta a few weeks ago, something that got lost in the shuffle over here.