The Force Awakens catchup: Puns are incoming, but news?

It's a parody!So soon after Celebration, we’re not expecting any reveals for May the 4th this year – maybe an official announcement of the poster that’s been spotted around? That Italian ‘star’ map that’s floating around is only a parody, so don’t put a huge amount of stock in it.

→ Missed in all the Celebration hubbub (well, I tweeted it) was this nice article from the BBC’s Lizo Mzimba, where Kathleen Kennedy talks about some of The Force Awaken’s casting choices. Kennedy and Daisy Ridley also made an appearance in Japan, but nothing particularly groundbreaking has come out of it. Lots of pictures, though.

→ Jedi News discovered some The Force Awakens merchandise. It’s all fairly tacky kid-oriented stuff, because of course that’s what’s going to leak first.

→ Star Wars Underworld points out a Ralph McQuarrie influenced detail from the Celebration Anaheim TFA exhibit.

→ Spoiler corner: Making Star Wars has a few bits on a scene late in the film and Han Solo’s emotional state.

Rebels returns to Disney XD on June 20

rebels-crew

Rebels will return with the one-hour ‘The Siege of Lothal’ on Saturday, June 20th, Lucasfilm has announced. That’s much sooner than expected, but Lucasfilm is saying that the rest of the show will be out in the fall. An odd choice, but nothing with Disney XD’s schedules ever seems clear-cut. Still, it’s nice that the S2 premiere will be out sooner rather than later.

In the more immediate future, Disney XD will be spending this weekend marathoning season 1 and their LEGO specials. A half-hour recap special, ‘Star Wars Rebels: The Ultimate Guide,’ will debut Monday at 8.

Does Bob Iger’s selfie give us our first look at Episode VII’s Chewbacca costume?

iger-chewie

We know Peter Mayhew is in, and that is a very good, dare I say, screen-ready Chewbacca… Though it was Alan Horn, not Bob Iger, that we know for sure would be in London around this time. But if this was a (new?) theme park Chewie, wouldn’t they have someone in it? And why would they post it on the official Star Wars Instagram instead of a Parks one? So yes, it’s not too much of a stretch to believe this is the Episode VII Chewbacca costume!

Noteworthy: StarWars.com’s Matt Martin says “The image was supplied to is without much context. No idea where/when it was taken.” And the official (well, verified) @StarWarsUK account says it is from Episode VII, but Matt says it was only speculation on their part. Curious.

May the 4th at the Disney Store

Okay, this is cute. I'm not made of stone.
Okay, this is cute. I’m not made of stone.
Yakface has details on May the 4th at the Disney Store, which is apparently why Disney brought bloggers out this week… They did get a nifty tour, though.

I’m not really seeing anything exciting in the new products, but that’s a) not my beat and b) there’s still a day left to the event. So hopefully there’s something more exciting waiting in the wings. (Or not, as the case may be. Oh well.)