Category: conventions and events

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Celebration Chicago: Guest list gets even longer with Mayhew, Eckstein

Since we last checked in with Celebration Chicago, they’ve added even more guests, including OG Chewbacca Peter Mayhew, The Clone Wars/Rebels and Her Universe head Ashley Eckstein, and lots and lots of others. From the films, there’s Temuera Morrison, Daniel Logan, Ken Leung, John Ratzenberger and Katy Kartwheel. Animation guests Donald Faison, Jason Isaacs, Vanessa Marshall, Myrna Velasco, Tom Kane, Catherine Taber and Dee Bradley Baker.

→ We’ve also got the full list for the Podcast Stage, which seems longer this year. Did any of your faves make it?

→ Some tips from Jennifer Landa on perfecting your costume for the con.

→ And on that note, tickets for the big fan club party (The 501st, Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs, the Dark Empire, Droid Builders, Saber Guild and Galactic Academy are all involved) are now on sale to the public at SWBash.com.

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Who needs a theme park? Galaxy’s Edge has a full-fledged publishing program

Yes, there’s even more Galaxy’s Edge content coming, because we live in a world where even tie-in theme parks have fiction tie-ins, and I give up. This is how we live now.

In addition to the already-announced comic, there’s Black Spire from Del Rey, a sequel-trilogy era novel by Phasma author Delilah S. Dawson.

In this novel, a prequel to the Disney Parks experience, General Leia Organa dispatches her top spy to Batuu in a desperate search for Resistance allies.

Some are theorizing that said spy could be Phasma’s Vi Moradi, and Dawson did retweet this, so perhaps…

(She’s also working on a storybook called The Skywalker Saga with artist Brian Rood. And she did a thread on writing for brands like Star Wars.)

Back to Galaxy’s Edge, there’s also A Crash of Fate, a young adult novel by Zoraida Córdova, and middle reader Star Wars: Myths & Fables by George Mann with illustrations by Grant Griffin. That one only features two Batuu stories, and there’s an excerpt of the Tatooine-set story “The Knight & the Dragon” at the link.

Anther comic (this time from IDW) and a cookbook are also in the works. A Crash of Fate and Myths & Fables drop August 6, while Black Spire is out September 3.

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Joonas Suotamo, Sam Witwer, Greg Grunberg and more join the Celebration guest list

The second round of guests for Star Wars Celebration Chicago includes Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca 2.0), Sam Witwer (the voice of Darth Maul since The Clone Wars) and Greg Grunberg (Snap Wexley in The Force Awakens).

They’re joined by Greg Proops (voice of TPM’s Fode, Resistance’s Jak Sivrak and Garma), puppeteer Dave Chapman, Paul Kasey (Admiral Raddus in Rogue One, Ello Asty in TFA), Orli Shoshan (Shaak Ti) and Ian McElhinney (General Dodonna in Rogue One).

They’ve also revealed the event’s poster, which is a bit… Crowded. Check it out under the cut.

Continue reading “Joonas Suotamo, Sam Witwer, Greg Grunberg and more join the Celebration guest list”
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Even more Batuu coming in Galaxy’s Edge comic

Galaxy’s Edge isn’t even open yet and I’m starting to get a little Batuu fatigue. The latest entry in pimping the upcoming Star Wars theme parks at Disneyland and Disney World is a Marvel comic series. Galaxy’s Edge will be a five-issue minseries written by Ethan Sacks with art from Will Sliney and covers by Walt Disney Imagineering and Lucasfilm artists. The Ithorian is Dok-Ondar, a “collector of rare antiquities,” was designed by Karl Lindberg and Iain McCaig.

The series launches in April, while the first of the parks to open will be Disneyland’s, in June.

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Star Wars voice actors coming to Celebration

And the first wave of Celebration guest announcements brings us a variety of voice actors: From Resistance, Christopher Sean, Suzie McGrath, and Scott Lawrence, who voice Kazuda Xiono, Tam Ryvora and Jarek Yeager. From The Clone Wars, there’s longtime Celebration vetern James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi). There’s also Battlefront II’s Janina Gavankar and Skywalker Sound’s Matthew Wood, who voiced General Grievous.

Star Wars Celebration Chicago is being held April 11-15.

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Disney hypes up Galaxy’s Edge

Sure enough, Disney shared a new look at Galaxy’s Edge on Tuesday. There’s not a whole lot here those who’ve been paying attention don’t already know, but I doubt we were the intended audience. Anyway, there are some new visuals here, so let the hype continue!

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More authors join Celebration Chicago lineup

The author lineup for Celebration Chicago is growing, adding E.K. Johnston, Justina Ireland and Zoraida Córdova. They join an already impressive list which includes Timothy Zahn, Delilah Dawson, and Claudia Gray.

Gray and Johnston both have new Star Wars books coming out in the spring: Johnston’s Padme YA novel Queen’s Shadow is out March 5, while Gray’s Master and Apprentice is due April 16, just after the con, so we can likely expect a convention exclusive version.

Celebration Chicago is being held April 11-15, 2019 at McCormick Place.