We’ve gone round and round on possible Episode VII release dates, and here are we again. Despite Disney’s Alan Horn telling D23 attendees that the film is slated for”summer 2015,” Badass Digest is now claiming “Disney and Lucasfilm have December circled on their calendars.” Mid-December, to be precise, and via the ever-popular “multiple sources.”
A Star Wars movie not coming out in May? While it would give production more time, why not just push it back to May 2016? And what about the Celebration already scheduled for April 2015? Could you wait another year? As ever, I’m skeptical – but time will tell.
And the spectral hijinks continue, with Latino Review now claiming that “three close sources” say Obi-Wan Kenobi is also going to return as a (presumably aged-up) Force ghost, and that Ewan McGregor wants a solo standalone as well. We already know he’d be up for returning.
Both are plausible and an Obi-Wan film is a no-brainer… But none of these recentrumors seem like they’ll end up as much more than cameos, so let’s not put too much weight on them – even for rumors – just yet.
Latino Review is furthering the rumor from earlier this week about Ian McDiarmid’s return. They say the Emperor won’t be resurrected (sorry, Dark Empire fans) but will be appearing as a Force Ghost. And he had taken a new apprentice – who will presumably be film’s primary antagonist – before he was killed in Return of the Jedi.
What else do they say? ” Not one thing they have in the script is from a book,” (or a comic?) so count out the usual suspects… If you believe this, anyway.
There are a couple other rumors floating around today as well. One, from Episode 7 News echoes something we heard in May, that Abrams may have his hands in far more than just the actual movie. This one calls him “the creative core” of everything surrounding the new films. The other, from The Daily Superhero, says that the secrecy mandates “pretty much sounds to me like armed guards are near certain important people who are working on this movie, 24/7.”
The armed guard thing sounds like something we’ll be looking back and laughing at in 2015, but hey. Sure. Why not.
So the spate of summer cons where Lucasfilm might announce news related to Episode VII has come and gone, and we’ve gotten some announcements, but nothing mind-blowing. As Dunc said earlier this week, let’s not lose our heads over it. Is it frustrating that Celebration Europe’s big reveal was John Williams, and nothing much came from D23 Expo? Perhaps. Especially when compared to the glut of Marvel movie news that came out at Comic-Con and appearances made at D23. But as film franchises go, Marvel is not Star Wars. And Star Wars is not Marvel.
Steve Sansweet reveals the Revenge of the Sith title via t-shirt at SDCC ’04.
For those of us who remember the prequel era, perhaps the most puzzling part of fan speculation about Episode VII reveals has been the assumption that a title would be offered this early in the process. Mike Ryan at The Huffington Post has a nice look at Star Wars title announcements – and wonder no more why none of us veterans* are expecting to see a full title before mid-2014.
A few more pieces emerged yesterday about fan expectations in the wake of D23. Germain Lussier at Slashfilm points out in his (occasionally eye-roll worthy) piece on the backlash, part of the issue is that the landscape of movie announcements has changed drastically over the years. Most pointedly, Marvel is giving fans their titles, characters and other tidbits long before they begin filming. On the other hand, Scott Mendelson thinks that Marvel and others actually reveal far too much about their films before they’re out. And even Harrison Ford has spoken out on the trend, saying that if Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark came out today they “would be no fun at all.”
We’re in a holding period for Episode VII right now. We have some varied answers from folks at the top, but with the notoriously secretive J.J. Abrams at the helm we can probably safely predict they won’t be nearly as forthcoming as the Marvel folks. And maybe that’s a good thing. (Or are they just driving us on?) It’s a whole new landscape, and even Lucasfilm is still figuring it out. So again: patience.
For all intents and purposes, convention season is now over for Star Wars fans. At least, con season in the sense of expecting big announcements.
In all honesty, it’s a bit of a relief. There are no more obvious ‘deadlines.’ News could break at any time, and it probably will. But I fully expect that John Williams returning will remain the biggest officially sanctioned news of the summer… And let’s not forget the rumors will only get bigger from here – just look at the Ian McDiarmid one we got last night.
Is it frustrating that we didn’t get any further announcements at Celebration Europe and D23? Yes, of course. But as Bleeding Cool points out, they don’t owe us anything at this point. They’ll tell us something when they’re ready to tell us something, and not a moment before. As Pablo Hidalgo said in our comments yesterday:
There are no casting ‘secrets’. If someone hasn’t been signed, they haven’t been cast. That’s what triggers an announcement. That’s why everyone who has been announced has been announced when they were.
That’s why these things emerge as ‘rumors’ first – because Lucasfilm can’t say anything until the ink is dry. So the rumors aren’t going away, and yes, some of them will be complete bullshit because that’s the way the game is played. That’s our lot, if we’re going to be following the films this closely.
I know this is a fandom of mighty whiners, but can we please, please, please just learn already to be patient for official news and confirmations? We have years of this roller coaster ahead of us, and the hand-wringing act is already getting old. I pretty much guarantee you that the folks in charge know far more about making a film than any of us do; We don’t need to ‘worry’ about them under the guise of wanting things revealed.
It’s not wrong to want things; we all want official casting confirmations. We’ve all got carried away at one point or another. Everyone in geek media is starved for more: Actors simply saying that they’d like to be in Episode VII regularly make headlines; last night’s Ian McDiarmid rumor is making the rounds today. But we have to stop demanding. Lucasfilm and Disney owe us a movie sometime in 2015 and that’s about it. I assure you they want this thing made just as much as we want to see it, and when the time comes to promote it, they will do so. But it’s not quite that time yet, so: Patience.
It’s still early, after all, and I’m sure we’ll get yet another rumor – crazy or not – before the end of the month in any case.
Jedi News is reporting that Ian McDiarmid will be returning in Episode VII. Emperor Palpatine reborn? Undead? A relative? A Holocron? Or simply in a dream or vision? Naturally this is completely unconfirmed, but there are any number of possibilities…
But if I was betting? Holocron, ghost or vision. By a mile.
In any case, I’m keeping my eye on folks at D23 and learning far, far more than I really want or need to know about other Disney stuff. Fear not, if there is Star Wars news, we’ll post it. If not, we’ll deal. We always do.
According to the D23 schedule, Lucasfilm will be part of Disney’s live-action panel Saturday, August 10th. Here’s the description, straight from the site:
Let the Adventures Begin: Live Action at The Walt Disney Studios
Go behind the scenes at The Walt Disney Studios with this revealing look at our upcoming roster of live-action adventures from Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm. Fans will enjoy exclusive video clips, filmmaker discussions, and star appearances at this session hosted by Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn, Disney Live Action Production President Sean Bailey, and Marvel Studios President and Producer Kevin Feige. With Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Disney’s Maleficent, Saving Mr. Banks, Tomorrowland, and Muppets Most Wanted, coming down the pike, make sure to claim your spot for the total package—surprises included! Cell phones, cameras, and all recording devices will be checked for this presentation.
The panel is 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PDT (1:30-3:30 p.m. EDT.)
Of course, it could be nothing but the usual ‘Whoo, yay, Episode VII, here’s a bunch of stuff franchise devotees already know’ spiel. We’ve gotten ourselves all hyped up and resultingly undersold enough lately to know not to count on anything new, no matter what the rumor mill says… Right? (via)
We’ve gone round and round on possible Episode VII release dates, and here are we again. Despite Disney’s Alan Horn telling D23 attendees that the film is slated for”summer 2015,” Badass Digest is now claiming “Disney and Lucasfilm have December circled on their calendars.” Mid-December, to be precise, and via the ever-popular “multiple sources.”
And the spectral hijinks continue, with 
So the spate of summer cons where Lucasfilm might announce news related to Episode VII has come and gone, and we’ve gotten some announcements, but nothing mind-blowing. As Dunc said earlier this week, 
According to the