Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
Fantasy Flight Games, who currently hold the Star Wars roleplaying liscense, is releasing a special edition celebrating the 30th anniversary of the West End Games version. Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game began in 1987 and was a key foundation of the original Expanded Universe, some of which has been seamlessly brought over into the current canon.
The hardbound reprints of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game and The Star Wars Sourcebook feature a foreword from Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo.
George Lucas still occasionally – kind of – offers some minor input into Star Wars, Kathleen Kennedy tells Entertainment Weekly.
Continue reading “Kennedy: Lucas still offers an occasional Star Wars tidbit”
Today’s first Entertainment Weekly story tweaks Rey’s parentage, which may not be the bombshell some are hoping for. “You can always look for answers and that doesn’t mean that the rest of your life is so easy. It’s not like, oh, I know who my parents are so now everything falls into shape, especially in the Star Wars world,” Daisy Ridley says.
“There’s always room for bad people to make good decisions and vice versa,” she says later.
Finn’s background will also be explored, although more on the recent end of things – his time in the First Order, since we know he’s going undercover there with Rose – than his early life.
The final article is a bit of a grab-bag, covering Kylo Ren, Han Solo’s (figurative!) ghost, Chewbacca, Captain Phasma, and Maz Kanata.
Entertainment Weekly’s second day on The Last Jedi brings a look at Leia, Poe and the new-isolated Resistance, including Laura Dern’s mysterious Vice Admiral Holdo.
We also learn that Benicio Del Toro’s DJ is a “codebreaker” – aka a slicer. Did that term make the Legends cut-off? We’ll see soon.
Tomorrow, more on Rey.
Ron Howard is keeping it up, sharing yet another image from the Han Solo set that we have to zoom in on. Looks pretty fancy for a bunch of scoundrels… On Instagram he has prop food (also fancy!) and a safety meeting (not fancy.)
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter has a great interview with Donald Glover, where he reveals Billy Dee Williams’ Lando advice.
The Last Jedi covers Entertainment Weekly’s Fall Movie Preview, and we’ve got a week of stories ahead of us as they ramp up the hype for the December film.
Disney is ending their deal with Netflix – the same one that put Rogue One on the streaming service last month – in order to launch their own streaming service in 2019.
The deal will end with the 2019 releases, so December 2017’s The Last Jedi and 2018’s Han Solo spinoff may still appear on Netflix. Still, this means our long wait for the rest of Star Wars is probably in vain. (And yes, those of you not in the U.S. may see Star Wars leave your Netflixes as well – assuming the Disney service goes international.)
I find this all a bit perplexing (except for the ESPN bit, because sports are their own thing.) Hardcore Disney fans may pay for a Disney-only streaming service, but everyone else? As a consumer, I’d rather not. \
UPDATE: Iger told reporters that the status of Marvel and Star Wars in this deal hasn’t been determined yet, and they may still license out both franchises. Marvel notably already has produced several series with Netflix, cumulating in the upcoming The Defenders. Those shows will stay on Netflix, Iger told CNBC.
Lucasfilm has blessed us with even more porg concept art by Jake Lunt. So expressive. I love them.
→ Leak watch: A new vehicle was spotted, and it reveals the name of the planet Canto Bight is on. (It’s a pretty goofy name, perfectly matched to a very looking vehicle, but that’s Star Wars for you.)
→ Also leaked – though I can’t even begin to tell you where exactly it originated online – is a new still of Carrie Fisher in Leia’s cape costume.
→ Making Star Wars shares some sketch recreations of two of the posters that Jason saw back around SDCC.
→ Much has been made of this John Boyega interview and his Carrie Fisher comments, but I do believe he’s speaking metaphorically. There’s another one over here, and also some Gwendoline Christie. Vagueness for all!
Ron Howard shared another Han Solo set pic Tuesday. “Droids help make the Galaxy go round,” he tweeted. “but I find they don’t always listen to the director!” He later said that fans hoping for an apperance from his brother Clint Howard “won’t be disappointed.”
Variety reports that Brit Jack Thorne (Wonder) has been brought onto the Colin Trevorrow-directed production.
Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly wrote the most recent version of the script, which had to be reworked after the passing of Carrie Fisher.