All about Leland Chee! Also: Mark Hamill, the Ralph McQuarrie art book, a new mobile game and more.
Mark Hamill hosting Carrie Fisher tribute at Celebration
Not only does he get to actually speak in The Last Jedi, but Mark Hamill has been officially announced as a guest at Celebration Orlando. He’ll have two panels: A tribute to Carrie Fisher on Friday and a solo show on Sunday.
(We also expect he’ll make an appearance at The Last Jedi panel.)
The news was announced on today’s Star Wars Show, and you can check out the con schedule as well.
Please take this bushel of Rogue One links
Rogue One is all over the place, so let’s mop this up before more comes along. Above, the Rogue One VHS commercial by Damien Kazan.
→ Gareth Edwards shares some (ancient) Jedha history, about how the city got it’s high density of kyber crystals.
→ Entertainment Weekly’s final infodump on all the scenes that weren’t, Dantooine not making the cut, cameos and plot holes..
→ John Knoll is nursing another spinoff idea, but he’s not sure if he’ll pitch it.
→ Mads Mikkelsen on how much of Galen’s backstory he knew, Felicity Jones, Oppenheimer and more.
→ A look at a featurettes about Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen, Saw Gerrera.
→ Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood talk about the film’s sound.
→ Gareth Edwards on Darth Vader’s final scene.
The Last Jedi rumor (and news) roundup: Phasma, walkers and planets, oh my!
Time to catch up with all The Last Jedi rumors that have been flying about recently. Our first batch is from Making Star Wars, which hints at Captain Phasma’s new weapon (check out a fan art interpretation) and a new form of walker. Plus, Jason Ward is tweeting about the look of things in general: “The Last Jedi looks like the Star Wars prequels took “Game of Thrones” on a date and they had a baby.” This does fit with several things we saw out and about throughout the filming, both in Dubrovnik and the U.K.
Meanwhile, Star Wars News Net is reporting about several classic planets making a return in VIII and beyond, as well as how they may tie into the plot. As usual, I recommend reading this with a healthy dose of skepticism, but there are some intriguing things there.
→ Marvel is plotting something for November. WHATEVER COULD IT BE? (Does Threepio get another new arm? Another set of parents for Poe? Stay tuned.)
→ There’s also something going around about a guy from some British pop group having a cameo. Spoiler: It’s Gary Barlow, who also apparently hosts a talent show on the BBC. He’s older than me so it’s not a N’SYNC situation, at least.
→ In officially-sanctioned vagueness, there’s Laura Dern talking about how she can’t even tell her kids who she’s playing.
Link: Ian Kenny joins Han Solo standalone, Variety reports
Rumor: Ian Kenny joins Han Solo standalone. He’s a relative newcomer who’s apparently known for the Irish film Sing Street. Yes, he has red hair, but he’s young enough that I feel confident saying he’s probably not playing Clone Wars veteran Brendol Hux.
Bob Iger: Han Solo film to span six years (and about that name thing…)
Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped a couple of things about the two Star Wars films in production – and those beyond. (The ever-vague “starting talks.”)
He was most detailed on the Han Solo film. It will span 6 years – Alden Ehrenreich’s Han from the ages of 18 to 24 – and deal with him meeting Chewbacca and “finding” the Millennium Falcon. WSJ reporter Ben Fritz tweeted about Han “finding his name,” which a lot of folks are jumping on. I’m a little more hesitant – it’s not designated as a direct quote, and the meaning could easily be making his name. So don’t place any flags in your theories yet!
For The Last Jedi, he said they won’t change the film due to Carrie Fisher’s death. “Her performance remains as it is in VIII. In Rogue One, we had some digital character. We are not doing that with Carrie.” He also promised that Mark Hamill will do “a lot of talking.”
Earlier, Iger announced he would remain as Disney’s CEO through at least July 2019.
Bodhi Rook started out in Rogue One as someone else entirely
In today’s Rogue One reveal, Riz Ahmed talks to Entertainment Weekly on how his character changed throughout the process, what was reshot, and his own ideas for Bodhi’s backstory.
Meanwhile, Entertainment Tonight has Ahmed’s many audition tapes, which are a bonus feature on the home release.
Woody Harrelson spills his Hanthology character’s name
Woody Harrelson revealed his Star Wars character’s name on Jimmy Fallon last night: Beckett. (That’s the standard spelling, anyway.) He’s “kind of a criminal” and a “mentor” (as we knew) to Han Solo.
There are no previously-existing characters with that name in Star Wars. But hopefully this means no one will ask him about Garris Shrike again.
The still-untitled Han Solo standalone is filming now and set for a May 2018 release.
Celebration Orlando will be livestreamed
We got an early announcement that Celebration Orlando will be livestreamed, just like the last two. Straight from the most correct time zone! (For those not on EDT, here’s a handy tool. Customize it!)
All that, plus a few more guests, newspaper comic reprints, and ILM’s Hal Hickel talks about Rogue One on today’s Star Wars Show.
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…