This week in Rogue One: Gareth Edwards on the ending, Leia, Vader and more

With the Rogue One home release imminent, director Gareth Edwards has been making the rounds. At SWSW, he talked about how Scariff’s name came about. With /Film, he explains the original ending and what changed, plus. how he got away with killing everyone off.

At Fandango, he discusses why we won’t see cut scenes, Carrie Fisher’s reaction to Leia’s cameo and how Vader’s big moment came to be. He also stopped by Reddit for an AMA.

Meanwhile, Ingvild Deila, the actress who helped recreate young Leia, talks to The Hollywood Reporter.

We’ve also seen a few aditional Rogue One guests named for Celebration, namely Riz Ahmed and Alan Tudyk. (There’s been some speculation that Tudyk might host The Last Jedi panel, as Gwendoline Christie did for Rogue One’s at Celebration Europe.)

Marvel’s Darth Vader relaunching as post-ROTS series

Marvel is doing a second Darth Vader ongoing series. Written by Charles Soule with art Giuseppe Camuncoli, it begins just after Revenge of the Sith. It will feature Vader building his red lightsaber and hunting down surviving Jedi. Soule told StarWars.com he considers the series to be “Vader: Year One.”

The previous Vader series was written by Kieron Gillen and ran for 25 issues. It was set in the gap between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Gillen is currently helming the Doctor Aphra ongoing, which spun off the first series.

Marvel has consistently only been running three Star Wars ongoings t time – right now that’s Star Wars, Doctor Aphra and Poe Dameron. It’s possible they might begin winding down Poe – which Soule also writes – for this new Vader.

The new Darth Vader #1 will be out in June.

Star Wars Celebration is skipping 2018

There will be no Celebration in 2018, Reed announced today. The next Celebration – after April’s Celebration Orlando – will be in 2019.

That’s the year Episode IX is due, and the Star Wars Lands are expected to open, and so far, U.S. Celebrations have been held in the years saga films are released. A return to Anaheim is probably the best bet – I doubt we’re ever going to see a domestic Celebration not held within a few miles of a Disney theme park ever again.

We don’t have a location yet, but these things have in the past few years been announced at the closing ceremonies of the preceding Celebration, so we may find out April 16. Skipping years in nothing new, either – Celebrations started at 3-year intervals with the prequels and swapped to every other year until Celebration Anaheim in 2015.

Meanwhile, we also got details on Rebels programming and new guests for Orlando.

What is The Last Jedi’s “bio-hexacrypt” and what does it have to do with Finn?

John Boyega revealed a gift from Rian Johnson on his Instagram, and a The Last Jedi hint – of sorts. The illustration expresses Boyega’s “frustration with the most complex Star Wars lingo.” So what could a bio-hexacrypt be, and what does it have to do with Finn? Tumblr user Bripenguin13 has a degree in cell biology and one (possible) explaination.

Meanwhile, if you’re still poking at The Last Jedi title, Johnson has an answer. (And more.)