Mark Hamill was his usual self at his Celebration Europe panel today, and while he can’t talk much (at all, really) about Episode VIII, he did rave about Rian Johnson:
I was looping Episode VIII yesterday, and there’s dialogue in there, I thought, ‘Oh boy, I can already see this on a t-shirt. Rian Johnson is amazing. He’ll make you forget all about ‘May the Force be with you.’ He’s come up with so many new catchphrases.
Props also go to the fan who took advantage of a stumble where Mark forgot Rey’s first name to get him to reveal her last name, though Mark didn’t take the bait. Entertainment Weekly and /Film have the highlights.
The key missing panel? Future Filmmakers, where we expect to learn a thing or two about Episode VIII and the upcoming Han Solo film. This is by no means unprecedented – the Rogue One panel at Celebration Anaheim wasn’t streamed, either.
The Rebels panel with Dave Filoni, Sam Witwer and Tiya Sircar is on the schedule, but I doubt that’ll include the screening.
Meanwhile, our man on the ground James is already in London, so keep an eye on his < Twitter and Flickr. His panels are, sadly, not on the livestream list.
Rebels head honcho Dave Filoni invaded stopped by the latest Star Wars Show with the first clip from the show’s third season.
The episode also features an interview with Rogue One director Gareth Edwards and a lot of talk about the upcoming Star Wars Show from London. (We promptly got a full live-stream schedule for the weekend.)
→ With the release of Aftermath: Life Debt nearing, we got a cover for Empire’s End as well as a new excerpt. Plus official art of breakout character Mr. Bones.
→ The livestream is back for Celebration Europe. I’m sad I’m not going, but also happy that I’ll be able to blog the happenings in a timely fashion. So who is going? James!
Etc. Because there is only so much time in a week, here’s some of the stuff we didn’t get to. FRESH(ISH) CONTENT FOR YOU!
→ On StarWars.com, James interviewed Jader Janine K. Spendlove about her short story ‘Inbrief,’ which first appeared in the Star Wars Insider and is now available in the Battlefront: Twilight Company, paperback.
→ Here are all the places you can get in your preliminary votes the new Hasbro Fan Choice, or I guess we’re calling it the Star Wars Fan Figure Vote now. All I know is that last year covering this was exhausting, so this time I’m not going to bother with it until it’s time for the final vote.
→ Kevin J. Anderson’s Darksaber is an awful, awful book and yet also directly responsible for me meeting and bonding (saltily) with many other Club Jaders, as it was the hot new release way back in the dark ages when I first got online. I bring this up because Katharine Trendacosta reread it and then wrote about it for io9. Katharine, you are SO BRAVE. I salute you.
A tweet roundup is due, but as things wind down, there’s just been so much out there on Instagram and tweet from the Episode VIII cast and crew that they’re breaking out on their own.
Perhaps we were too quick to assume that Mark Hamill had lost the beard, though he does seem to be pulling double duty. (UPDATE: He’s now wrapped as well.)
And finally, your moment of zen: Gary Fisher with “his two favorite stalkers.” A weird thing happens when you start to see enough of those emoji: They start making sense. Maybe one day I’ll wake up being able to read Aurebesh after all.
We learned today that next weekend’s Celebration Europe will indeed be streamed live. Great news for those of us playing along at home! (Yes, I will be blogging. From home. Go figure.) The news was revealed on today’s Star Wars Show:
We wait (and wait and wait) for so many things: Celebration, more Rogue One stuff, more Aftermath… Here’s what we did learn this week:
→ On StarWars.com, 
