Now that you’ve seen ‘Twilight of the Apprentice’, the final episode of season two of Star Wars Rebels, dive into a question and answers session with the cast and crew. Held after the finale screening at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank on Monday, March 28, the Q&A features executive producer & supervising director Dave Filoni, producer Simon Kinberg, and voice actors Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano) and Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger). Moderated by Amy Ratcliffe, the cast and crew discuss the hour-long final episode and how it came to be. Plus references to Donkey Kong, Gandalf, and more! Yes, it contains spoilers, so be sure you’ve seen the season finale before viewing!
There’s also a few audience questions, including one about the Grand Inquisitor’s role as a Temple Guard: he was one of the guards in The Clone Wars that arrested Ahsoka and later escorted Barriss Offee into the courtroom. And of course, someone had to ask about bringing Thrawn into the show.
For those who have remained blissfully unaware, Reylo is the portmanteau (ahh, modern fandom) for Rey/Kylo Ren. It’s by far the most popular new heterosexual pairing for The Force Awakens on the major fandom fic archive, Archive of Our Own (aka AO3,) with 1330 works. Finnrey (Finn/Rey) may have more canon support, but less than 500 fics. (Just over 500 is Jedistormpilot, aka Rey/Finn/Poe.)
The Atlantic article is, as these things go, not bad. It at least touches on most of the major ships that are flooding AO3, and it’s pretty clear of the ‘teehee, girls writing gay sex’ subtext that we frequently saw back at the height of Harry Potter fandom.
That said, slash (male/male pairings) still rules modern fandom, and The Force Awakens is no different. Both major slash pairings for the film top Reylo and Finnrey combined, with tags for Stormpilot (Finn/Poe) and Kylux (Kylo/Hux) both hosting over 2000 works. These numbers aren’t scientific, of course – AO3 writers can and do tag multiple ships for the same works, and not all fics are even about ‘ships. But it gives you a general idea.
However, Star Wars has rarely followed general fandom trends, and a lot of what we’re seeing here on AO3 is a post-movie flood that’s likely to die down as other films (Captain America: Civil War is a likely candidate) divert attention. What will the fanfic landscape look like a year from now? Or by the time Episode VIII is launching trailers? Who knows.
In the interest of, um, science or something, feel free to recommend your favorite The Force Awakens fics in the comments. All pairings and ratings are welcome, just be clear with your labeling. (Yes, basic HTML works.)
The names ‘Kylo‘ and (more understandably) ‘Rey‘ have rocked up in the baby name ranks, says Baby Center. Kylo is up 67%, and Rey is up 82% since last year.
Standbys ‘Liam‘ and ‘Lucas‘ are in the top 10, while ‘Leia‘ ranks #211. ‘Anakin‘ is ranked #1362, with ‘Ben‘ at #120 and ‘Finn‘ at #148.
Adam Driver discussed Star Wars at a screening of his new film Midnight Special, and naturally there’s not much he can say (“They’re still at war,”) but he does discuss Rian Johnson:
“I feel like there was so many moving pieces in the first one – just trying to solve it and set the vocabulary for what it was. There’s a lot of that anxiety is gone, because people have developed a language. I think it’s more of a testament to Rian coming into something very established and making it [his own]. I can’t wait to get on set, just because he’s so unassuming and intelligent and approachable. The script they’ve come up with is really great.”
Disney has announced dates for their next D23 Expo as July 14-16 in Anaheim, California. While the con has always been positioned as the company’s own alternative to San Diego Comic Con, these dates put D23 awfully close to when SDCC traditionally falls. The last D23 was held in mid-August, while Star Wars was the only Disney property to have a major Hall H panel at that year’s SDCC.
Although D23 was fairly light on the Star Wars movie news in 2015, it was where they revealed our first look at the so-called ‘Star Wars Land.’
2017 is also expected to be the next domestic Star Wars Celebration, but that will likely be held in either the spring or fall. We’ll probably find out at the closing ceremonies this year’s Celebration Europe.
