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The catchup: Guillermo del Toro’s Star Wars idea and more from SDCC

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Guillermo del Toro would pitch Lucasfilm a Jabba the Hutt film in the style of The Godfather. I would have expected something a little more out-of-the-stock-fanboy-box from del Toro, but I’m sure he could knock it out of the park if it ever happens.

→ Also from SDCC: Gary Whitta on the Star Wars symphony performance; Where the behind-the-scenes reel music came from; How Mark Hamill walked the con floor; How is it that Star Wars only got a #3 in buzz?

→ BB-8 is on the cover of the latest issue of Make.

→ Daniel Craig says he doesn’t have a role in The Force Awakens, and also apparently takes the piss out of Simon Pegg, because why not?

→ In the wake of SDCC, Making Star Wars dropped a few new rumor/spoilers, as they are wont to do. First up, what happens directly after Return of the Jedi and more on Jakku; Some stuff on where Han is as The Force Awakens begins. And who is playing that new X-wing pilot we heard about last week?

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What we learned from The Force Awaken’s behind-the-scenes teaser

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For those of us who didn’t get to be in Hall H and treated to a live concert, the behind-the-scenes video was the highlight of The Force Awakens panel in San Diego. So, naturally, we obsess. Yesterday I looked at the panel itself, but today is all about screencaps. Or, you should probably watch the video again…


I do read spoilers, but I am trying to keep them out of this. Still, enter at your own risk…

Continue reading “What we learned from The Force Awaken’s behind-the-scenes teaser”

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Marvel to do first formal Star Wars/Darth Vader crossover with Vader Down storyline

vader-down1Marvel’s second Star Wars announcement at SDCC is a crossover event called Vader Down. The six-part storyline will begin in Vader Down #1 and continue in the Star Wars and Darth Vader ongoings. The two series have already bounced off each other a great deal, but this time writers Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen are teasing things like Han Solo and Aphra meeting.

“Crossover events” aren’t something we’ve had a lot of in Star Wars comics, but Dark Horse did something similar – across their whole line, in multiple time periods – with Vector in 2008.

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The Force Awakens at SDCC: Princess Leia, General Hux and Harrison Ford


Sure enough, there was no trailer for The Force Awakens at SDCC, but we did get this sweet behind-the-scenes video, which includes our first look at Carrie Fisher as Leia.

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The panel consisted of J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, Lawrence Kasdan, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, and even Harrison Ford, who joked about his leg.

We got new pictures of Kylo Ren (Driver) and Captain Phasma (Christie,) but the big reveal was General Hux, Gleeson’s character. “He’s British, so yeah,” Gleeson said when asked how evil his character was. (Driver was far more shady about it.) Gleeson also let slip that the First Order has a ‘Starkiller Base.’ Oh, and the turkey-thing from the first Force for Change video showed up, and his name is Bobbajo. (The spelling is straight from Pablo!)

Ford was the final guest to come out, sounding happy and proud about the film. Harrison Ford! Happy! (Hitfix has the quotes!)

Oh and, hey, let’s see how long this stays up:


All the folks in Hall H were treated to a free concert featuring music from the films and a fireworks finale. I’m not even jealous, because the video is so amazing and the first thing about this movie that has made me cry. I am a Star War, too.

Tweets from the panel!

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Hasbro reveals The Force Awakens TIE fighter, Fan’s choice winner(s) at SDCC

TIE-fighterTo the surprise of, well, everyone, there weren’t a whole mass of The Force Awakens toy reveals at the Hasbro panel at SDCC. But what they did show was pretty cool – and rather large: A 6″ scale TIE fighter, with “elite” pilot. (There’s a pretty neat display case recreating a scene from the trailer on the show floor now.)

As expected, Knights of the Old Republic‘s Revan won the 2015 Fan’s Choice poll by a landslide, but the results for Rebels Sabine Wren were so good that she’s going to be made as a 6″ Black Series figure, too! They also revealed that a Kanan Jarrus figure is coming to the Black Series as well. Other new 6″ figures include Rebels Ahsoka, a Tatooine Luke Skywalker, a Jango Fett, and one of the new Inquisitors (the dude) from S2 of Rebels. Check the StarWars.com liveblog for pics (very small, with bigger ones coming) and other details.

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Chuck Wendig is writing the entire Aftermath trilogy

jtfa-aftermathJust as the publishing panel at SDCC was getting into Del Rey, Entertainment Weekly has big news: Chuck Wendig is writing the entire Aftermath trilogy.

Good news, given the recent history with round robins. We haven’t had a one-author trilogy since… Coruscant Nights? Dark Nest? Not exactly sterling examples, but a nice sign that Del Rey has, perhaps, learned from past mistakes. (Now we just hope Wendig is good at more than tweets!)

Also being talked about at the panel was Marvel’s upcoming Chewbacca miniseries we learned of earlier in the day.

The first hour of the panel focused on books for kids, and both parts are being liveblogged by Dan Brooks at StarWars.com, while our own James was valiantly live-tweeting.

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Rumor: Colin Trevorrow to direct Episode IX?

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Director Colin Trevorrow, whose Jurassic World is the highest grossing film of 2015 so far, has been tapped to direct Episode IX, Umberto Gonzalez of Heroic Hollywood reports. With Star Wars in SDCC’s Hall H coming up this evening, and IX the only announced film that doesn’t have a director yet, this may very well turn out to be true.

Trevorrow’s name came up for Episode VII in the early days, and of course Jurassic World‘s sucess is a very large point in his favor.