Welcome to the very belated release post for the week of Wednesday, April 17.
This week’s biggest release is Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice. Available in hardcover and eBook, it tells a Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi story from several years before The Phantom Menace, plus flashbacks to Qui-Gon’s time training with Dooku. Also out now is the first actual making-of book of the Disney era, Making Solo by ILM’s Rob Bredow.
Our next release is the audio drama Dooku: Jedi Lost, which drops on April 30, followed by Alphabet Squadron in June. More in our book release schedule.
It’s going to be a quick turnaround as the next Celebration is next year – and a return to Anaheim, which is welcome news after Chicago serenaded us with both rain and snow. (Which, if Indianapolis 2005 is any indication, we’ll be hearing about for a while.) We’ve had back-to-back Celebrations before, but usually alternating U.S. and international destinations, so going from domestic to domestic will be interesting.
With no new movie that year, expect Galaxy’s Edge to get a lot of attention – the Anaheim convention center is only moments away from Disneyland. It’ll also be the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, and the 15th of Revenge of the Sith. It looks like Reed will be back as well: They’ve already reskinned the website.
There was… Sort of? A reveal at the Lucasfilm Publishing: Writer’s Roundtable panel Monday morning at Celebration: Claudia Gray, Justina Ireland, Daniel José Older, Charles Soule and Cavan Scott are all working on something called “Project Luminous” for 2020.
We know it’s inspired by the quote “The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things.”
Other than that, they won’t tell us anything. Not even a format. We do know the writers all went to Skywalker Ranch and watched A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. They’re having fun. That’s it! That’s literally it.
(Of course you heard.) In addition to “The Siege of Mandalore,” we’re also seeing 1313 and Maul (mo-capped by Ray Park and with Solo design inspirations.)
Sure, The Mandalorian debuted footage here at Celebration Chicago on Sunday… But they haven’t actually released any of it elsewhere, not even the behind-the-scenes reel. There are a couple of stills and a basic plot breakdown.
The Mandalorian himself isn’t getting a name just yet, but we did learn that he’s working for Carl Weathers’ Greef Carga, who heads up a guild of bounty hunters. Gina Carano is playing Cara Dune, a former Rebel shock trooper, who gets in pulled in… Somehow. More over at StarWars.com.
Here’s the livestream, sans footage. It’s pretty much the Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau show, though Pedro Pascal is pretty hyped up about the whole thing:
For the record, I am never in favor of con-exclusive footage, but hey, if Lucasfilm and Disney would prefer to play whack-a-mole all over the internet with fuzzy subpar copies, that’s their business. Meanwhile, there are many recaps.
What did we learn from today’s Galaxy’s Edge panel here at Celebration Chicago that we didn’t already hear in February?
Coke.
Yeah, okay, there was some stuff about Yoda (Frank Oz!), the Modal Nodes finally getting a second song, Millennium Falcon damage and winning a trip to the park, but mostly?
There have been two book-based publishing panels here at Celebration so far, and luckily I managed to attend both! They’ve been low on major news, but they did still contain a few revelations about upcoming fiction.
The first, Lucasfilm Publishing, was Friday, not long after The Rise of Skywalker panel, which is pretty much why you’re getting this post on Saturday. (Fan! Blogging!) We did get a cover reveal for Zoraida Córdova’s Galaxy’s Edge YA novel, A Crash of Fate, which was compared to Lost Stars and features two old friends who reconnect.
Delilah Dawson confirmed that Cardinal will be joining Vi Moradi in her Galaxy’s Edge novel, Black Spire. It will have a very different feel from Phasma – she name-dropped the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine as an inspiration at both panels.
Meanwhile, Christian Blauvelt’s Be More Yoda and Be More Vader are getting two new companion volumes in the fall: Be More Leia and Be More Lando. And Jeffrey Brown returns to the GFFA with Rey and Pals. Check StarWars.com for some of the highlights (and decent images!), and my Twitter thread has a few other bits. (Yes, there will be a Journey to Episode IX. No other details, but it will happen.)
The second panel was Del Rey Behind the Scenes, and it featured Claudia Gray, Delilah S. Dawson, Alexander Freed, Tim Zahn and Cavan Scott with Marc Thompson moderating.
We did learn a few things about Gray’s Master & Apprentice and Scott’s audio drama Dooku: Jedi Lost. Scott was such a fan of a new character in M&A, Rael Averross – Dooku’s previous padawan and another mentor to Qui-Gon Jinn – that he became a big part of Jedi Lost.
As for Thrawn: Treason, we got a few more details – Thrawn gets drawn into the power games of Tarkin and Orson Krennic and “it doesn’t end how anyone expects.” Eli Vanto returns, as does Admiral Ar’alani and the Grysk.
There will be an author roundtable here on Monday, which seems like it will be the hotbed for announcements. I plan to attend that but wasn’t able to get a panel reservation, so… We’ll see. (Ahh, Reed.)
We’re excited to reveal the cover of @ADaniels3PO’s new book, I AM C-3PO: The Inside Story. Discover the incredible untold story of one of #StarWars most iconic characters, C-3PO, told by the man who knows him best. Pre-order your copy: https://t.co/9udtyA8JTvpic.twitter.com/pNYclroBzY
The Disney+ publicity push started in earnest today, with the monthly price ($6.99) and launch date (November 12 for the U.S./Canada) finally announced.
There wasn’t much about The Mandalorian – they’re presumably saving all that for the panel here at Celebration on Sunday – but it will be up on the service at launch.
Though we did get a look at a prop here – there’s a speeder bike from the show on display in front of the StarWars.com stage:
Everything is geared up towards Celebration right now – including me, which is why this post is a day later than usual. But there’s still two brand new comics and a reprint coming on Wednesday, April 10.
