Rogue One director Gareth Edwards and Spin-off #2 director Josh Trank will talk Star Wars with Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, Kiri Hart and Pablo Hidalgo on Sunday morning at Celebration. Dare we hope to actually learn something about their films?
Rumor: Live-action series to include character from upcoming novel
Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Jordan at Cinelinx has followed up his earlier report about the live action series, and in it he gives the name of the book character who may cross over… Moff Delian Mors, the Lords of the Sith character who’s already made waves by being the first canon LGBT charater.
While I applaud the addition of a LGBT character to canon, I’m still not sure if I’m going to even be able to read the book itself. I’ve bounced off Paul Kemp’s Star Wars stuff in the past, and I don’t find that his behavior makes me want to try again. Nor do I find this (possible) timeline placement for the (potential) show particularly encouraging, either. But as always, we’ll just have to see how things turn out.
I hope you like @ChuckWendig: Best #StarWars, #RogueOne and #SWEU tweets for March 16-25
Over the last week, we finally got our first look at Del Rey’s first post-ROTJ novel in the new canon – and a brand new, very Twitter-savvy author to go with it. We also swooned over Oscar Isaac pictures, planned for Celebration (#SWCA is the official hashtag, if that matters to you) and partook of some delicious fanboy tears. Onward!
This is Madness: Padme vs. Jar Jar, and Jar Jar is winning
Report: Ben Mendelsohn “circling” Rogue One
Deadline says that Ben Mendelsohn is “circling a lead role” for Rogue One. The Australian character actor has had a number of roles in Hollywood, including The Dark Knight Rises and The Place Beyond the Pines.
The only confirmed cast member for Rogue One is Felicity Jones. Other actors who have been linked to the project in the trades are Aaron Paul and Edgar Ramirez. The Gareth Edwards-directed film will begin filming at Pinewood this summer for a December 2016 release.
Report: Inevitable Star Wars live-action series may film at Pinewood, but not for a while
There’s a new report regarding the (a?) live-action series which gives us some idea of when we might actually see one. Cinelinx claims that it is indeed in the pipeline, but the plan is to work around the film shooting schedules… By filming it at Pinewood between movies, which would allow them to reuse film sets. So they’re waiting until that all smooths out, which I’m guessing means after Episode VIII – and Jordan speculates 2017 at the very earliest.
We still don’t know if said show will be the ‘Underworld’ version that was bouncing around (and eventually shelved) back in Lucas’ day, but one hint? It’ll involve a “book character.” (I wouldn’t get too excited about that one, though.)
The Celebration Anaheim schedule is here!
The Celebration Anaheim schedule went up today, and man is it packed! There’s even a Tribute to Aaron Allston scheduled for Saturday… You bet I’ll be at that! Sorry, Rebels.
Here are a few of my picks:
Thursday: Not much for me, aside from the obligatory J.J. Abrams and Producer Kathleen Kennedy event, which will be simulcast in multiple rooms. But you should totally play the Bounty Hunt. Hint hint.
Friday: Star Wars Journalism and One Big Story: Working Within the Star Wars Canon.
Saturday: Full of Sith, Star Wars Comes Home to Marvel, and Star Wars at Del Rey.
Sunday: Tosche Station Radio, From a Certain Point of View (with our own James!) Novelizing Star Wars, What Princess Leia Means to Me and of course the Closing Ceremony.
There are also some worrying panels that are yet to be announced, though… They could very well be The Force Awakens or Rogue One-related.
That’s just what I really want to see, though: How about you?
Team Hondo: Vote Ahsoka today!
Hondo here, with a headache. I had a big party this weekend after winning the preliminary round over that Mando masked man, Pre Vizsla. At least that’s what my men told me happened. And they would never lie to me to have a party.
Back to business, err… This Is Madness. On the light side, there is Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano. Hondo would like to remind you that I did once capture Obi-Wan, and he was pretty cool about it later, when he showed up at my base looking for that Darth Maul guy. But Hondo also once captured Ahsoka Tano as well, though she later talked her way out with some cute Jedi brats. So I have a bit of a soft spot in my pirate heart for her. Vote Ahsoka. Besides, Obi-Wan won last year.
On the dark side, it’s Boba Fett against Asajj Ventress. I don’t think I would want either of them showing up at my place. Boba Fett has lots of guns, but Asajj Ventress has a lightsaber and the dark side. In my experience, I can deal with guns. So vote Asajj, because I don’t want to make her mad.
Back to the party!
Lucasfilm can’t market Rogue One until after the new Mission Impossible movie comes out
The new Mission Impossible movie is titled Rogue Nation. Paramount cleared their title with the MPAA in January, so they could have gone after Lucasfilm/Disney, but instead the companies agreed not to market Rogue One until after this summer, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Rogue Nation hits July 31; It moved up from December 25 this year to avoid… You guessed it… Episode VII. Rogue One isn’t due until December 2016.
I doubt they were going to do much marketing for the movie in any case – and an exception was made for Celebration, which is pretty much the only place I’d expect anything anyway. I wonder if this means we won’t get a filming or further cast announcement from StarWars.com, but I’m not sure what they consider ‘marketing’ in that case. (I fully expect they’ll drop it all at Anaheim…)
Out this week: Darth Vader #3
On Wednesday, head to your local comic store or app to nab Darth Vader #3, which introduces Aphra, “the galaxy’s foremost raider of lost weaponry.” There’s a preview at CBR.
There’s sure to be another new comic next week, but our next book release will be the paperback of John Jackson Miller’s A New Dawn on March 31.