The Mandalorian, Dave Filoni, Obi-Wan’s Hossein Amini and more on Disney+ Star Wars

Dave Filoni gets a Vanity Fair profile, with plenty of quotes from various Star Wars luminaries: George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Favreau. “There isn’t a thing that we do in the storytelling space that I don’t check with Dave,” Kennedy said. “What I find about Dave is you don’t just sit down and have a discussion about plot or review characters inside the Star Wars world. You end up having meaningful, thoughtful discussions about what it is we’re trying to say inside the storytelling. He has a lot of empathy.”

Continue reading “The Mandalorian, Dave Filoni, Obi-Wan’s Hossein Amini and more on Disney+ Star Wars”

The Mandalorian gets a D23 spotlight in August

The Mandalorian is going to D23 – it will be part of the Disney+ presentation on Friday, August 23, with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. Lucasfilm will have a pavilion on the con floor, bringing at least a part of their SDCC trooper display.

What this means, basically: 10-20 minutes in the midst of a giant panel (it’ll be all the Disney+ stuff in one) and maybe they’ll release a trailer. It’s a big maybe, given they released none of the footage that was shown at the Celebration panel.

D23 Expo is being held at the Anaheim Convention Center from August 23-25. The first episode of The Mandalorian will launch with Disney+ on November 12.

Celebration sheds a little more light on The Mandalorian

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.

And here’s the cast on the live show stage later:

The first episode of the show will be on Disney+ at launch on November 12, and the current plan does seem to be a weekly release, which is a big relief (for me at least.)

Here’s how we’ll get into the big panels at Celebration Chicago

After the lines at Celebration Orlando proved more than a little traumatic, Reed has introduced a whole new system for getting into panels: A reservation and virtual queue called Lightspeed. It includes an advance lottery for the big panels that will be on the three big stages, with fans assigned to seating sections. It all sounds totally simple and I’m sure no one will be confused at all! The first lotteries open next Thursday, March 28… If you have your badge. (Apparently, they’re in the mail?)

But seriously, the line for the prayer circle for the livestream’s return starts here.

In other Celebration news… The Mandalorian panel with Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will be Sunday, and there are merchandise exclusives.

Celebration roundup: Animation panels, Paul Bettany and Riz Ahmed added

Three Star Wars animation panels will be held a Celebration Chicago: Rebels on Saturday, The Clone Wars on Sunday and Resistance on Monday. The Clone Wars will preview their new Disney+ episodes, while Resistance – which will finish off their first season on two weeks -will preview season 2. (The Rebels panel will not feature any new series announcements, LFL publicist Tracy Cannobbio says.)

Three more guests have been added: Solo’s Paul Bettany (Dryden Vos), Rogue One’s Riz Ahmed (Bodhi Rook) and The Last Jedi’s Hermione Corfield (Tallissan Lintra).

The Art of Star Wars Rebels arrives in October

This has been bouncing around fandom for a few days, but here it is, officially: The Art of Star Wars Rebels is coming out in October. The hardcover is written by Dan Wallace and “will chronicle the making of the show over its four-season run, complete with never-before-seen concept art and process pieces.” It will include commentary from Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, Carrie Beck and others, and is already up for preorder.

For the time being, there’s plenty of behind the scenes content in the series guide on StarWars.com, including the above, a lighting concept by Molly Denmark for the series finale.

Rumor: Will we see someone familiar in The Mandalorian?

As with any new Star Wars project, there’s been plenty of speculation as to what existing characters we’re likely to see in The Mandalorian. We saw plenty of Mandalorians in The Clone Wars and Rebels, and with Dave Filoni on board the series, there’s a good size list of characters that could make an appearance. In their latest report, Making Star Wars has some evidence which might point to the involvement of an important animated character. And also the Avatar sequels are involved. Sort of.

Continue reading “Rumor: Will we see someone familiar in The Mandalorian?”