With Episode IX production gearing up, Fantha Tracks has a new rumor regarding a character who may make their first sequel trilogy appearance.
Continue reading “Rumor: A familiar face coming back for Episode IX?”
Rumor: Episode IX has new working title
A new report from Fantha Tracks says the Episode IX’s working title has been changing from Black Diamond to “trIXie.”
IX will begin filming at the end of July, director J.J. Abrams said in February. It’s due out in December 2019.
Colin Trevorrow doesn’t say much about Episode IX
Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow, who was the original pick for Episode IX, isn’t going to give any details about his scuttled plans. (J.J. Abrams took over and wrote his own script with Chris Terrio.) But Trevorrow does tell Empire that he got to talk to both George Lucas and Mark Hamill about it.
“I don’t want to talk too much about it because I don’t want to affect the way that fans get to see these films,” he said. “When we were kids, these movies came to us from far away. They were a gift. And the more we talk about how they’re made, the more it reveals that they’re just movies. But they’re not just movies, they’re more than that. Beyond that, I got the opportunity to tell a story that is a celebration of everything I believe in, I got to tell it to George Lucas and I got to tell it to Luke Skywalker, and those are experiences I will cherish for the rest of my life.”
Trevorrow will next direct Jurassic World 3.
No, Tim Zahn is not under contract for two more Thrawn books
There was a bit of misinterpretation going on regarding something Timothy Zahn said at a con recently. Zahn himself sets the record straight: He has proposals, but not contracts, for two more Thrawn books… And he doesn’t know anything about Episode IX. It’s simply the nature of the franchise that movies will dictate the rest of the content. (And given that Thrawn went MIA in the Rebels finale, and there’s a brand new cartoon coming up… There are a lot of balls in the air even outside of the films that could have an impact on anything else regarding Thrawn.)
Zahn’s next Star Wars book, Thrawn: Alliances, will be out in July.
Celebration zigs when we expected it to zag, heads to Chicago
The Midwest is getting a Celebration again and I could not be more surprised. The Star Wars Show today announced that 2019’s Celebration is not going back to Anaheim, as many of us expected, but instead to Chicago. McCormick Place, home of ReedPOP’s C2E2, will host the show on April 11-15, 2019.
Tickets will go on sale on June 5 at starwarscelebration.com.
This will be the 20th Anniversary of the con, and the 9th to be held domestically. The first Celebration was hosted in Denver ahead of The Phantom Menace in 1999, and from there the show headed to Indianapolis (twice), L.A., Orlando (thrice!) and Anaheim.
Pack your coats!
John Boyega “growing out” his hair for IX
In still-rare (if minor) legitimate Episode IX news, John Boyega revealed that he’s growing out his hair for the film, hinting at the time jump most of us are expecting from the film. “The first step is growing out my hair so you can wait for the trailer to see why,” he told Yahoo. Sounds like Finn is getting a new look! (You can check out Boyega’s current hairstyle on his Instagram.)
The Last Jedi is the only episodic Star Wars film that did not begin with a significant time jump from its predecessor.
Director J.J. Abrams has said Episode IX will start filming at the end of July.
So about that one Episode IX rumor…
A VERY iffy but extremely interesting Episode IX rumor has emerged this weekend, and it’s of particular interest to long-time readers of our site. This is SUPER SKETCHY information, from a Youtuber no less, but it’s also something I don’t feel I can ignore. Head under the cut for possible (or not, it’s that sketchy) spoilers, and some additional thoughts.
Victoria Mahoney joins Episode IX as second unit director
Victoria Mahoney will be a second unit director for Episode IX, fellow director Ava DuVernay announced this evening on Twitter. “Catt’s outta the bag,” Mahoney tweeted. “Thank you @ava for putting my name in the #StarWars #LucasFilm hat. Thank you #JJAbrams for inviting me on your ferocious ride. *This one’s for the outliers, dreaming big–in small corners of the Earth.”
Mahoney will be the first African-American woman to hold a directing role in the franchise. Her directing credits include episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, American Crime, Power and DuVernay’s Queen Sugar.
As for what exactly a second unit director does, @Geek_Kay on Twitter pointed to an article that talks about the job with John Mahaffie, who held the position on the Lord Of The Rings films, Rogue One, The Avengers and more.
How to up your Star Wars news IQ
There’s a lot of Star Wars misinformation floating around right now. There’s the brouhaha with the Brazilian posters, the Solo report that stoked every fanboy “fear” and finally, the whole recast-Meryl-Streep-as-Leia petition that got manhandled into a “rumor” by the unscrupulous.
John Boyega: Finn and Rey are “back together” in Episode IX
John Boyega appeared at Awesome Con in Washington D.C. this weekend, and at his panel revealed that Rey and Finn are once again teamed up in Episode IX. Continue reading “John Boyega: Finn and Rey are “back together” in Episode IX”