Star Wars Resistance returns for a second – and final – season in October

Star Wars Resistance will end with its second season, Lucasfilm announced today as they dropped the new trailer. It will premiere Sunday, October 6 at 10:30 p.m. on the Disney Channel.

The new season will take place during The Last Jedi as we lead up to The Rise of Skywalker. Joining the cast as guest roles are Joe Manganiello (Magic Mike) as Ax Tagrin, Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) as Norath Kev, and Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) as the Aeosian Queen. And sorry, Adam Driver fans – Skywalker Sound vet Matthew Wood (The Clone Wars) will be voicing Kylo Ren.

More details:

The story picks up after a harrowing escape from the First Order, as the Colossus and all its residents find themselves lost in space, pursued by Agent Tierny and Commander Pyre. Kaz and team also face a myriad of new dangers along the way including bounty hunters, a suspicious Hutt, General Hux and Supreme Leader Kylo Ren. Meanwhile, Tam grapples with her future and where her true allegiance lies, with her friends or the First Order. The thrilling final season will showcase how the unlikeliest of heroes can help spark hope across the galaxy.

Star Wars voice actors coming to Celebration

And the first wave of Celebration guest announcements brings us a variety of voice actors: From Resistance, Christopher Sean, Suzie McGrath, and Scott Lawrence, who voice Kazuda Xiono, Tam Ryvora and Jarek Yeager. From The Clone Wars, there’s longtime Celebration vetern James Arnold Taylor (Obi-Wan Kenobi). There’s also Battlefront II’s Janina Gavankar and Skywalker Sound’s Matthew Wood, who voiced General Grievous.

Star Wars Celebration Chicago is being held April 11-15.

Please take this bushel of Rogue One links


Rogue One is all over the place, so let’s mop this up before more comes along. Above, the Rogue One VHS commercial by Damien Kazan.

→ Gareth Edwards shares some (ancient) Jedha history, about how the city got it’s high density of kyber crystals.

→ Entertainment Weekly’s final infodump on all the scenes that weren’t, Dantooine not making the cut, cameos and plot holes..

John Knoll is nursing another spinoff idea, but he’s not sure if he’ll pitch it.

Mads Mikkelsen on how much of Galen’s backstory he knew, Felicity Jones, Oppenheimer and more.

→ A look at a featurettes about Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen, Saw Gerrera.

Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood talk about the film’s sound.

→ Gareth Edwards on Darth Vader’s final scene.

Today in The Force Awakens: New pics, interviews

With The Force Awakens releasing on digital tonight, we got a couple of new things today, not least of all two new still, above. (via.)

USA Today has an interview with and new video clip featuring John Boyega. He talks about training for the lightsaber fight on Starkiller Base and the hardest secret to keep. (Bonus: Sleeveless Adam Driver.)

At Fandango, Matthew Wood on the effect they were going for with the voice modulation on Kylo Rens helmet.

Expect plenty more to come, as the Blu-ray is out Tuesday the 5th. The Star Wars Facebook page is planning a live Q&A with Daisy Ridley for Monday, and you can submit questions now.

Roundup: The Force Awakens’ box office will pass $900M domestic any minute now

Kylo Ren on JakkuThe Force Awakens will cross $900M domestic at the box office today, and $2B worldwide tomorrow, Disney announced.

In related news, Lionsgate said today that Star Wars is partially at fault for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2‘s less-than-predicted performance, lessening the November movie’s numbers by “somewhere between $50M and $100M.” Don’t blame the players, blame the game? And maybe even the ever-more-eye-rolling trend of splitting adaptions into two parts… I saw both Mockingjays in the theater, but I gotta tell you, by the second movie I was pretty much already over it.

→ The sound we hear in The Force Awakens when Kylo Ren uses the Force has an unexpected source: A purring cat, Dave Acord tells Nerdist. Matthew Wood also talks about recording Ren’s mask dialogue with Adam Driver. (Acord also reveals there’s a sound from Raiders of the Lost Ark in the mix.) At The Daily Dot, Wood gets into even more detail about the archival sounds used in the new film, as well as the ADR process and other details.

→ I’ve never been particularly fond of the autograph racket that goes on in this fandom, but I gotta say, the latest controversy – involving Daisy Ridley – really takes the cake.

5 Oscar nods for The Force Awakens include music, VFX

tfa-STILL-falconchase2

The Force Awakens received five Oscar nominations this morning, all in technical categories. John Williams got his 50th nomination for the score. ILM’s Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould are up for the film’s Visual Effects. Matthew Wood and David Acord are nominated for sound editing, with Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson for sound mixing. The biggest surprise is Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey for editing.

the 88th Academy Awards will be given out Sunday, February 28.

Star Wars Blu-ray report: Cropping, sound, extras and… The Holiday Special?

The HDRoom’s Dan Bradley was another tech-oriented journalist invited to Lucasfilm’s Blu-ray junket. The first part of his report covers a few basics we’ve heard about from the other sites and Lucasfilm themselves. Part two focuses on Matthew Wood and sound mixing. And part 3 takes on, of course, the deleted scenes, special features and Dennis Muren.

Here’s one interesting bit:

In response to my question, Kayleen answered “You’ll have to wait and see! The Holiday Special is a challenge, but look for some Easter Eggs. What’s a Star Wars release without a couple of Easter Eggs?” I read into that as something pertaining to, if not the entire Holiday Special is hidden on these discs. These Easter Eggs are also what LucasFilm is referring to when stating the leaked bonus features are “incomplete.”

An additional Blu-ray inner sleeve depicts a scene from Droids, the animated cartoon revolving around the further adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO. Does that mean an episode of Droids or maybe something from the Ewoks television show is hidden as an Easter Egg? We’ll have to wait and find out on September 16, 2011.

I’ve always thought that the Holiday Special – or the less tedious bits of it, anyway – would make an excellent Easter Egg.

The quick guide to Star Wars on Twitter

Match the icon with the username! Okay, it's easy.

As the legion of Star Wars accounts on Twitter grows, it’s getting harder to keep track of. It’s impossible to list everyone, but here are a few accounts that may be of interest.

Please note that although we provide this page as a service to fans to find official accounts and other people they may wish to follow, we do not encourage pestering or harassing celebrities and/or other fans. Please be respectful to the celebrities and each other.

And if you’re wondering about hashtags, StarWars.com has some suggestions (though I’m not about to give up on #EpisodeVII!)

Marquee names
  • Carrie Fisher (@CarrieFFisher) Played Princess Leia in the original trilogy.
  • Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) Played Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy.
  • Anthony Daniels (@ADaniels3PO) Played C-3PO in all six movies.
  • Ewan McGregor (@mcgregor_ewan) Played Obi-wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy.
  • Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) All -around badass; Played Mace Windu in the prequel trilogy.
  • David Prowse (@isDARTHVADER) Played Darth Vader (in the suit) for the original trilogy.
  • Peter Mayhew (@TheWookieeRoars) Played Chewbacca in the original trilogy and ROTS.
  • Bonnie Piesse (@BonniePiesse) Played Beru Lars in AOTC and ROTS.
  • Ahmed Best (@ahmedbest) Played Jar Jar Binks in the prequels.
  • Warwick Davis (@WarwickADavis) Played Wicket W. Warrick in Return of the Jedi as well as several characters in The Phantom Menace and many other films.
  • Ray Park (@PARKYBOY74) Played Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
  • Richard LeParmentier (@AdmiralMotti) Played Admiral Motti in A New Hope.
Crew
  • Joel Aron ( @joelaron ) Visual effects on Revenge of the Sith, The Clone Wars
  • Bad Robot (@bad_robot) Home base of Episode VII director J.J. Abrams.
  • Dave Filoni (@dave_filoni) Supervising director of The Clone Wars, Rebels.
  • Phil Tippett (@PhilTippett) VFX artist who now heads Tippet Studio; Did stop motion effects for ANH and ESB.
  • Greg Weisman (@Greg_Weisman) Writer on Rebels. Worked on Gargoyles, Young Justice.
  • Matthew Wood (@matthewood) Skywalker Sound; Voice of General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars.
Voices
  • Matt Lanter (@MattLanter) Voice of Anakin Skywalker in The Clone Wars
  • Ashley Eckstein (@HerUniverse) Voice of Ahsoka Tano. Used mostly for Her Universe business, and also listed under licensees, but Ashley shares other stuff here as well.
  • James Arnold Taylor (@JATactor) Voice of Obi-Wan in The Clone Wars
  • Catherine Taber (@cattaber) Voice of Padme Amidala in The Clone Wars
  • Sam Witwer (@SamWitwer) Voice of Darth Maul on The Clone Wars, Galen Marek/Starkiller in The Force Unleashed.
  • Dee Bradley Baker (@deebradleybaker) Voice of The Clone Wars clonetroopers.
  • Phil LaMarr (@phillamarr) Voice of The Clone Wars’ Kit Fisto.
  • Meredith Salenger (@MeredthSalenger) voiced Barriss Offee in The Clone Wars.
  • Simon Pegg (@simonpegg) Voice of Dengar in The Clone Wars. Director/Actor, Shaun of the Dead, Scottie in Star Trek prequel/reboot.
  • Greg Proops (@GregProops) Voice of Beed Annodue in The Phantom Menace.
  • Peter Serafinowicz (@serafinowicz) Voice of Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
Lucasfilm and licensees
Other official types
  • Chris Argyropoulos (@ThatChrisA) Lucasfilm Publicist
  • Dan Brooks (@dan_brooks) Works for StarWars.com
  • Tracy Cannobbio (@Tcann13) Lucasfilm Publicist
  • Mary Franklin (@MaryLFL) Sr. Event Lead for Lucasfilm, queen of all she surveys
  • Jennifer Heddle (@jenheddle) Senior Editor (fiction) at Lucasfilm.
  • Pablo Hidalgo (@infinata) Brand Communication Manager for Lucasfilm, author, internet rockstar
  • Leland Chee (@HolocronKeeper) Keeper of the Holocron, Lucas Licensing
  • Matt Martin (@missingwords) Works for StarWars.com
  • Erich Schoeneweiss (@Darth_Duff) Del Rey editor
  • Randy Stradley (@Randy_Stradley) Vice President of Publishing, Dark Horse Comics
Writers
  • Aaron Allston (@aaronallston) Author, X-Wing, Legacy of the Force, Fate of the Jedi series.
  • Kevin J. Anderson (@TheKJA) Author, The Jedi Academy Trilogy
  • Corinna Bechko (@CorinnaBechko) Writer, Legacy
  • Haden Blackman (@HadenBlackman) LucasArts / Writer, The Force Unleashed
  • Jeremy Barlow (@Jeremy_Barlow) Writer / Dark Horse editor
  • Bonnie Burton (@bonniegrrl) Writer, You Can Draw: Star Wars
  • Nathan P. Butler (@swfanworks) Writer, ‘Equals and Opposites’ / StarWarsFanWorks.com
  • Chris Cassidy (@Yav14) Writer, ‘Precipice’
  • James.S.A.Corey (@JamesSACorey) aka Daniel Abraham (@AbrahamHanover) and Ty Franck. Authors, Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves.
  • Paul Ens (@paulens) Writer, R2-D2: Beneath the Dome, ‘Evasive Action’ webstrips / Owner of Red 5 Comics / Former Director of Lucas Online
  • Jason Fry (@jasoncfry) Author, The Essential Atlas
  • Christie Golden (@ChristieGolden) Author, Fate of the Jedi
  • Kevin Hearne (@KevinHearne) Author, upcoming Empire and Rebellion Luke novel.
  • Helen Keier (@HelenKeier) Writer, The New Essential Guide to Alien Species
  • Drew Karpyshyn (@DrewKarpyshyn) Author, Darth Bane novels.
  • Paul S. Kemp (@Paulskemp) Author, Crosscurrent
  • Tim Lebbon (@timlebbon) Author, Dawn of the Jedi novel
  • John Jackson Miller (@jjmfaraway) Writer, Knights of the Old Republic, Kenobi
  • Abel G. Peña (@ThePhilodoxer) Writer, things fanboys love
  • J. W. Rinzler (@jwrinzler) Writer, The Making of Star Wars, other nonfiction.
  • Joe Schreiber (@joeschreiber1) Author, Death Troopers
  • Mike Stackpole (@MikeStackpole) Author, X-Wing series
  • Matthew Stover (@MWStover ) Author, Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, Revenge of the Sith novelization.
  • Tom Taylor (@TomTaylorMade) Writer, Invasion comic.
  • Paul Urquhart (@quhart) Writer, The Essential Guide to Warfare
  • Dan Wallace (@danwall88) Author, The Essential Atlas
  • Martha Wells (@marthawells1) Author, Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge
  • Sean Williams (@adelaidesean) Author, The Force Unleashed novelizations
  • Ryder Windham (@ryderwindham)
  • Brian Wood (@brianwood) Writer, Star Wars, the comic that began in 2013
Artists
Organizations
Fan sites and the like
Notable fans
‘Characters’
Misc
Other notables