Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
I admit I was doubtful when some claimed they had spotted a sliver of Jimmy Smits in the Rogue One sizzle reel at Celebration, but now the man himself confirmed it – in a squirrely sort of manner – on The Talk:
So now we know: Bail Organa may appear briefly in Rogue One – assuming his shots makes the final cut, that is.
Smits played Bail Organa, the adoptive father of Leia, in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
Debuting (sort of) on the latest Star Wars Show is the U-wing, or Incom UT-60D, a new ship we’ll see in Rogue One… Which was also in the very first piece of Rogue One concept art we saw! That’s the movie still above, and here are a few screenshots:
Learn more from our old pal Matt Martin of the Story Group, who stops by with more details. The show also features “Weird Al” Yankovic.
They also announced a second show, The Star Wars Aftershow, which launches Thursday on Verizon’s Youtube. It’ll be hosts Andi and Peter along with “other Lucasfilm employees” talking about the week’s news in a round table setting.
Spoiler: It’s all footage from the trailer, but interesting that we’d be seeing this quite so soon.
Lucasfilm shared a new picture of Riz Ahmed’s Bodhi Rook in Rogue One. Don’t forget to act surprised when his hairstyle prompts a new wave of theories as to Rey’s parentage!
→ Mads Mikkelsen says the film’s reshoots “will be done soon,” and calls director Gareth Edwards “a real actors’ man.”
→ Also making waves this week is some 100% official confirmations of who won’t be in Rogue One, as spotted by Star Wars Underworld.
With most of the book news (for our purposes) dropping at Celebration – the authors of Catalyst and the Rogue One novelization and Thrawn – the SDCC panel was fairly light on news, but there was plenty of discussion.
There were two cover reveals, though: The Art of Rogue One and the back cover of Aftermath: Empire’s End, which you can see below.
The Art of cover was shared by StarWars.com today. You can also get a closer look at the Thrawn art at Two Dots’ Behance page.
Among the displays at the Star Wars pavilion at San Diego Comic-Con was the costume of a previously unseen Rogue One character, Edrio Two Tubes. Here are his details:
Edrio Two Tubes is a mercenary pilot who flies alongside his eggmate, Benthic. The two share the nickname derived from the breathing apparatus that allows their Tognath physiology to process oxygen atmospheres. Edrio’s home world Yar Togna was conquered and occupied by the Empire, forcing him to flee as a refugee. Desiring to strike back at the Empire, Edrio and Benthic have allied with Saw Gerrera.
Check out the rest of the Rogue One costumes at James’ Flickr.
The latest Star Wars Show recaps Celebration, gives us details about Space Monkey, and interviews Han Solo 2.0, Alden Ehrenreich.
StarWars.com is posting a ton of Celebration videos on their Youtube, including the full panels from Rebels, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, the Fetts and more. Check ’em all out.
→ IGN’s Daniel Krupa takes a look at the 6 classic movies that Episode VIII director Rian Johnson encouraged his cast and crew to watch, and how they might influence the upcoming film.
→ Dave Filoni chats Rebels S3, Thrawn and dealing with a “mass continuity” with io9’s Germain Lussier.
→ Felicity Jones talked about her big line in the Rogue One sizzle reel with Entertainment Tonight, and here’s what we learned from the Rogue One exhibit.
→ Spotted on the floor: Kelly Marie Tran, who still had filming to do!
→ As always, check out the CJ Tumblr for more photos, videos, GIFs and links from the con!
Another Celebration is over, and while this one felt a bit restrained, here are the big hits. Follow the links for all the details!
Rogue One
We didn’t get a Rogue One trailer – what was shown only to the live audience was mostly footage we’ve already seen with only a handful of new additions – but there was a nifty sizzle reel. And we learned a couple things about the worlds and characters of the film – plus a poster! And Gwendoline Christie is a fantastic panel host. Later, Kathleen Kennedy said they’re leaning towards not giving the film an opening crawl. Also, check out these amazing cast photos from behind the scenes at the con.
Rebels expands the GFFA
But the con’s big surprise – at least for our purposes – is Thrawn coming to Rebels. The rumor has been floating around since January 2016, but what really took it over the top was the additional news that Timothy Zahn will be writing a new novel about the character. In other book news, we learned that Alexander Freed is doing the Rogue One novelization, while James Luceno is writing the film’s tie-in, Catalyst. We also got a cover for the Ahsoka novel, as well as some hints as to what the character got up to between The Clone Wars and Rebels.
Han Solo and the Official Casting Announcement
Alden Ehrenreich was finally confirmed as the young Han Solo, and Batman on the Millennium Falcon is totally canon. (Or not.)
Episode VIII
With the focus on Rogue One, we didn’t get much on VIII. But Mark Hamill praised Rian Johnson’s dialogue, and Johnson showed a few new behind-the-scenes pics at the Future Filmmakers panel. We didn’t get a title because it doesn’t have one yet. But remember, there’s still one more Celebration between now and the film’s release…
And finally, here’s a sweet video that was played at the Closing Ceremonies:
We’ll have a new tweet roundup in a day or so, as well as continuing wrap-up coverage, but those are the highlights!
Matthew Ruddle, marketing manager for Penguin Random House UK, dropped a few news bits on the livestream Sunday morning. Most notable is that Alexander Freed (Battlefront: Twilight Company) is writing the Rogue One novelization.
He also revealed that Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn novel will be a prequel to his appearance on Rebels. “You’re going to get to see how Thrawn got to his position of power, how he became so respected in the Empire, and just what makes him such a brilliant villain and tactician,” Ruddle said.
Alas, he couldn’t share even that much detail on James Luceno’s Catalyst, which was also announced yesterday. “If you’re going to be watching Rogue One, you need to read Catalyst,” Ruddle said. “It ties in, it connects dots.”