First spy pictures from Rogue One?

We haven’t had any official updates on Rogue One lately – even though they presumably started filming last week – but fandom is pretty sure that The Mirror has pics from the filming. They think it’s The Force Awakens, but those are pretty clearly original trilogy stormtroopers…

Rumor roundup #2: Snoke concept art, more familiar faces for Rogue One?

snokeWe’re not done yet with the random rumors today, apparently…

Making Star Wars (of course) has a description of some Supreme Leader Snoke concept art for The Force Awakens. Jason suspects it wasn’t the final version, and it does sound a little too reminiscent of another recent high-profile baddie…

→ And on the Rogue One front, Bloody Disgusting claims there are a few more familiar faces in the mix, something we’ve heard before.

Rumor roundup: The ‘full slate’ and who might we see in Rogue One?

rumors-swirl-sw-probeYesterday we had a big chunk of news that pretty much blew everything else away, and with SDCC officially beginning tonight we’ll likely get even more, so let’s clear the boards with a few things that have been floating around regarding Episode VII, Rogue One and (maybe) even Episode VIII.

→ Before we break for possible spoilers and casting rumors, A ‘full slate” of Star Wars films has ‘leaked,’ but it directly contradicts yesterday’s Han Solo news, with a Kenobi film after Episode VIII and “Fett/Solo” in 2020. Okay! (UPDATE: It’s fake. I’m shocked.)

Continue reading “Rumor roundup: The ‘full slate’ and who might we see in Rogue One?”

Michelle MacLaren may be in the mix to direct Anthology #2

michelle-maclaren

Today was a good day for Anthology rumors. First up, apparently director Michelle MacLaren took a meeting on the second spin-off. MacLaren was most recently in the news for departing the Wonder Woman film, but her directing credits include episodes of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad.

As for Rogue One, JoBlo has a few bullet points, most of which we’ve already been told or can guess at, but consider it a double-down on a few things.

Rogue One writer asks for science help from Neil deGrasse Tyson, prepare to be mansplained to about the term ‘space opera’

weitz-ndt

So a few days ago, Rogue One writer Chris Weitz asked Neil deGrasse Tyson for science help. Star Wars has always had a very tentative relationship with real science – it’s just not that kind of movie, kid – so this has resulted in some spirited discussion in certain areas of fandom.

Now, by no means do I think Weitz’s question will turn out be the very lynchpin of the film, but if the dude wants to make some random thing scientifically accurate, I’m not gonna disapprove, either. After all, what is space opera but a big melting pot of genres?

Tyson hasn’t replied publicly. But he did once tell Business Insider that he never got into Star Wars. “Maybe because they made no attempt to portray real physics. At all.”

This has still made a few headlines, so if nothing else, it’s turned into a cute little stealth marketing trick.

And, for the record, @RogueOne2016 is not an official account.

Gary Whitta is writing an episode of Rebels

@garywhitta: Writing an episode of @StarWars Rebels while my daughter sits in my office in Rebels pajamas, watching Rebels. #StarWarsRebels

Screenwriter Gary Whitta tweeted today that he’s writing an episode of Rebels. As Whitta was the first writer on Rogue One – and in fact came up with the title – this has naturally launched some speculation that the episode may tie into the film, which is due out December 2016. Both the show and the movie predate A New Hope and involve the Rebellion, so connections are by no means out of the question.

If Rebels continues to air the bulk of their seasons beginning in the fall, 2016 would mean season 3, which is as far as the show has been renewed for at the moment.

But that really is all speculation – all we really know is that he’s writing an episode, nothing more.