Rumor: Will Lucasfilm announce new editions of the pre-Special Edition original trilogy at Celebration?

After yesterday’s announcement of a 40th Anniversary panel on the first day of Celebration and a “surprise,”, naturally fan speculation ramped into overdrive. With The Last Jedi panel set for the second day of the con, fans focused on two things: A George Lucas appearance, or the announcement of the long-awaited and perennially rumored “unaltered” Original Trilogy. Today, Making Star Wars is saying that they’ve been hearing things that lead them to believe it will indeed be pre-Special Edition OT.

If the rumor does pan out this time, it will at least be something worth building up for hype. (I can’t really see George showing up, even if this turns up to be false – he seemed uncomfortable at Celebration even when he owned the company. That said, I’ve been wrong before.)

Almost all home releases of the original trilogy since the early ’90s have been built on the restored and digitally tweaked Special Edition versions that were released in 1997. Transfers of the 1993 Laserdisc versions of the film appeared as extras on some 2006 DVDs, but many fans have been hoping for better quality ports for years now. I’m not particularly obsessive about it, and I own those DVDS, but as a member of the VHS generation I’d buy better versions in a heartbeat.

But, as always, Star Wars fans love to speculate, and anything to do with this issue is hotly debated, so keep your pants on. For now, anyway.

In the meantime, here’s fuzzy Youtube version of ‘Lapti Nek’ for the younglings who only know ‘Jedi Rocks.’ It’s ’80s-sleaze-a-riffic!

Rumor: A new planet for The Last Jedi?

In today’s rumor, Making Star Wars reports on a new planet it seems we’ll see in The Last Jedi and who likely resides there. (It might be connected to another recent rumor.)

→ Some areas of the fandom ::coughReylocough:: have noted that the certain StarWars.com Databank entries for have been updated to reference a “mysterious” and “strange” connection between Kylo Ren and Rey. Is it love? Is it their genes? Is it the Force? All three? Take it as you will.

→ It’s official: Jimmy Vee is playing R2-D2 in The Last Jedi, per both his agency, Oh So Small and Lucasfilm themselves, via Mashable. He takes over from Kenny Baker, who died last year.

→ And to round things out, here’s a quick reminder that any rumor sourced from Reddit or 4chan should be considered extremely dubious. (Which is why I don’t bother to report them myself anymore.) That’s one reason why it’s important to note the original source of an item! Also be on watch for the term ‘speculation.’ There’s a lot of fan speculation out there, but that doesn’t make it news.

Rumor: Pheobe Waller-Bridge in talks for CGI role in Han standalone

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Variety reports that Pheobe Waller-Bridge, creator and star of the Amazon series Fleabag, is in talks for a “CGI-driven” role in the Han Solo standalone.

They describe her characters as “a significant part of the ensemble,” so something more in line with Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO in Rogue One than Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata in The Force Awakens.

The movie stars Alden Ehrenreich, Donald Glover, Woody Harrelson and Emilia Clarke. It’s directed Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who recently noted that it had begun filming. It’s due out in 2018.