Star Wars with occasional sarcasm
You can now buy a Body Vibe replica of General Leia’s ring from The Force Awakens (which she also wears in The Last Jedi). The “signet ring” (per The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary) features two blue stones paired in a gold band. It’s avaliable on Amazon for $29.99.
Maybe we’ll see some replicas of the jewelry from The Last Jedi in 2019? Until then, keep your eyes on Etsy…
It’s Daisy Ridley’s turn on publicity roundabout, and she’s chatting with Adam Driver for V Magazine. They discuss becoming “besties” on The Last Jedi set, The Force Awakens publicity weirdness and Murder on the Orient Express. The accompanying photos are VERY ’80s. (No Adam, but there’s British GQ for that.)
→ Meanwhile, Ridley is also over sorta-kinda-not-really talking about Rey’s parentage in Japan. /Film has the translation.
→ Some creature revelations from Neal Scanlan: Details on porgs, caretakers, droids and those crystal foxes.
→ Build-A-Bear has porgs. I repeat: Build-A-Bear has porgs! And some other stuff. But mostly porgs.
In a new interview, Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times speaks to Mark Hamill about life before, after and during (again) Star Wars.
Among the Star Wars exclusives for San Diego Comic-Con is a special edition of Christie Golden’s Battlefront II: Inferno Squadron. The book is officially out July 25, so this gives fans at the con (July 20-23) a few days jump on it, assuming they get there before it sells out. For now, there’s the first excerpt. The game’s star, Janina Gavankar, has an extended interview from her Star Wars Show apperance.
→ In addition to their Star Wars Adventures series, IDW will launch a with an 80-page The Force Awakens adaptation for young readers. It’s written by Alessandro Ferrari, with art from “a group of Disney artists.” Look for it in August.
→ Timothy Zahn talks writing and his latest Star Wars novel, Thrawn, with the New York Daily News. He reveals that he’s pitched two-more post-Thrawn novels on the character. (Though, as us Legends fans know, that doesn’t mean LFL will take him up on them.) He also has an extended version of his Star Wars Show interview.
Rian Johnson had (at least) one request for J.J. Abrams about The Force Awakens‘ ending – to have Artoo go with Rey instead of BB-8, so the classic droid could be reunited with Luke Skywalker. Luke, naturally, is central to The Last Jedi:
“Figuring out where his head was at was the very first thing I had to do when writing the movie. I had to crack this. And it had to be something for me that first and foremost made sense. Why did Luke Skywalker go off to this island?” Johnson says. “That was the starting point, and that’s what the entire movie explores.”
So Luke’s self-exile – and his reasoning – is a key factor in the film.
Star Wars fandom being Star Wars fandom, it didn’t take long for fans to note that Kylo Ren’s scar in The Last Jedi trailer is different from the wound he received in The Force Awakens. Why the change? For the aesthetic! “It honestly looked goofy running straight up the bridge of his nose,” director Rian Johnson said on Twitter.
It’s good an explanation as any, given we’ll be seeing a lot more of it in The Last Jedi and (probably) Episode IX than we did in TFA.
Speaking of Rian Johnson, there’s a new/old interview with him in this week’s Star Wars Show.
It’s been a year since Pablo Hidalgo introduced us to one of The Force Awakens most important bits of fanon: General Hux’s cat, Millicent. And I never did get around to doing a followup to last year’s post on the matter. So here’s another batch of great stuff from Tumblr.
Continue reading “The continuing adventures of Millicent the cat (on Tumblr)”
Out Tuesday we have The Force Awakens 3D Blu-ray, which also includes director J.J. Abrams’ commentary. (Some of it we already know from preview clips and other media, but there’s a decent rundown over at io9.)
In books, there’s the Rogue One prequel novel, Catalyst by James Luceno. It’s our last major release before the film, although we do have Carrie Fisher’s latest memoir coming on the 22nd.
Two Star Wars comics are headed for the shops on Wednesday: Poe Dameron #8 and The Force Awakens #6, the final issue of the movie adaptation.
Daisy Ridley addresses the criticisms of Rey as a Mary Sue on MTV’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, saying the term itself is “sexist” and noting that Luke Skywalker had many of the same abilities.
She also said that Kelly Marie Tran’s role in VIII is “crucial” and discusses how it’s different working with Mark Hamill than it was Harrison Ford. Her interview starts at about 48 minutes in on the podcast.