Highlights from The Last Jedi Panel. New Teaser Trailer and Poster Revealed.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

The biggest movie of the year, of the century, is upon us so there is no need for a lengthy introduction, here is the breakdown of The Last Jedi Panel at Star Wars Celebration Orlando!

 

 

Host Josh Gad is introduced and proceeds to introduce Kathleen Kennedy and Rian Johnson. Johnson started off by revealing The Last Jedi was deep in post-production.

 

Gad asked Kennedy what Rian Johnson brings to the Star Wars Universe:

 

“Rian is on his way to standing alongside many of the great filmmakers I’ve had the opportunity to work with. He has an amazing uniqueness to what he does and writes as beautifully as he directs. He writes amazingly fierce and independent women.”

 

 

Rian Johnson talked about his experience making the film:

 

“It was a joyful experience. We were shooting in Pinewood Studios, which was like Camelot growing up so to actually work there every day added to this magical experience. We were up and down the west coast of Ireland, and everywhere we went, we had a great time there and shot some beautiful landscapes.”

 

Johnson went on to explain that he was the only one on set allowed to take personal photos, so he took it upon himself to use his personal camera and wound up taking incredible black and white shots of the cast and crew while filming, including Oscaar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, and a rather hilarious shot of a broom weilding crew member with a mess of dead Stormtroopers to clean up.

 

One of the shots that caught my eye was Daisy holding a lightsaber with a crew member holding an umbrella over her head. It looks like we are definitely getting some training or fight scenes in the rain, perhaps on Ach-To.

 

 

Josh Gad then asked Kathleen and Rian about Carrie Fisher:

 

Kennedy – “Carrie is remarkable in the movie. What Rian wrote and the performance she ends up giving is an amazing tribute to her talent.”

Johnson – “I connected with her as a writer. She is a brilliant writer, an incredible mind. We’d sit on her bed for hours and go through the script, and have stream of consciousness ad-lib poetry sessions, and after hours a four word line would stand out.”

 

 

Daisy Ridley comes on stage.

Daisy Ridley on what she could tell us about her character and the movie:

 

“I can tell you some things. A small amount. In the Last Jedi we go deeper into Rey’s story, and what is apparent is Rey has a certain expectation of what she may be getting from Luke. It is difficult to meet your heroes because you might not get what you expect.”

 

This makes me think that Luke is far more jaded than Rey expects. While she may be expecting a willing and ready teacher in the Jedi Master, perhaps we may find Rey encountering a hesitant and reluctant damaged Luke at the onset.

 

 

Daisy said that over the last two years mothers and daughters all over kept thanking and congratulating her, but she points out it was JJ Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and Lucasfilm who are to thank. However Rian Johnson interrupted and said make no mistake about it, Daisy Ridley brought Rey to life and gave young girls across the world a new hero to get behind.

 

 

BB-8 arrives on stage

There isn’t too much revealed here other than the fact that I still marvel at how incredible the technology is to create this real life moving and interacting droid. Rian Johnson did reveal a bit about BB-8 and his role in The Last Jedi:

 

“JJ and his producers told me that you can’t have enough BB-8. He is the Buster Keaton of this movie.”

 

 

John Boyega Hits the stage.

Boyega spoke briefly about his character and where Finn is at in The Last Jedi, and although Oscar Isaac couldn’t be at Celebration, he assures fans that Finn and Poe and still great friends:

 

“Finn stood up for himself and caught a bit of an injury, but he’ll be back, and he is not playing around this time.”

 

 

Rian Johnson on the First Order.

 

“The first order is aggressive and capitalizing on the core of the New Republic that they destroyed. They are not sitting on their hands out of the gate.”

 

 

Kelly Marie Tran’s “Rose” is the biggest new part in the movie!

Kelly Marie Tran is introduced, and Johnson explained that Rose is a part of the resistance, but she is no hero, she works in maintenance. However, like Luke in A New Hope she is unwillingly somehow thrust into the fight and has to realize a strength within herself that she didn’t know existed. We fully expect her to go on an adventure with Finn throughout the movie as we saw in previously released photos.

 

 

Mark Hamill Arrives on stage.

Hamill talked about how he was terrified to try to catch lightning in a bottle since his story had a beginning, middle, and end that ended after Return of the Jedi. He took solace in the fact that Rian Johnson admitted to him that he was terrified too. Hamill went on to say Johnson is at the top of his all-time favorite directors and that he was completely at peace that Luke was in his hands to bring the best that character can be to the screen.

 

While Hamill humbly said it’s not his story anymore, Kathleen Kennedy interjected immediately to assure us all that Luke is a huge part of this movie.

 

 

The funniest part of the panel came when Hamill faked a slip of the tongue by almost referring to Daisy as his daughter, but then he went on to remind us all that he is a pathological liar, purposely to keep us all guessing.

 

Mark Hamill closed by thanking the fans:

 

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be sitting here. You’re there for us all the time, in good times and bad.”

 

 

 

Incredible new teaser poster.

Johnson teased the fans with a brand new teaser poster. It is a powerful piece. We see Rey standing holding the blue lightsaber to the sky, very reminiscent of Luke from one of the original Star Wars posters from 1977. The background is red, and the lightsaber beam splits the faces of Luke and Kylo Ren. A very ominous poster perhaps indicating the lines between the dark and the light will be more blurred than ever, but either way it is an incredible piece of art work.

 

 

Teaser trailer!

Rian Johnson revealed the trailer to the crowd and ended up showing it twice. Please see our trailer breakdown piece right here at Star Wars News Net which will be posted soon!

 

 

 

 

Also check out these other images shown during the panel.

 

 

Are you as excited as I am? What did you take away from the panel? Sound off below!

 

“For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is.”

 

Twitter: @JohnnyHoey

 

 

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John Hoey is the Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net and the host of The Resistance Broadcast podcast

"For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is."

John Hoey

John Hoey is the Lead Editor and Senior Writer for Star Wars News Net and the host of The Resistance Broadcast podcast"For my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is."

35 thoughts on “Highlights from The Last Jedi Panel. New Teaser Trailer and Poster Revealed.

  • April 14, 2017 at 8:47 pm
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    Well folks. I know people wanted new designs for vehicles and starships instead of rehashes.

    You got some weird looking new shit.

    • April 14, 2017 at 8:56 pm
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      Like the desert skimmers – they’re like a rad gene-splice of the Serenity & something outta Mad Max!

    • April 14, 2017 at 10:40 pm
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      Honestly those newer looking Nebulon frigates are likely B3s or something. Very similar to the B2s. To be clear this would be new to the canon but still based on older designs. I liked the desert things. I want to see those walkers up close…

      • April 15, 2017 at 2:30 am
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        They smack of Nebulon B, but at the same time, they’re not. They’re a solid construction, rather than the modular looking nature of the decks on a Neb B stacked on top of each other. And of course you don’t have the ship broken up into two parts and separated either. I dunno if this is an evolution of that ship canon wise, or just inspired by that ships design.

  • April 14, 2017 at 8:57 pm
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    I guess that’s the forward-angle of Luke surveying the post-Kylo aftermath of his abortive Jedi 2.0 academy?

  • April 14, 2017 at 9:01 pm
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    The poster looks awesome, I love the blood red theme they got going. Although… Rey at the bottom looks like she was lifted off a Tron poster. 😉

    • April 14, 2017 at 10:19 pm
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      Well said. I knew that poster looked familiar. LucasFilm really knows how to make a different kind of movie and add to the stories, and yet still be “Star Wars”

    • April 14, 2017 at 10:34 pm
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      Almost as if it were on purpose… 😛

      • April 14, 2017 at 10:36 pm
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        Suspiciously so…. hmmm..

      • April 17, 2017 at 7:07 am
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        Can it be she’s in disagreement with two types of evil? DUN DUN DUUUNNNNNN

    • April 15, 2017 at 3:36 am
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      l00m1n@rty cunfurmd.

  • April 14, 2017 at 10:30 pm
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    I see that Disney are doing a continuation with the Illuminati ‘all-seeing-eye’ with their posters for the nu-franchise.

    • April 14, 2017 at 10:38 pm
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      People keeping making these jokes and the next generation is going to think it’s real. Just you watch!

      • April 15, 2017 at 5:04 am
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        It’s the reptilians that get my skin crawling….

  • April 14, 2017 at 10:44 pm
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    Really like how both nostalgic ‘and’ new that TLJ poster is; really gives it a sense of ‘balance’. ^_^

  • April 14, 2017 at 10:46 pm
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    Love the teaser and the poster!

  • April 14, 2017 at 10:49 pm
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    That’s a bad-ass poster. I dig it.

  • April 14, 2017 at 11:46 pm
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    Love, love, love that poster!

  • April 15, 2017 at 12:43 am
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    I have to say that I love love love the visual side of the teaser. I remember seeing a new hope and empire and you could pause it at any second and it would look amazing. This trailer had the same effect on me. Visually stunning. If the story is as good as this it could be in my top 3 !!!!!

  • April 15, 2017 at 1:18 am
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    Not the teaser poster is a knockoff as well. So when do we get some Han Solo news?

    • April 15, 2017 at 2:32 am
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      Note, your butt hurt is showing.

  • April 15, 2017 at 3:26 am
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    That teaser poster is fantastic! As for the trailer, I think it’s great. The atmosphere and cinematography are both great, and it was edited very well. I can’t wait for more!

  • April 15, 2017 at 12:07 pm
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    Sad part about this poster is that we actually got real hand painted art by real artists in the 90’s and 00’s on books and comics that aren’t even canon.

  • April 15, 2017 at 12:22 pm
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    Why is no one discussing the symbolism of the disproportionate size between Luke’s and Kylo’s heads?

  • April 17, 2017 at 7:01 am
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    Alright looking at the poster I’ve made an analysis that can either be very wrong or very right. Rey is the balance. She’s in the middle. Her blade starts off blue but towards the tip it’s red. Luke is on the left representing the light side or the “Jedi” and Ben is to the right representing the dark side. Some of you might be like “well duh” but fuck it lol

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