Star Wars Celebration Orlando Essential Stories: Day Two.

Boy, what a day. The Last Jedi‘s trailer arrived, but that wasn’t the only thing we learned about our beloved franchise at Star Wars Celebration Orlando. We’ll knock out the few non-TLJ headlines first before moving on to the massive amount of information that’s come out over the course of Friday.

 

Rogue One‘s Success Means That The Anthology Series Is Here To Stay

 

Here’s a headline that’s hardly surprising – a movie grosses over a billion and it ensures that the franchise will keep going. Such was the case with Rogue One, the first Star Wars movie of its kind, and by no means the last. Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy commented that she remains confident in the current slate of Anthology movies and will continue to develop new ideas in the future. She did not give any indications on what plans lie in wait, which is understandable given the fact that the panel where she mentioned this was focused entirely on The Last Jedi.

 

Dave Filoni Introduces Forces Of Destiny

 

Forces Of Destiny

At a recent panel featuring Dave Filoni, Ashley Eckstein, Tiya Sircar, and Daisy Ridley as a surprise guest, Filoni shed some light on the new animated series Forces Of Destiny, an anthology series focused on the women of Star Wars. Filoni exclusively screened one of the shorts (a story centered on Rey protecting BB-8 from other scavengers) to Celebration attendees. The show will premiere on Disney’s YouTube channel in July.

 

Journey To The Last Jedi Announced

 

Like The Force AwakensThe Last Jedi is going to get its own Journey To… book series leading up to the release of the film to help fill in the gap. Among the projects listed are a Leia book by Claudia Grey (Lost StarsBloodline), a Luke Skywalker-centric young readers book, and two projects involving Captain Phasma: a comic book miniseries covering the events between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, and a novel set even earlier than that.

 

Leia Won’t Be In Episode IX After All

 

Shortly after Todd Fisher mentioned that he and Billie Lourd gave Disney full permission to use any footage of Carrie Fisher for future Star Wars movies and outright stated that she’d be appearing in Episode IX. However, Kathleen Kennedy recently stated that no decision regarding Leia footage was made, which was later followed up by a statement suggesting that Episode VIII will be the character’s last movie. However, Kennedy noted that Leia’s part in The Last Jedi is substantially greater than it was in The Force Awakens, which should offset some of the problems with the narrative now that we know that Leia isn’t going to see the end of it.

 

Lucasfilm Hasn’t Fully Decided On Additional Saga Films Past Episode IX

 

…Or, at the least, they haven’t decided if they’re going to make future movies about the Skywalker family. Kathleen Kennedy cited George Lucas’s original plan to have a saga of three trilogies as a framework for what they intend to do with the Skywalker-centric series of movies, although they won’t rule out a fourth Skywalker-heavy trilogy should the right narrative opportunity arise. In any case, they certainly won’t stop making Star Wars movies as long as they’re making money (and let’s face it – they’d have to try pretty hard to get one of these movies to financially fail), but it seems likely that they won’t exclusively stick to Anthologies. In addition, Kennedy noted that it’s not likely that they’ll announce any new Star Wars movies until after The Last Jedi is in theaters.

 

The Last Jedi Teaser And Poster

 

Have you seriously not seen this? Watch it! Even if you already have, watch it again! You have no excuse to say no to another viewing of this! (And if you’ve clicked on the article, then you’ve clearly seen the other thing.)

 

Carrie Fisher Revised The Script

 

Rian Johnson revealed that in addition to giving a great performance as Leia, Carrie Fisher left her mark on the movie in a different way – by serving as a script doctor. Fisher regularly helped Johnson tweak the movie’s dialogue during the scripting process. Fisher had a reputation for being one of the best script doctors in Hollywood, so hopefully she saved some of her best work for last.

 

A Galaxy In Turmoil

 

As one might imagine, Starkiller Base blowing up Hosnian Prime has tremendous implications on the New Republic, or whatever’s left of it. While the First Order couldn’t take them on in a head-to-head battle and the annihilation of their superweapon was a devastating loss, destroying the leadership of the Republic and many of their most powerful ships in one fell swoop proved that their one-time planet-killer more than served its purpose. And because the Republic’s in such a state of disarray, they’re able to begin their path of conquest throughout the Galaxy with little else but an underfunded Resistance to oppose them.

 

Rose Is Incredibly Important

 

In fact, she’s far and away the most important of the movie’s three new major characters… And she’s only a Resistance technician. From the sound of things, she’s going to be pretty important to Finn’s portion of the story. While not much else has been said about this character, it’s good to know that we know what one of the new names in the Galaxy Far, Far Away will be instead of having to wait until much, much later into the movie’s marketing campaign.

 

BB-8 Provides A Lot Of Comic Relief

 

As it turns out, one of the biggest breakout stars of The Force Awakens wasn’t the new cast, but a prop. And from the sounds of things, he’s going to bring a lot of physical comedy to what looks to be one of the most serious Star Wars movies ever made. Director Rian Johnson explained that the legendary silent movie stuntman Buster Keaton was an inspiration for his take on the droid, indicating that this brave little astromech is going to undergo some humorously death-defying stunts over the course of the movie, or that at the very least he’s going to take a significant amount of abuse along the way.

 

Finn’s Still Weighing Out His Options

 

After getting out of his coma, Finn is immediately placed on a new mission to stop the First Order – but as he discovers, Finn isn’t entirely sure about where his loyalties lie and whether or not he believes he’s even up for fighting in a war of this scale. That being said, John Boyega described his role as being much more physical, so expect our hero to get in a lot of fights one way or the other. One thing that’s still certain is that he and Poe Dameron are still total bros.

 

Rey’s Story Is Far From Over

 

Daisy Ridley has signaled that Rey’s interactions with Luke are going to be crucial for the narrative of the Saga going forward, as – without giving anything away – Rey’s meeting with one of her childhood heroes doesn’t end up playing out like she’d imagined it would, which has some serious consequences for the Galaxy at large. Fans should also expect quite a bit of progress on the answer to the ever-present question about her parents – regardless of whether or not we’ll actually learn about their identities, Ridley suggested that at the very least, we’re going to learn about what kind of people Rey’s parents were.

 

Luke Is The Key To The Story

 

From what Bob Iger has told us, Luke Skywalker talks quite a bit in this movie to make up for his silence that closed out The Force Awakens. But he’s not going to just sit back and provide exposition – no, Luke is going to have a significant role in The Last Jedi, according to Kathleen Kennedy. Mark Hamill added that a lot of this has to do with the fact that we barely know anything about what the character has done in the past thirty years, and especially what’s happened between the Jedi Temple massacre and Rey’s rediscovery of the hero on Ahch-To. We can tell two things for sure, though – he’s not completely unwilling to pass on what he’s learned, and whatever’s happened to him in over thirty years has left him with the impression that the Jedi shouldn’t return. Hamill also mentioned that a lot of what he read in the script he initially disagreed with, signaling that we’re going to see a radically different Luke than the one that we’re used to (although thankfully, Hamill noted that he stopped being worried about his character’s direction in the story once he really started acting it out, and has recently called Rian Johnson one of his favorite directors).

 

No, The Last Jedi Is Not The Empire Strikes Back 2.0

 

According to Daisy Ridley, all of the responses to rough cuts of the film have emphasized how ‘different’ the movie is compared to other Star Wars films. So please stop worrying that the Sequel Trilogy is going to copy the story beats of the Original Trilogy, because the middle third of this trilogy is already shaping up to be the most original Star Wars movie.

 

The Last Jedi Exclusively Refers To Luke

 

One last thing… In spite of the recent suggestions from foreign versions of the title all indicating that “Jedi” is plural, Rian Johnson has just confirmed that it just refers to Luke Skywalker – something that seems to be apparent with Luke’s somber reflection that he has to be the last Jedi.

 

What are your favorite Celebration moments thus far? Let us know in the comments below.

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

22 thoughts on “Star Wars Celebration Orlando Essential Stories: Day Two.

  • April 16, 2017 at 8:10 am
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    Apologies for the delay on this article and the follow-ups. I hope to knock the others out rather quickly.

    – Pomojema

  • April 16, 2017 at 12:38 pm
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    Does anyone know if the rain/beach battle between Luke & Rey, & the Knights of Ren, is still in TLJ? Was hoping for a bit of that in the teaser..

    • April 16, 2017 at 2:39 pm
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      Yeah, Rian Johnson.

      • April 16, 2017 at 5:12 pm
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        Did you mean Rain Johnson?

        • April 16, 2017 at 5:44 pm
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          No. I did not.

          • April 16, 2017 at 11:52 pm
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            —————The joke—————–

            Your head.

          • April 17, 2017 at 1:23 am
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            No, I got it. It just wasn’t funny.

  • April 16, 2017 at 3:14 pm
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    Things to worry about RJ’s script according to this article:

    1) Mark Hamill (initially) disagreed with a lot of what he read in the script.

    2) Finn isn’t entirely sure where his loyalties are.

    3) Carrie Fisher had to revise the script.

    I wish Lawrence Kasdan had stuck around after TFA.

    • April 16, 2017 at 3:30 pm
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      1) Mark hamill also said Rian Johnson is the best director he’s worked with, and at the last celebration he said “I was looping Episode VIII yesterday, and there’s dialogue in there, and I thought, ‘Oh boy, I can already see this on a T-shirt. Rian Johnson is amazing. He’ll make you forget all about ‘May the Force be with you.’ He’s come up with so many new catchphrases.”

      2) Finn isn’t sure if he should keep running from The First Order or if he should face them head on by officially joining the Resistance. Sounds like Han!

      3) Carrie Fisher re-wrote a lot of her own dialogue in the OT including much of the banter between Leia and Han in Empire strikes Back. Rian worked with Carrie to breathe life into the character now that her role was a bit bigger than it was in the previous film.

    • April 16, 2017 at 5:05 pm
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      I Hamills disagreemnt with the script is because he had a perception of who Luke was.
      We all felt Luke would take the traditional Wise Jedi role like Yoda.
      But its clear Luke is depressed and disillusioned by the Jeid path.

      • April 16, 2017 at 9:06 pm
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        He had disagreements during the OT as well.

      • April 16, 2017 at 10:44 pm
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        Makes sense considering all he’s been through.

    • April 16, 2017 at 9:07 pm
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      People also complained about Larry Kasdan’s TFA. Of course some people will complain no matter who writes or directs.

  • April 17, 2017 at 12:47 am
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    What a SWs celebration. A shame I couldn’t attend. Overall, The TLJ teaser was awesome. I am in the minority, but I loved this teaser a lot more than TFA. TFA’s teaser strip it down was a bite of nostalgia and that euphoria I find can get old quickly, like eating too much fast food(much like my views on TFA in a nutshell).

    But TLJ’s teaser was actually a teaser. What do I mean? It showed just enough in my view. This is another discussion, but I feel like to many teasers show too much. Watch GoodBadFlicks discussion on trailers that show too much. But I digress.

    What I liked was the mood. The movie itself showed money shots, but also really showcased what we are in for. And Mark Hamill’s lines where spectacular. Nothing short of RJ amazing ability to write. And that last line; predictable but holds a lot of meaning.

    So yeah, I’m excited. Some are skeptical about this being ESB. Unless, LucasFilm screws over RJ(to which I’ll easy stop supporting any of disney’s stuff with SWs.) and forces him to do ESB; I HIGHLY doubt it.

    As for the anthology films, YES. Please, continue them. I rewatched RO and I still enjoy it, but really it opens the door for other eras in the SWs universe. Really, if the main Saga is like the main tapestry collection in a gallery, then the anthologies are the separate pieces that can stand alone but work with that collection.

    Also, Journey to TLJ I am looking forward to, but please do NOT be like Journey to TFA which most of that content I found was lackluster. I’ll give the story group credit; this isn’t there first time and since TFA I am finding a lot of the new content to be a lot better.

    I am looking forward to Claudia Gray’s new book. She’s an awesome writer and I have even checked out some of other books.

    • April 17, 2017 at 12:52 am
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      As an addendum, I am curious about Rose’s role as well as Boyega. I hope his character in particular is a lot stronger. Too much comedic relief. BB8 humor, yeah; I’m down for that. Makes sense. The MC droid should be funny.

      As for Rey, I’ll be curious. Concept wise, I liked her. Character not so much. Luke Skywalker I am curious about because really he wasn’t in TFA at all and as one of the last links of the OT, his story is one I’ll be most curious. I mean we haven’t seen Luke in 30 years.

      A lot has definitely happened since ROTJ.

  • April 17, 2017 at 7:05 am
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    Everything here about TLJ is related to one side.
    Only the turmoil part regard us the First Order.
    I had the same feeling in the Panel and the Teaser.
    Obviously they are not talking at all about half of the story intentionally.

  • April 17, 2017 at 4:37 pm
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    I still don’t get why people are confused about the title for Episode 8. They explain it in the opening crawl of The Force Awakens:

    “Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.”

    • April 17, 2017 at 4:59 pm
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      If the movie is called the Last Jedi and the last Jedi is Luke, then is the movie about Luke ? I thought it should be about the next generation of force users (Rey and Ben/Kylo) , or about Rey, Ben and Finn. I don’t want an entire movie revolving around grey Jedi and weird force trees with a few filer action sequences featuring Finn and Poe. Unfortunately, that is what the teaser and the title are giving us.

      • April 17, 2017 at 5:07 pm
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        Well, uh, that is certainly one way to interpret it.

  • April 17, 2017 at 9:37 pm
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    I get the feeling they’re going to set up some kind of romance between Finn and this new “Rose” character (if in fact that is the character’s actual name, I kinda hope not). If he’s having second thoughts about staying on board with the Resistance, maybe she will be the one to keep him around – although that’s kind of what Rey did for Finn in TFA (in a platonic, non-romantic way). If they do set up some kind of love story between these two characters, I expect it to be very different from the Han and Leia dynamic from the OT. Finn certainly ain’t Han, and this Rose character doesn’t sound like the headstrong princess type. I imagine they’d set it up to be a little more goofy, even “nerdy” dare I say. It will probably be more awkward and funny, like something you’d see on the the TV show “The Big Bang Theory.” It could probably work. Not much could be worse than the stiff and thoroughly unconvincing so-called “romance” between Anakin and Padme in the Prequels. Most of that was cringe-worthy almost to the point of being painful. But a little bit of romance is probably an essential ingredient in the Star Wars formula, and it definitely helps the films appeal to a certain demographic of viewers – those mostly of the female variety (my wife’s favorite scenes in all the Star Wars movies involve the flirtatious banter between Han and Leia – both playful and confrontational). I don’t see any kind of “romance” developing for Rey. Like Luke in the OT, she’s going to have more important things to worry about and there’ll be no time for love Dr. Jones.

    • April 17, 2017 at 11:38 pm
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      Finn’s and Poe’s subplots have to be tied up somehow with Rey’s and Luke’s , or else Finn in particular will be just a minor supporting character or a distraction , which is something I personally don’t want to happen. As I wrote below, I’m afraid they are focusing too much on Luke (who should be increasingly phased out of the NT really, like Han and Leia) , and are moving away from the new characters, except Rey of course.

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