‘Star Wars’ Celebration 2023 Day 1 Roundup From the LIVE! Stage
If you’re following Star Wars Celebration from home, don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. The LIVE! stage interviewed a number of special guests about their experiences filming and/or their upcoming Star Wars projects. Here are a select few highlights from the interviews today.
First up, we heard from Amandla Stenberg and Lee Jung-jae. Amandla Stenberg’s Padmé cosplay today was just delightful. It’s always fun to see actors new to the franchise demonstrate their fandom. The first Celebration for both Stenberg and Jung-jae, they both discussed how amazed they were at the reception and fan community displayed at the event. Jung-jae also commented that because English isn’t his first language, if The Acolyte hadn’t been Star Wars, he probably would have declined. He added:
“But who can say no to Star Wars? And I get to use a lightsaber, come on!”
Similarly, Stenberg talked about how the role was served up to her on a silver platter, an absolute dream coming true. When Headland and team discussed the role with her, they had already drawn up her character with Stenberg in mind, which she said was a “fall on the floor” moment.
Next up we had Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, and Kyle Soller on the stage discussing the multi-faceted emotional and moral characteristics (or lack thereof) of their characters. All three had glowing praise for Tony Gilroy and the whole writing team on Andor. Denise Gough, in particular, enthused about how much of a fun challenge it was to play such a dark character that was evil in an unexpectedly bureaucratic way. Asked about whether or not there was a moment between Syril Karn and Dedra Meero at the end of season 1, Soller said:
“There is so much Syril wants from Dedra. She represents a lot to him. He wants to be in the ISB. He’s got all the suits with all the tailoring.”
Gough followed with:
“And then she has to thank him and she doesn’t really want to. I think Tony even added that line about ‘I suppose I should thank you’ and then he says ‘You don’t have to’ and she’s like oh, thank god. But [jokingly] that was our seven minutes in heaven, which is what we called that scene.”
We also got to see an interview with Joonas Suotamo and Dean-Charles Chapman from The Acolyte, where they discussed their origins with Star Wars, what it’s been like filming stunts on The Acolyte, and more.
Many more guests were interviewed today on the LIVE! stage at Celebration, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and James Mangold from Indiana Jones, plus Rayne Roberts from The Acolyte, among others.
Check out the some of the video clips below:
In addition to the numerous interviews conducted, the LIVE! programming also included a recording (immediately after the panel wrapped up in real time) of the “Making of Andor season 1″ panel, which featured Tony Gilroy, John Gilroy, Nicholas Britell, Diego Luna, and other creatives who worked hard to bring season 1 to life. Check out the entire day of the LIVE! stage below:
We’ll be back tomorrow for another rundown of Star Wars Celebration LIVE! coverage. While you wait, unpack the Ahsoka teaser with our trailer breakdown.
When she isn't watching her friends and family's eyes glaze over at the mention of The Clone Wars, she's at the park with her dog, Melvin, or on the couch with a book in one hand and a drink in the other. Physically, she lives in Ohio; spiritually, she lives in Naboo.
