Star Wars Weekly Buzz: Starkiller Almost Appeared in Rebels; Rian Johnson Chats with Fans; New The Last Jedi Toys and More.
After a brief hiatus during the slow summer days, we are back with our weekly Star Wars Social Buzz article. This week: Sam Witwer reveals that Dave Filoni almost made Starkiller from The Force Unleashed game canon; Rian Johnson takes to Twitter to chat with the fans; New The Last Jedi toys reveal new interesting tidbits about the movie; John Boyega and Laura Dern talk Star Wars; Del Rey reveals new exclusive character posters for the novel Phasma; The latest from Pablo Hidalgo and more…
Actor Sam Witwer revealed in a podcast conversation that Dave Filoni considered making his character Starkiller from the game The Force Unleashed an Inquisitor in Star Wars: Rebels, hence making the famous character canon. Unfortunately it didn’t fit the story they were telling in the TV series. Check out Star Wars HQ’s video on the subject:
Rian Johnson has been more active on Twitter in the last few days, after EW started their coverage for the movie. Here are some of the more interesting exchanges that he had with the fans:
Hey @rianjohnson I think we’ve officially been told too much.
Don’t worry, we’re gonna see it! #WaitForVIII
— Ryan G. Poirier (@RGPphotog) August 10, 2017
More stuff is coming, that’s the nature of the beast. But I fully endorse avoiding everything you can from now till December! https://t.co/G9D8qtq5w4
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 10, 2017
Totally your call, man. I love trailers, but if you want to come into the movie totally clean… 🙂
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 11, 2017
It really depends on the 7 year old. There are intense things in the movie, but I don’t think anything worse than in the OT or prequels.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 11, 2017
I’m sorry you’re so upset. For me, a big part of why SW engaged me creatively from age 4 – 43 is it’s a world you want to play with.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 10, 2017
I was 10 when Jedi came out. I loved ’em.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 10, 2017
Yup.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 10, 2017
“If we can get kids’ ears to perk up in history class a little bit when they hear that, that’d be a cool thing,” Thanks @rianjohnson! pic.twitter.com/rXsw2Ow63s
— StarWarsinClass (@StarWarsinClass) August 10, 2017
A good time to plug Mike Duncan’s History of Rome podcast, which I was listening to while I was writing VIII https://t.co/G4xPf7qR4i https://t.co/YgVN6jWZd8
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 10, 2017
You literally do
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 9, 2017
Finger hovering over the “publish to vimeo” button
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 8, 2017
I may have been intentionally torturing John when he was trapped on a motion control rig. MIGHT have been. Might.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) August 6, 2017
Images with a Praetorian Guard and a First Order Judicial from Disney’s Elite Series figures has hit the web.
Obviously, these Judicials with their electric weapons will be used to spread judgement to those who oppose or fail the First Order.
Here are the Judicials as seen in The Last Jedi behind the scenes footage:
As you can see in the lower right corner of the image, there is a black man brought to his knees in front of the Judicials. This is definitely not John Boyega, but it’s possible that this is his stunt double (see image below).
In the photo it seems that this guy is wearing dark clothes that fit with the First Order uniform that we’ve seen in another shot from the BTS footage:
If it’s true, it looks like the Judicials captured Finn. In another photo from the BTS footage we saw Finn behind bars, which also may be connected to this sequence.
Here’s one possible explanation on this. We saw Finn and Rose riding an alien horse like creature on the streets of Canto Bight, during the filming in Dubrovnik. Then they perhaps get captured and put in the cell (you can see that Rose is there too). Then perhaps they manage to escape stealing two First Order uniforms, but then got captured again by the Judicials.
Of course, this is just a wild speculation, but if it is correct, we are perhaps going to see another clash ala Finn vs Nines from The Force Awakens, but this time with the Judicials and their cool weapons. Or I could be totally wrong and this is just a random guy from the Resistance captured by the First Order. After all there is not only one man of color in the GFFA, right? 🙂
Also John Boyega’s Finn dressed as a First Order officer gets a Black Series figure. Curiously he comes with a blaster gun and the same weapon that kicked his ass in The Force Awakens. 🙂
I’ll just leave this here. #TheLastJedi #StarWarsTheBlackSeries #StarWars pic.twitter.com/gSlRorLsMM
— Victoria’s Cantina (@VicsCantina) August 12, 2017
Speaking of Boyega, here’s a wider look at the image from EW (via reddit) showing him piloting a Ski Speeder on the planet Crait (see photo above).
Even more The Last Jedi toys hit the stores prematurely – this time as Hot Wheels diecast ships. Use the arrows on the embedded link to see the Ski Speeder Bomber and the TIE Silencer:
Instagram: Ski Speeder, Bomber & Tie Silencer Hot Wheels toy pics via @swrogue507
Also here’s a closer look at Kylo Ren’s Black Series from Hasbro:
Any Funko Pop fans? Here’s the first wave of Funko Pops from The Last Jedi (via imgur):
You can get an even closer look at TLJ Funko Pops here.
The PCO Group site has posted their toppers, buckets, drinking cups and tubs for The Last Jedi. The most interesting thing here is the more detailed look at the evil BB unit from the movie:
You can check the whole product line here. (via MSW)
And more toys:
#TheLastJedi Force Friday is officially out of control. This cute plush porg is officially on the Amazon.es site. (via @yak_face) pic.twitter.com/47JykUP3rl
— SWNN (@StarWarsNewsNet) August 12, 2017
BB-8 is so going to crush Snoke in #TheLastJedi 🙂 pic.twitter.com/kEIzxRmBDC
— SWNN (@StarWarsNewsNet) August 12, 2017
New look at Leia from The Last Jedi:
DelRey just revealed that on Force Friday (September 1) the upcoming novel Phasma will have 3 editions each with a special double sided character poster:
On FORCE FRIDAY there will be 3 editions of PHASMA each w/ an exclusive double-sided character poster. One side features Captain Phasma pic.twitter.com/RwDOjnOZSo
— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) August 11, 2017
The other will feature one of 3 all-new characters! You can find each poster at a specific retailer…
— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) August 11, 2017
Here are the three exclusive character posters:
Grab an exclusive Resistance character poster in the TARGET edition of #Phasma pic.twitter.com/qSz5S1XEDt
— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) August 11, 2017
Grab this exclusive First Order character poster in the BARNES AND NOBLE edition of #Phasma pic.twitter.com/XPlrCgtuJR
— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) August 11, 2017
Grab this exclusive new character poster in the WALMART edition of Phasma. What’s his connection to Captain Phasma? Find out Sept 1st pic.twitter.com/O9IJz6xMwt
— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) August 11, 2017
John Boyega on The Last Jedi:
Laura Dern talks Star Wars:
The latest episode of the Star Wars Show is here. In this episode Andi and Anthony take a look at the new The Last Jedi images from EW, Andi talks with the author of the The Last Jedi novelization, Jason Fry, and more. Check it out:
The first reactions from test screenings for the movie Wonder are in, and they are very positive. The movie’s screenplay was written by Jack Thorne, the writer who was recently added to Star Wars: Episode IX. The movie also stars Jacob Tremblay (aka Colin Trevorrow’s lucky charm) in the lead role. The studio was so happy with how the movie is performing in test screening that they decided to push it back to November.
Check out the touching trailer:
The latest from LFL Story Group’s Pablo Hidalgo.
@budosbunko55 Now that the script’s out – It’s somewhere else. Production identified that warrior as ‘clan leader’.
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) January 1, 2016
Depends on ‘when’. People who live in the time of the Republic mean 1,000 years ago and older, before the Sith were defeated…
— Porglo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) August 11, 2017
… during the time of the Empire, that generally all got rolled together to mean the entire pre-Empire Republic.
— Porglo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) August 11, 2017
I’d side with the folks who sit at Lucasfilm. Though that said, it could always be something that hasn’t been updated yet.
— Porglo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) August 11, 2017
Never really appreciated how visible the blood on Chewie’s leg wound is in this shot. pic.twitter.com/oWzjkNsxDb
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 10, 2017
Shrapnel from a near-miss
— Porglo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) August 10, 2017
This is my new favorite question. (Not sure if serious, but the Force isn’t coming from their hands, they’re using them to help visualize)
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 10, 2017
If you mean mentioned-in-Jedi-prophecy-to-bring-an-end-to-the-Sith-bring-balance-and-wrap-up-Episodes-I-through-VI, then yep. Anakin was.
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 9, 2017
JINX. pic.twitter.com/RjAm2FtVtv
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 9, 2017
That’s not the movie I saw.
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 9, 2017
Hopefully people will think to google ‘Rey’s blaster’ before asking. 🙂
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 9, 2017
It also makes sense to have the blaster on her leg and the staff she carried when she climbed up those hills in the last movie. 🙂
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 9, 2017
So why did Luke need power convertors? I don’t know. Probably didn’t. Probably just an excuse to go hang with his friends. Just a guess.
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 9, 2017
Isn’t that a Wiki page? Meaning anyone can write whatever they want on it?
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 9, 2017
George Lucas told the team not to follow it when he did his own show. That’s all. He considered only the material he worked on.
— Pablo🇨🇱Hidalgo🇨🇦 (@pablohidalgo) August 8, 2017
Stay tuned for more next week.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
Pablo is too good for this world.
Porglo*
The head of BB-9E reminds me of that homicidal R2 unit in the Doctor Aphra comic series.
BT-1
I would ask him if rey can pass yoda’s metal bar test
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/eb84bcec74b24812f8303e7cec9ba622754b2ab5b5e34c719b5611b4d0ff317e.jpg
Damn, the new character posters from the Phasma novel are really impressive, especially the gladiator-looking dude with the staff.
Boy… Why are they whiners at any new cute creature? This question about the Ewoks is lame. Hey, you can hate Ewoks, Gungans, Porgs… But really? Asking the director “what’s your stance on Ewoks… It feels important.” just because he created cute birds? I’m so glad George was in Celebration saying, calmly, to hundreds of grown ups that this movies were done for 12 year old and that he doesn’t care about the rest… How many of you became a Star Wars fans after 12?? Let the new generations enjoy the cuteness of it.
My thoughts exactly. I keep reading whining comments & wanting to shout at people “It’s a kid’s film!”
Hopefully Porgs are like tribbles: they don’t do anything important but they sure do make a great episode.
YAS BITCH YAS!! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4be5f6e87ea07ed0b29907404a86da5bfde2348b795a2d964f697c211aaf4752.jpg
That would have been so freaking cool to have Starkiller be one of the Inquisitors. They would have had to completely retcon his entire story though. Still wished fans of the game would have gotten the final chapter and not being left on such a huge cliff hanger!
Yes. I can’t wait for Friday. I wish starkiller got to be in a episode
I hope those Porgs have a Large Marge moment where they scare the crap out of Chewie. That would an amazing middle finger to the fans that thought were gonna be cute, cuddly creatures.
I’m thinking similar to the little mushroom guys from “Mom and Dad, Save the World”
So if the Praetorian Guard are average male height, or slightly taller, Snoke’s got about a foot and a half on them, about 7.5 feet, give or take.