As San Diego Comic Con comes to a close, we look back at the big Star Wars news coming out of it – and some other stuff to boot…
Of course, the biggest story for this edition of The Week in Star Wars is the Hall H panel from San Diego Comic Con, which had a brilliant behind-the-scenes video of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and some new insights into the movie from J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy and the cast. Read our entire report on the panel here, and you can watch the panel in full here…
…One other bit to come from the panel was that Simon Pegg would feature in the movie as an alien – even though he denied the rumours a few months ago…
…Speaking of panels, you can also see the Star Wars Collectors panel here….
…You can also watch our interviews with Harrison Ford here, Domhnall leeson, Gwendoline Christie and Adam Driver here, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac here, J.J. Abrams here, Lawrence Kasdan & Kathleen Kennedy here and check out some of the photos from the panel below…
…Days after the panel was finished, two behind-the-scenes images were released by Disney and Lucasfilm which gave us another look at Han Solo and our first look at Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia…
…In case you were wondering, the rumour that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow was going to be announced as directing Star Wars: Episode IX turned out to be false. But, with the rumour being started by former Latino-Review bullshit artist El Mayimbe, what did you expect?..
…Rey’s speeder from The Force Awakens was also on display on the floor of San Diego Comic Con, as was this new poster for the First Order Stormtroopers…
…Also on display was this cute life-sized Kenner R2-D2 figure and the Hot Wheels First Order Stormtrooper car…
…Simon Pegg may have been confirmed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it looks like those rumours of Daniel Craig (Skyfall) playing a Stormtrooper might be a little off base. When asked about the rumour, Craig responded with, “why would I ever bother doing something like that? Fucking hell! Pffft. Play an extra in another movie?..”
…Also at San Diego Comic Con, Marvel announced a new comic series for Chewbacca, from the team of Gerry Duggan (Deadpool) and Phil Noto (Black Widow). “Chewy is on a very important mission when we first meet him, and you’ll be able to tell that right away without hearing him speak”, Duggan said when asked how Chewbacca’s lack of speech will affect the storytelling. “But script wise, what’s been very fun for me, I’ve been writing each roar and yell twice. Once for the letterer, to be printed exactly as it is on the page and then once in parentheses for the team that basically is Chewy’s whine in English. And that’s just for internal use. That’s just so that everyone can be on the same page and know that, hey, we’re telling this story visually and anything that we do need to know… He’s got a friend on this planet, a young woman and she speaks the basic language — so we won’t be in the dark…”
…Marvel also announced a new adventure for Darth Vader, which will crossover the on-going Star Wars series and the Darth Vader mini-series, entitled Star Wars: Vader Down…
…Speaking of the Star Wars comic books, read Amy Richu’s reviews of the first five issues of Star Wars: Princess Leia here…
…Hot Toys also revealed their 1/6th scale Luke Skywalker from A New Hope, which will be a Toyfair exclusive. “The movie-accurate collectible figure is specially crafted based on the image of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker disguised as a Stormtrooper in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,” they say. “It features a newly painted head sculpt, specially tailored Stormtrooper armor, an interchangeable Stormtrooper helmet with mechanically detailed interior, weapons and accessories, and a figure stand…”
…And lastly from San Diego Comic Con, it was announced that Journey to The Force Awakens book Star Wars: Aftermath will be the first in a trilogy of books that will bridge the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens.
That’s all from this special edition of The Week in Star Wars. We’ll be back again on Sunday with your usual round-up of all the latest Star Wars news. But until then, may the Force be with you.
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the host of the Flickering Myth Podcast. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.
Originally published July 13, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
