Your weekend edition of The Week in Star Wars is back with details of scenes from The Last Jedi, some news on Star Wars Rebels, Han Solo casting news and more…
Let’s kick things off with Star Wars: The Last Jedi, as some scenes from the movie were shown to Disney shareholders this week. The news first broke when Los Angeles Times reporter Daniel Miller broke down what he saw, including Luke Skywalker’s first lines of dialogue [you can read those here]. Following on from that, the folks over at Slash Film got a hand on a complete breakdown of what was shown. We won’t post them here for fear of you being spoiled, but if you want to check them out you can do so here. Expect that trailer in April…
…During the run-up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it was reported that J.J. Abrams had taken the film round to terminally-ill fans so they could see the movie before they pass. “He was one of a number of people who were tragically not going to live to see the release of the movie,” Abrams said in an interview. “It was very important to us that those who were reaching out to us, as much as we could – and we couldn’t get everyone of course – got a chance to see the movie even though it was unfinished. So there were a couple of people from the editorial department that we sent throughout the country to go to the homes of the people who were ill to show them the movie. Some were children, and some were adults, and I spoke with almost all of them before and after they saw the movie.” You can read the rest of the interview here…
…The Han Solo solo movie has begun production, and Variety reported that Michael K. Williams (The Wire, The Night Of) was in final negotiations for a role. No news on what role he’ll be playing though…
…While Electronic Arts is keeping the upcoming sequel to Star Wars Battlefront well under wraps for the time being, we have learned a few details about the game, such as the fact that it will feature a single player campaign, multiple eras, and content from the new movies (presumably Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars: The Last Jedi), and on a conference call EA CFO Blake Jorgensen revealed that Star Wars Battlefront 2 will be “dramatically larger” than the previous game. “Star Wars Battlefront 2 is dramatically larger than the last one. It will have a single-player component to it. We’ll add a lot of new Star Wars characters that we didn’t have in the first game two years ago because it was before the two movies that have come out [since]. The Star Wars universe is just unbelievable to build games in, because it’s so vast. So, [it’s] very exciting…”
…A long-awaited rematch is set to take place on the March 20th episode of Star Wars Rebels, as Darth Maul returns to Tatooine for a showdown with Obi-Wan Kenobi. You can watch two promos for the episode here and here…
…Our own Chris Cooper reviewed episode 17 of Star Wars Rebels [which you can read here], and you can check out some clips and images from episode 18 here…
…But the big news for Star Wars Rebels is that the show has been renewed for a fourth season! “The team behind Star Wars Rebels delivers epic storytelling that has captivated fans of all ages across the globe,” says Marc Buhaj, Disney XD’s senior vice president, programming and general manager. “We’re excited to continue sharing the journey of these fan-favorite rebels with our audience in the fall…”
…Remember Batman: Year One? That awesome comic series that discovered Bruce Wayne’s origins as The Dark Knight? Well Marvel and Lucasfilm are working on a similar title for Darth Vader. “The book begins one second after the end of Revenge of the Sith,” writer Charles Soule says. “Darth Vader is in the armored suit that we see throughout the rest of his life, most of his life. He is just awakening to that moment and that realization. So he has shouted ‘No!’ in the way we see in the film, and then it picks up immediately after that point. So we see him adjusting to that. We see him learning to be more machine than man. We see him going through some really, really cool early moments of his early mythology and history.” Read more of the interview here…
…We also got our first look at the comic book adaptation of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which you can check out here…
…And finally, here’s your comic book preview for the week; Star Wars: Poe Dameron #12: Poe is on the run from Terex’s forces with only C-3PO and BB-8 to help him! Can the greatest pilot in the galaxy survive without a ship? PLUS: A traitor revealed?!
That’s all for this week – may the Force be with you.
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth, the co-host of The Flickering Myth Podcast and the author of Lights, Camera, GAME OVER!: How Video Game Movies Get Made (which you can pre-order from Amazon UK and Amazon US). You can follow him on Twitter @ThisisLukeOwen.
Originally published March 12, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
