Originally published February 26, 2017. Updated November 30, 2022.
Your weekend edition of The Week in Star Wars has our first look at the Han Solo movie, some new Original Trilogy Blu-Ray rumours, Abrams talking all things Star Wars and more…
Let’s kick things off with the Han Solo spin off movie, which is currently in production. Although we don’t have an official title for the film (which will probably be revealed at Star Wars Celebration), directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller shared the first set photo from the movie [see that image here]. The image is taken from inside the Millennium Falcon and features Alden Ehrenreich, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Pheobe Waller-Bridge and Joonas Suotamo. “Watching such inspired people from all over the world, with such unique voices, come together for the sole purpose of making art, is nothing short of miraculous,” said Lord and Miller. “We can’t think of anything funny to say, because we just feel really moved, and really lucky.” In an interesting note, the press release also mentions the film will be out in May 2018, and not December has had previously rumoured…
…Disney and Lucasfilm have officially announced that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released on Digital HD in the States on March 24th, followed by a Blu-ray release on April 4th. It will hit in the UK on April 10th. You can also watch special effects wizards Industrial Light & Magic detailing the elaborate process that went into digitally re-creating the late Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin here…
…Moving over to Star Wars: The Last Jedi now, and Disney announced a new deal with IMAX that goes through until 2019. This deal will include IMAX scenes being filmed for Lucasfilm’s untitled Indiana Jones film, Marvel’s Black Panther, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War and the untitled Avengers sequel (the latter two both being shot entirely in IMAX), and of course Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the untitled Han Solo movie…
…Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams was asked about The Last Jedi in an interview recently, and he talked about possible jealousy over not being able to direct Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. “Sure, there’s definitely a pain, but Rian Jonson is a great filmmaker and storyteller, and I think what he’s done is… well, you will see, but for me, I was less jealous and more excited as a fan of the series,” he said. “My involvement [as executive producer] is minimal as Rian Johnson is a filmmaker who doesn’t need babysat. He is hard at work in editing the movie now and it’s going to be amazing.” He also talked about the ending of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the untitled Han Solo movie and Carrie Fisher, which you can read here…
…So many questions still hang over the title The Last Jedi, but one Facebook fan seems to think it will be none other than Jar Jar Binks. Confused? Read more here…
…Speaking of Jar Jar Binks, and the character returned in the latest novel Star Wars: Aftermath – Empire’s End, and you can read Ricky Church’s review here…
…An interesting rumour landed online this week that Disney and Lucasfilm could be releasing unedited versions of The Original Trilogy on Blu-Ray, something fans have been clamouring after for years. Sadly, Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo shot those rumours down…
…Star Wars Celebration is heading to Orlando, Florida this April, and Lucasfilm has today unveiled the official poster for the convention, along with character artwork featuring Luke, Rey, Kylo Ren, Finn and Poe from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jyn Erso from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Ezra, Kanan, Sabine, Hera, Zeb and Grand Admiral Thrawn from Star Wars Rebels. Check them all out here…
…During New York Toy Fair last weekend, Hasbro has unveiled its new wave of Star Wars The Black Series 40th Anniversary figures, which features highly detailed 6-inch recreations of Kenner’s 1977 original ’12-Back’ figures featuring Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2, Chewbacca, 3-CPO, Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, Han Solo, Jawa, Sand People and Death Squad Commander. Check out the official promotional images here…
…Over to Star Wars Rebels now, and you can check out the Rebels Recon for episode 15 here and clips and images from episode 16 here. Dave Filoni has also spoken about the much anticipated appearance of Obi-Wan Kenobi saying, “’I’ve always said, it’s the same thing with Ahsoka. It has to be valuable to Ezra. This experience, whatever it is, whatever form it takes, has to be valuable to the characters that are the center of Star Wars Rebels. There are a lot of things that I could do in Star Wars, and I try to do things that work with the story group to be true to the characters and where they need to go. It’s surprising sometimes where they go. I would say it’s surprising at the end of the day, and I don’t want to give anything away, if we wind up in the presence of an old wizard, that would be a surprising thing to pull off.” Read more about that here…
…And finally, here’s your comic book preview for the week in Star Wars #29: A problem, Yoda has. A big problem.Strong with the stonepower, this problem is. But judge it not by its size, will he.
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.
