Originally published July 19, 2015. Updated November 29, 2022.
Following the rather large hoopla of news coming out of San Diego Comic Con, it’s been a very quiet week for Star Wars news – so this one will be rather short…
Kicking things off from the world of The Force Awakens, and some images have leaked of the LEGO sets for Poe Dameron’s X-Wing Fighter and the Millennium Falcon. The Falcon set contains figures for Han Solo, Chewbacca, Finn, Rey and BB-8 and two never before seen characters. The first of which is an anonymous Kanjiklub gang member, and the other is a character named Tasu Leech (which is speculated to be played by The Raid: Redemption actor Yayan Ruhian). The X-Wing set contains Poe, a female Resistance X-Wing Pilot, BB-8 and a member of the Resistance Ground Crew…
…Moving away from The Force Awakens but sticking with Star Wars toys, the Hasbro Star Wars Black Series figure of Princess Leia has caused some controversy amongst American parents who are asking for it to be removed. The toy, which sees the character in her Slave Leia outfit from Return of the Jedi, was deemed “indecent” and “offensive”. Target, the shop who are selling the toy, said, “We have not received any other guest complaints about this product. If the guest has a question we recommend they reach out directly to Target’s guest relations team”. The parent in question says that his daughters didn’t understand why she was dressed like that – which means they’ve not seen Return of the Jedi. Feel sorry for these kids…
…Speaking of Princess Leia’s slave outfit, Trainwreck star Amy Schumer posed in a raunchy comedic photoshoot this week with GQ, which involved the galaxy, far, far away. Schumer is dressed as Leia in a couple of photos, is seen drinking with C-3PO and R2-D2 and dancing with some Stormtroopers. She also *ahem* blows a lightsabre….
…Anyway, it turns out that Lucasfilm wasn’t keen on the photoshoot and issued a press statement about it saying, “We’ve seen some conversation on this and want to set the record straight. It’s not surprising that GQ would want to capitalize on the cultural cachet of Star Wars, but Lucasfilm and Disney did not authorize, participate in or condone the inappropriate use of our characters in this manner…”
…It had been rumoured for sometime that Ben Mendelsohn was going to feature in Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One, and now it seems as though he very well could join Felicity Jones in the cast. At the Emmy Nominations in the week, Mendelsohn said, “I think it’s looking OK. Things are looking positive, but I would think that’s something for them to discuss…”
…And lastly (told you it was a short week), filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has said that he has an idea for a Jabba The Hutt spin-off movie. “I would do the sort of Godfather saga that Jabba the Hutt had to go through to gain control,” Del Toro said. “One, because it’s the character that looks the most like me, and I like him. I love the idea of a Hutt type of mafia, a very complex coup, you know? … I just love the character.” The director did say that his “dance card is full”, so we shouldn’t expect to see him announced as the director of Star Wars Anthology: Jabba The Hutt anytime soon.
That’s all for this week – 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.
