I live in New York so the Star Wars Celebration Europe Lucasfilm Studio Panel aired at 6 am my time. I woke my ass up and made some coffee and stare that computer. The cats looked at me askance. “Dude, go back to bed,” was their vibe, and I’m the one who feeds them. Rude.
Alas, the panel was not livestreamed (which I get, it’s really for those who paid real money to be there) so it was just me lurking around the internet for scraps of updated information, like when I was a little kid in the early 1980s and could only see the Playboy Channel by pressing a combination of buttons on a cable box. ‘Was that a boob or a wavy line? Whatever! It’s kind of what I’m looking for!’
So I didn’t see the special fancy footage, but what I did learn? Is incredible! I have thoughts! I have many thoughts! Prepare for a grab bag of blearly, overwhelmed, excited thoughts!
AHSOKA TEASER TRAILER
To most of the attendees at Celebration, this is what they came to see. The Ahsoka series looks like it’s cooking up exactly what everyone ordered from the menu: a continuation of Star Wars: Rebels. The Mandalorian has been quietly setting this series up all season, and now we see the fruition of that vision teased.
Yes, that’s Thrawn! People go hogwild for Thrawn, and I get it, Thrawn’s been iconic since he first appeared in the (name-dropped) Heir to the Empire novel by Timothy Zahn. (I hope Dave Filoni is paying Zahn royalties every time he gets applause for using his creations.) People do love the bad guys in Star Wars. But is he better than Ezra? (Sorry I had to.)
I’m intrigued by how they’ll translate what’s best about him to the screen. Thrawn, in a novel, makes sense. He’s Moriarty, he’s a strategist, he’s a thinker. He anticipates as much as he acts. He studies cultures and art in order to learn how to defeat his foes. In a book, this is compelling reading. As a character in a story aimed at families, this can be simplified to the point of being more told than shown. So as good as the show looks visually, I’m most intrigued by the larger lore at play and the way this continues the years-long epic that Dave Filoni is on his way to completing (see below.) The way scenes are framed and actors are posed, the teaser trailer has the look and feel of storyboarded animation brought to life.
Ahsoka is arriving so soon! August. Have I mentioned how crazy it is that there’s this much Star Wars lately? Let this be mention one thousand one hundred and thirty eight.
NEW MOVIES ANNOUNCED!
This is the announcement giving me the biggest feelings. Star Wars movies. That’s what I’m here for, people.
Star Wars is cinema, first and foremost. TV shows, animated series, video games, comic books, audio dramas, they’re all gravy. They’re even wonderful. They’re better than they’ve ever been. But movies are movies. Sitting in a darkened theater with other moviegoers, waiting for the fanfare, the surprises, the expectation of a new release, those memorable moments, it’s an experience that waking up early to watch The Mandalorian or tuning in to the next episode of The Bad Batch can just never match for me. There’s just nothing like a Star Wars movie. The movies are why I’m a fan.