Star Wars Celebration Europe was this past weekend and we got a whole bunch of new information from Rogue One, Rebels and future movies like the Han Solo movie and Episode VIII. Lets unpack what we learned! As always spoilers abound.
1. On Friday was the Rogue One panel, which we broke down here. MSW has a bunch of costume photos from Rogue One.
Davestrrr: The internet is still reeling from this one. So much information! We had the leak from Jiang about Chirrut dying. I don’t know how he couldn’t know this was a leak? As he said, his English was “limited”, but it appears that he didn’t understand the NDA that he signed. When these kinds of things happen, you always have to wonder what is going on. It could be that in some cases, the actor is trying to drum up press for themselves. This could be that as well, but my impression is there was a big miscommunication.
Mazlow01: The more I think on this the more I wish they shared… it almost felt like a Rogue One “light” panel. Still the photos are cool and I’m still really excited about this movie.
2. There was a short trailer not available to the Streaming audience but MSW has a synopsis for us.
Davestrrr: There is a leaked, but bad recording of the trailer here. It may be taken down later. One shot I noticed was the girl running in the beginning of the trailer. There is a strong indication that this girl is Jyn Erso as a young girl. This supports the idea that Lyra Erso is in fact playing Jyn’s mother in a flashback early in the film. I discussed this before, and at the time couldn’t wrap my head around a flashback, but this trailer surprisingly seems to suggest that there is. Vader at the end is great, and he appears to be upside down, as if being viewed as a reflection on a red panel. Really great and original shot for Star Wars if so. Very cool. This kind of stuff could be what Gareth Edwards is “bringing to the table” as he said in the Rogue One Celebration Reel.
Mazlow01: Why didn’t they share this with all of us??? That being said it feels like half a trailer not a whole one. Plus it appears that we all assumed there was a trailer and that was never actually said by LFL.
3. The rebels panel opened up a few new paths including confirming more Maul and Thrawn was canon again. Heres the trailer
Davestrrr: Amazing! This one really got my excited for Rebels. Is that Kanan getting his vision back through Mother Talzin’s Sith Magick? You can kind of see a face in the green smoke toward the end next to Kanan, and looks like it could be Talzin’s spirit or something. There are a lot of strong indications that Ezra will turn to the Dark side. The writing is on the wall on that one. Not sure how far they will take it, but as I’ve said before it only makes sense for him to.
Mazlow01: So many people are siked about more Maul and having Thrawn and I’m sitting here hating both. Honestly this show would be better without them in my opinion and it shows what I believe Dave Filoni’s biggest weakness is as a writer. He goes to the well of fan service too often and reaches too far when doing so. I love everything about the trailer but Maul and Thrawn including the new Fulcrum… which I believe will end up being Agent Kallus. That being said I am probably not going to watch this season as I really feel this is jumping the shark part two. I saw people calling for Filoni to get a Movie and all I can think is I’m not the only person that is abhorred by that idea right? I mean good lord that sounds like the worst idea in fact stop letting him run the show he already has…
4. No opening crawl for Rogue One
Davestrrr: This one was interesting. and a little surprising to me, but I can live with it. They did a cool opening to the Rogue One panel with a variant of the ANH opening. It is here to view to see. I could see them doing something like this or some variant of it. In the end, the result will be that they will save the opening crawl for only the episodic saga films. That’s fine with me. It keeps those movies distinct, and helps the audience understand that there is a difference.
Mazlow01: So much Star Wars that wasn’t a main saga movie has in the past has used an opening crawl I’m surprised they are doing this. That being said YAY! Make the Star Wars Story movies stand on their own.
5. As reported there will be no time jump for Episode VIII
Davestrrr: This will be interesting! It reminds me of Back the the Future II in that respect. Here’s the thing. Star Wars always always always opens in a star field. This is where you are at the end of the opening crawl, and that has always been used for the opening transition. So how will they do this? I think it will actually start in space, and fade to a Ahch-To in space, or to a space ship heading there. Could be that they actually go to when the Falcon flies in, or it could be the incoming of the Knights of Ren. We already know that there will be a big fight, so this would show there ship coming in.
Mazlow01: Not a surprise though I do wonder what the crawl will have to say…
6. Highlights from the Episode VIII panel
Davestrrr: Not too much information to share in this one. Still it was really cool to hear Rian Johnson talk about the process. The only thing there was the list of films that were infuences for VIII including “Twelve O’clock High”. I googled it and saw a few videos, but I think I need to watch the whole thing to get the vibes.
Mazlow01: I really wish there was more! Honestly the things being said are fantastic so this is definitely in good hands.
7. Highlights from the Han Solo panel
Davestrrr: Finally we have official confirmation. We’ve known this one for a while and reported on it, but it is still cool. Seeing Alden out on stage on this one, I can start to see more of Han Solo and could see it working if done right.
Mazlow01: Aldrich is officially confirmed! So that is cool and they really seem to have the vibe down. I’m encouraged.
8. Rebels clip with Hondo!
Davestrrr: Part of this episode looks like it was in the trailer as well. Good to see Hondo back. He was never my favorite, but it’s cool to see the furthering of connections (even though Hondo has already been in Rebels).
Mazlow01: No Maul, no Thrawn still a great clip and much more interesting than the Maul clip.
9. And clip with Maul is here
Davestrrr: A couple of things. Maul is as diabolical as ever. He appears to have “friends” of Kanan and Ezra held captive. Holy crap he tries to kill Kanan! Maul is really fighting for Ezra, and he is willing to kill to get Ezra as his apprentice. I actually love these scenes with Ezra and Maul. Man the first time I saw them I was like “That’s it, Ezra is going to the dark side”. I still think this is where it’s going, and it’s cool to see they are developing this further.
Mazlow01: Meh. This entire scene is “we have to use Maul” so we’re going to have our characters change their behavior so we can fit him in. It terrible.
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