In the last season of the Mandalorian, Bo-Katan Kryze has a new mission: to unite the divided factions of the Mandalorian culture. You see, the main problem with Masked Warriors is that they can’t stop arguing about their differences long enough to come together and stand up for something. This could, on a particularly volatile day of Twitter talk, serve as a metaphor for Star Wars fandom: You don’t have to search much online to find a surprising level of division between people who seemingly love the same thing. But not at the Star Wars celebration. The galaxy far, far away convention landed in London this year, an event that brought together all facets of fandom, quite literally, in a shared love for the legendary space opera. In Mandalorian terms, that would be Bo-Katan’s dream.
Packed as always with live panels, carefully crafted cosplay, fan meetups, and toy stalls galore, this year’s celebration was a light-hearted event, living up to its name. And perhaps his greatest strength was the way he looked at the past, present and future Star Wars – binding them all together, like the Force itself. In retrospect, particular emphasis has been placed on return of the jedi, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year: the original trilogy that marked countless childhoods for four decades. In the present, this Celebration was the occasion to recognize where Star Wars is currently – showing fans the latest episode of the Mandalorian Season 3 almost a week early and reviewing the delights of Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the villains of the recent sequel trilogy. And it was a tantalizing glimpse into the future, not just showing the first glimpses of Ahsoka, the mate, skeleton crew and more, but at the time of confirmation Star Wars‘also the next film list.
If there was one announcement, one revelation, that thrilled the entire ExCeL center, it was the large number of new films. Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy revealed plans for three upcoming feature films on Friday morning, examining the past, present and future of the Star Wars galaxy. While Dave Filoni’s film (his live-action directorial debut) will be set in the New Republic era he’s currently exploring with Jon Favreau on the small screen, in the Mandalorian, Boba Fett’s bookand the next Ahsoka AND skeleton crew – the other two film projects will take Star Wars in largely uncharted territory. Most intriguingly, James Mangold goes back 25,000 years, to offer “a kind of biblical movie,” he says. Empirewhich will be “Discover the Force” by far the most advanced excursion in the annals of Star Wars galaxy on the screen And for the future, the film by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, set 15 years after the end of the rise of skywalker (currently the most advanced canonical piece Star Wars narration) and see Daisy Ridley return as king to build a new Jedi order. In these three projects, the goal is clear: to extend the Star Wars timeline in all directions, as evidenced by the newly updated set of different eras of the narrative.
The future also looks bright for a number of upcoming streaming series. If anything particularly stood out about Lucasfilm’s presentation, it was the first sequence of the mate – Leslye Headland’s original series, set between the fledgling High Republic period (hundreds of years before the Skywalker saga, so far only explored in novels and comics) and the prequels, telling a story about the dark side with all-new characters. The Celebration teaser footage was jaw-dropping, with the broad reach, earthy grit, and more grown-up tone of Andor — while featuring tons of lightsaber-wielding Jedi and martial arts might-fights between Carrie Anne Moss and Amandla Stenberg’s characters. Think The matrix meets Kurosawa, with additional space magic. He thinks of Joonas Suotamo as a Wookiee Jedi and the Headland storyline for the series as “Frozen satisfied Kill Bill“, and you have a Star Wars story like no other.
If a project seems ready to merge past, present and future of Star Wars more openly, it is Ahsoka.
In fact, all of the upcoming projects looked promising. Series inspired by Amblin skeleton crew featured great pictures, with its hilarious cast of children – Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, Robert Timothy Smith and Ryan Kiera Armstrong – and a crop of exciting directors. Where else will you see Daniels, David Lowery, Bryce Dallas Howard and Lee Isaac Chung in the same film lineup? The next volume 2 of Visions of Star Wars is just as spectacular and even more stylistically varied than the first, while bad luck looks set to go out with a bang when he returns for a third and final season.
But if a project seems ready to unite past, present and future of Star Wars more openly, it is Ahsoka. Dave Filoni can finally give the (un)Jedi he co-created with George Lucas his own live-action show, which is now confirmed to arrive in August. Ahsoka is not just a continuation of what we have seen of its history in the Mandalorian Season 2, but a series that serves as a sort of sequel to the fan favorite anime series. Star Wars: Rebels. Several characters from that show make their live-action debuts here: colorful Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), Twi’lek pilot Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and gruff droid Chopper. The trailer also briefly teased the return of rebels‘ lost the Jedi Ezra Bridger. And ready to wreak havoc, not just inside Ahsoka apparently, but throughout the New Republic era of Favreau and Filoni, there is Grand Admiral Thrawn. The blue-skinned villain, who made his debut in Timothy Zahn’s no-longer-canonical novels in the early 1990s, appeared in rebelsand now he’s about to bring pain in live action starring Lars Mikkelsen (continuing his rebels vocal role). This is nothing but an example Looting Strands of all times and means of Star Wars to create something new and exciting.
This kind of approach, of live-action characters standing alongside animated favorites and faces from the Legends canon, while drawing inspiration from multiple generations of storytelling, is a true reflection of what it’s like to be in the thick of Star Wars Celebration. It’s a place where all eras, all characters (regardless of niche), and all angles of the saga are welcome, in one shared space. It’s a happy and vibrant environment, reminding you that the darker talk online doesn’t quite reflect the love people have for this series. The past, present and future of Star Wars it looks insanely brilliant, and judging by what was shown at Celebration, fans will have plenty to rally around for in the months and years ahead. This is the way.
Source: EmpireOnline
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
