Five things you might have missed at Star Wars Celebration
Chances are you know all about The Last Jedi, Rebels, Battlefront II and Forces of Destiny – but here are five announcements from Star Wars Celebration you might have missed.
Star Wars Adventures
Remember Batman Adventures, the all-ages Batman comic that was better than anything else DC was publishing in the early ‘90s?
Ever since then, every all-ages take on an established franchise seems to get the ‘Adventures’ suffix — and the latest such effort is Star Wars Adventures, IDW’s all-ages Star Wars comic.
IDW already has a relationship with Star Wars — they’re publishing collections of the great old Star Wars newspaper comic strip — but it’s kind of surprising to see a new ongoing title being released by a publisher other than Marvel.
The brilliant Chris Samnee illustrated the cover above, but no creative team has been announced for the book, which will be an anthology series incorporating every era of the Star Wars saga.
Star Wars Adventures will debut towards the end of the year.
Leia: Princess of Alderaan
Del Rey made a few major Star Wars announcements at Celebration that went somewhat under the radar, including the addition of Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner Ken Liu to the stable of Star Wars authors with The Legends of Luke Skywalker, and the reveal that Christie Golden’s previously announced novel Inferno Squad is actually a Battlefront II tie-in.
(You can read more about Ken Liu’s The Legends of Luke Skywalker on his blog, where he reveals that the novelisation of The Empire Strikes Back was the first sci-fi novel he ever read.)
But for my money, the biggest announcement out of the Del Rey camp was that Claudia Grey will return to the character of Leia Organa for a new novel called Leia: Princess of Alderaan.
Details are thin on the ground for this one, but it looks like it’s going to focus on Leia’s early years with the Rebellion, which could certainly stand to be fleshed out. Grey was the author of 2016’s Bloodline, which also focussed on Leia, and was one of the best stories in the new canon, in my opinion.
If you haven’t read Bloodline, by the way, you should definitely check it out — it’s basically Episode 6.5, and answers a lot of the questions that fans had about the political situation in The Force Awakens.
Captain Phasma returns
Captain Phasma was one of the coolest visuals in The Force Awakens, but she didn’t have much to do in the film before she was unceremoniously sent to the trash compactor. But rest assured, Phasma phans — she’s back, with her own novel and comic book mini-series, on top of her appearance in the trailer for The Last Jedi.
The novel, simply called Phasma, will fill in the details of Phasma’s rise through the ranks of The First Order, will be written by Delilah S Dawson (best known to Star Wars fans for writing short stories The Perfect Weapon and Scorched). Dawson says she loves writing “violent women”, so this seems like a perfect match of author and subject.
And if you’re wondering how Phasma got out of that trash compactor, exactly, you won’t have to wait until The Last Jedi for the answer — Marvel will publish a four-issue mini-series, Captain Phasma, that will solve that particular mystery, and reveal what else she’s been up to between films.
The comic will be written by Kelly Thompson (Star Wars Annual #2) and illustrated by Marco Checchetto (Shattered Empire, Obi-Wan & Anakin), with the cover below illustrated by Paul Renaud.
The book and the first issue of the comic will be released in September.
Secrets of The Clone Wars
Ever wondered how Boba Fett got that dent in his helmet? Probably not — he’s a busy man, and there are plenty of ways he could have dented his helmet that don’t require an explanation. But we got one anyway!
During their Animated Origins and Unexpected Fates panel, Star Wars Rebels exec producer Dave Filoni and Lucasfilm’s Pablo Hidalgo took a look back at the legacy of The Clone Wars, and showed a rough and incomplete scene from the show that featured a showdown between bounty hunters Boba Fett and Cad Bane.
Given the popularity of both characters, it’s kind of unbelievable that this shoot-out has never been seen before — especially because the confrontation had a lasting effect on Fett. While Filoni and Hidalgo wouldn’t reveal if Bane survived the duel, the footage they did show left no doubt that Bane’s blaster was responsible for the dent in Fett’s helmet.
Technical difficulties prevented fans streaming the panel at home (*raises hand*) from seeing the clip, but the Boba Fett Fan Club were able to film it and upload it to YouTube.
Filoni and Hidalgo also revealed concept art of erstwhile Clone Trooper Rex from the forthcoming season of Rebels that seems to confirm Rex will eventually become one of the Rebel soldiers seen destroying the shield generator in Return of the Jedi.
Hidalgo, however, is playing it cool.
Clarification: all @dave_filoni and I did was show this picture at #SWCO this morning... conclude what you will :) *whistles innocently* pic.twitter.com/nsiUlAGcZJ
— Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) April 14, 2017
The George Lucas Story
Mark Hamill has been a Jedi Knight and the Clown Prince of Crime, but there’s still one iconic role he’s yearning to play — The Maker himself.
Hamill’s Q&A has become a highlight of the Star Wars Celebration calendar, and this time around, a fan asked about his dream part.
Hamill replied that he wants to play the title role in The George Lucas Story, if such a project ever comes to pass (and really, it’s kind of amazing that it hasn’t already).
Honestly, Hamill could probably play all the lead roles if The George Lucas Story ever becomes a reality — not only does he do a good George Lucas impression, but his Harrison Ford impression is absolutely uncanny.
Force Material is a podcast exploring the secrets and source material of Star Wars with hosts Rohan Williams and Baz McAlister. Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Stitcher, PlayerFM and Castro; stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; and support the show by browsing our range of shirts, hoodies, kids apparel, mugs and more at TeePublic.
