The last few times I’ve had news duty there’s basically be NOTHING going on (like, so little there hasn’t been a column). As we approach Star Wars Celebration Chicago (SWCC), THIS WEEK HAS SOME NEWSSS *rap airhorn*

Since we’re already on the subject of Celebration, let’s talk about some exclusives. If you love Star Wars toys like some (me), Funko, Hasbro, and LEGO will all have Celebration exclusives available through an advanced lottery and at their respective booths. More details are here.

Details about non-toy exclusives are here. If you’re obsessed with Spider Maul and want a Letterman Jacket, they’ve somehow got you covered??? Speaking of clothes, there will be Her Universe exclusives branded under the collection “Sisters of the Force”, which is sure to make us all fangirl even more than the terrific Her Universe brand usually does (somehow). Please click through–there is so much good exclusive content that y’all will want that it’s better to look at it than to hear me describe (dog shirts, mugs, JABBA CHIA PETS). Also, as a Book Wars Pod team member, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the load of Celebration exclusive book editions–you can find E. K. Johnston’s Queen’s Shadow as well as Claudia Gray’s Master & Apprentice. Seriously, please click through so you can see the artwork on the exclusive covers. Grabby hands for days, tbh.

Some more Celebration news–THREEPIOOO IS COMINGGG. And by that I mean, Anthony Daniels, who has played C-3P0 in every Star Wars film to date will be at SWCC. If you’ll be there, you can find him on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. when he’ll be presenting “Droidography” on the Galaxy Stage. For additional details and other times you can see him, click through. Also click through HERE for the A M A Z I N G mural Doug Chiang and Jason Palmer that they designed and created to (to paraphrase Kathy Kennedy) “create a piece of art that would encapsulate the entire Star Wars saga, visually representing the complete stories of Star Wars through art”. Do you think it’s overkill to get the whole thing as a back tattoo?

In other, non-Celebration news, who wants to fly the Millennium Falcon at Disneyland!!! (I really, really, do.) Smugglers Run will be at Disney Land and riders will enter the line through “‘Ohnaka Transport Solutions'”, a shady shipping operation run by Hondo Ohnaka” aka, I’m losing my mind and I want to do so many pirate adventures PLEASE?! The details sound tantalizing and full of scoundrel stuff and buttons and all the best things.

AND MORE. Darth Revan just got added to Galaxy of Heroes! THERE’S A NEW MEDIUM–AUDIO-ONLY BOOK!!! As a BWP homie, I am especially excited about Dooku: Jedi Lost.

Alright, seriously, so much news. Please, for the love, click through on all the things so you can get more than my teeny snippets. And enjoy our last few weeks before Celebration!!!

It’s Monday–y’all know what that means! It’s the news! And golly gee willikers, there was some really cool news this week! Especially for Star Wars book nerds (like me & the rest of the @bookwarspod crew… and most of this network…)

But first, womp womp, Electronic Arts won’t be making that open-world Star Wars game you may have heard about (code-named Orca, which is kind of badass).  The company is, instead, focusing their efforts around the nearer future–a smaller project that will likely launch in late 2020. In the meantime, we still have Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order to look forward to, which is scheduled for fall 2019.

Back to the more positive side of things (read: NEW STUFF!) Marvel announced further details this week about about the one-shots set during the time of the original trilogy. This is the second of three series exploring the different eras of Star Wars, the first is Age of Republic (prequel-centric, available now), the third is Age of Resistance (sequel-centric, available later this year), and this, the middle of the trio, Age of Rebellion (set in the time of the original trilogy). The series will launch in April, and the titles that have so far been announced include Star Wars: Age of Rebellion – Princess Leia and Star Wars: Age of Rebellion – Grand Moff Tarkin.  Coming a little later in the series we’ll also get stories of this era for Han Solo, Boba Fett, Lando Calrissian, and everyone’s least-favorite Hutt, Jabba. Those are slated to come out in May, and we’ll get even more Vader and Luke (each with their own titular issues) in June.

The SUPER EXCITING LITERARY NEWS I alluded to in the intro comes from our friends at Del Rey and Marvel Comics–a crossover series set in the time of Alphabet Squadron!!! You guys, we’re so excited about this!!! There will be a comic mini-series that take place after Return of the Jedi. It’s called Star Wars: TIE Fighter and will launch in April. Expect it to cover the garbage fire the Empire became, from both the Rebels’ side, and the Empire’s. AHHHH! If you haven’t seen the cover art for these yet, do yourself a favor and CLICK THROUGH. (Editor’s Note: The lady on the cover is named Yrica Quell and she flies an x-wing and WE LOVE HER VERY MUCH!!) Also, we got the exciting news that Alexander Freed’s Alphabet Squadron WILL BE A TRILOGY!!! Perhaps best of all, Del Rey told us in a tweet that General Hera Syndulla (the mother of our beloved son, Jacen) will be there. If you know Kate of the aforementioned Book Wars Pod, you’ll be wholly unsurprising to hear she nearly collapsed from excitement when this news dropped. We can’t wait for this one. And the apparently other two. And the comic mini-series. Give us all the Star Wars.

And that’s the news! One not-so-fun thing and two VERY fun things. We’ll take it!

It’s Monday so it must be time for a NEWSSS roundup!

This week was a bit of a “slowdown”, news-wise, but The Hollywood Reporter blessed us with some good Bob Iger #content. Matthew Belloni of THR discussed all kinds of good stuff–that is, if you think fewer Star Wars movies coming out is good. He also (unsurprisingly) touched heavily on the new Disney streaming service, which he hopes will be a direct competitor to Netflix, citing their content as a “quality play” rather than a “volume play”. There’s also a bunch of #MeToo questions and answers if you want to hear how the Big Boss of the biggest media giant is dealing with *gestures* all of that. He didn’t give us much we didn’t know about Star Wars or Marvel, but he did confirm that for Star Wars he wants to rein in how much content is coming out and how quickly it comes. As someone who actually liked Solo, I’m feeling mixed emotions, but hopefully the deliberate deceleration will bring more diversity on and off-screen.

For you Marvel-Stans out there, I’m told this week brought us an exciting trailer for Captain Marvel. My head remains firmly in the Star Wars clouds, so while I’m not a great person to form an opinion on this one, people sure seemed to be excited on Twitter!

Like I said, light news week; nevertheless, we persist.

Till next time!

It’s Monday! Happy Star Wars news roundup, everyone!

Flight of the Falcon Book Series Coming This Fall

More middle-grade riches, y’all! This series will cover the Millenium Falcon‘s journeys over a long period of time in the GFFA. The series begins just before the Solo film picks up, and continues to follow our favorite freighter through both the original trilogy and into the new trilogy.  PLUS all the books will come with maps! And timelines! I love timelines. Star Wars: Lando’s Luck (the first book in the series), is written by Justina Ireland and illustrated by Annie Wu. The series will also bring back the Space Twins (!) and will have my favorite pirate playing with my favorite Wookiee and scoundrel. (I can’t believe we’re getting Hondo in a story, guys!) IT SHOULD BE SO FUN AND I AM EXCITED!

Forces of Destiny 

There will be a new short included in the 5/25 Forces of Destiny: Volume 4 broadcast–just in time for Solo! Will Han be there? PROBABLY. Will he and Hera re-kindle their ship rivalry? A GIRL CAN DREAM.

More Han Solo-Centric Content Coming to Battlefront II

EA continues to tease out what looks like more great playable content in Battlefront II . Leading up to the with the Solo release, on May 16th some(?) new downloadable content will be available as part of the Solo Season. So far it sounds EXCITING–playing in Jabba’s Palace, BEING ABLE TO CHANGE LANDO AND LEIA’S OUTFITS TO THEIR Return of the Jedi DISGUISES, something called “Starfighter Custom Arcade” where you’ll be able to fly all kinds of ships from all kinds of eras, and a new mode called Hero Showdown which sounds like a load of 2 v. 2 fun!

Behind the Scenes Solo Happenings

The VFX Supervisor for Solo: A Star Wars Story has been promoted to a new role where he will lead Lucasfilm’s Industrial Lights & Magic. Aside from working on Solo, Rob Bredow has a great resume of past films (Independence Day, Godzilla, Cast Away, among others). I haven’t seen Solo yet, but I’m excited to see the visual effects (which, from the trailers look s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g). Good for you, Rob! Hire some cool ladies and people of color while you’re at it, eh?

Non-Dave Filoni Star Wars Television News

Jon Favreau, who will executive produce and write for the new Star Wars television series, gave us some info on the new show (see, Dave? IT’S POSSIBLE). We find ourselves seven years post Battle of Yavin and can expect an entirely new cast of characters with “cutting-edge tech”. He’s also written about half of the first season so far. Air date (and series title) are still TBD, but the show will be on Disney’s new streaming service, which is expected to launch sometime in 2019.

Live from the Solo: A Star Wars Story Premiere

It’s almost like the news has a theme this week. The Solo world premiere happened! In short, everyone on the carpet looked like a snack and I couldn’t be more excited to see them run and jump and blast their way through this movie.

Until next time!