Lando’s not a system, he’s a character in Star Wars Episode IX.
At least, that’s the rumor that sent shock waves through Star Wars twitter this week when The Hollywood Reporter… well… reported that the one and only William December Williams will be back in the galaxy far, far away next year (and, it’s only fair to note that Fantha Tracks had this rumor nearly a month ago). Normally, we take rumors like this with a grain of salt, but when the second unit director of the movie itself tweets about it, well, that feels like a confirmation to me.
Lando isn’t the only returning fan-favorite we heard about this week, as StarWars.com and Del Rey Publishing released a new excerpt of the upcoming Thrawn: Alliances featuring the one and only Senator Padmé Amidala (not to mention a fantastic poster of her that will be featured in the Barnes & Noble edition of the book). Alliances is due out next week and, based on this excerpt, it seems like Padmé will be a major character in the flashback portions of the book, the first time we’ve seen her in a big role since Disney took over the franchise.
Speaking of the Clone Wars era, StarWars.com also announced the panelists on this week’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars 10th anniversary panel at San DIego Comic-Con, including showrunner and hat aficionado Dave Filoni, composer Kevin Kiner, producer Athena Portillo, and a few familiar voices from the cast. In other Star Wars animation news, the fourth and final season of Star Wars Rebels was nominated for three Emmys this week, including Outstanding Children’s Program. (You know what would have been more outstanding? If KANAN DIDN’T DIE -Kate)
Finally, the whole bunch of book and merchandise news rounded out a surprisingly busy week in Star Wars, led by the announcement of Star Wars: Droidography, a deep dive into everyone’s favorite mechanical characters told from the perspective of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures’s Roger. Hasbro announced their San Diego Comic-Con exclusives (porgs!), EA announced what’s coming up for the Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes mobile game, and Fantasy Flight Games released one expansion set for Star Wars: Legion and announced two more. (Side note: if any readers in the Washington, DC area play Legion… let me know. I need more friends.)
That’s (finally) it for this week! Be good to each other, drive trolls off Twitter, and as always, may the Force be with you.
