It’s that time of year–Star Wars movie promo season! J.J. Abrams and members of The Rise of Skywalker cast have been making the rounds on TV and in print. Of note: the runtime; John Boyega confessing it was his script that got swiped and put on Ebay; Daisy Ridley preferring Baby Yoda to porgs; and TRoS’s first word (at). There’s also a bunch of new TV spots over on YouTube, including Palpatine being menacing over Duel of the Fates, Leia holding the legacy lightsaber, and Poe back in an x-wing. There’s also a tear-jerking saga featurette reminiscent of the one that was shown during Celebration but including some new footage. And in sad yet heartwarming news, a fan in hospice was able to see TRoS early with his young son.

Baby Yoda–I mean, The Mandalorian–has become the top streaming show in the United States, knocking off Stranger Things. Four episodes of the show have been released on Disney+, and Baby Yoda has produced excellent memes in each of them. The latest? Baby Yoda drinking tea. Perfection.

Del Rey revealed the cover for Timothy Zahn’s newest book, Thrawn Ascendancy: Book One: Chaos Rising. Released on May 5, 2020, it’s set before Thrawn joining the Empire and takes place in the Unknown Regions, or what the Chiss call “The Chaos.” That’s not foreboding at all.

That’s not the only book coming out on May 5, however. The latest episode of the Star Wars Show announced that E.K. Johnston has written a prequel to Queen’s Shadow. Queen’s Peril will take place during the time of The Phantom Menace and feature the original handmaidens.

That’s it for this week. I leave you with John Boyega writing a Victorian inspired letter to Oscar Isaac.

Did you know that Disney+ has launched in the United States? No? Okay then you’ve definitely been living under a rock. We’re now three episodes into The Mandalorian and everything is Baby Yoda and nothing hurts. (Okay one thing hurts but we’ll talk about that in the staff writer round table at the end of the season.) Anyways! We’ve got a new Star Wars movie rapidly approaching which means we have news!

The Rise of Skywalker novelization has an official cover now! It’s pulled from one of the posters and features Rey and Kylo Ren battling it out. In other writing related Episode IX news, both Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly will received writing credit alongside J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio. This is due to WGA rules so don’t read too much into it.

Entertainment Weekly continues to be one of the go to places for Star Wars interview despite staff changes and had plenty for those of us eagerly anticipating The Rise of Skywalker this week. They’ve got a full interview/article about the film and debuted a bunch of new pictures. Let us all pause and take a moment to appreciate the beauty that is Finn’s new pants and also Poe’s ‘google earth, always taking photos’ pose.

In other news, John Williams is apparently done with his composing work for The Rise of Skywalker but he and the rest of the Galaxy’s Edge team have been nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition which is super cool!

And finally, in non-Episode IX related news, VIZ’s manga adaptation of The Legend of Luke Skywalker starts in January.

And that’s it for this week! For those of you in the US, enjoy your turkey dinners and always save plenty of room for pie!

Who’s ready to watch The Mandalorian in 5 months?!?

That’s right European Star Wars – we finally got an official Disney+ release date for the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and more to come. Fandalorians (not sorry) in those countries will be able to start streaming on March 31, 2020, which means you only need to avoid spoilers for the entire first season. In the meantime, though, you can enjoy the exclusive teasers that Verizon and other companies released on Twitter this week in the lead-up to the U.S. premiere tomorrow.

You know what you can do while you wait, though? Apply for a fan panel at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim! Applications are due by February 28, 2020, giving all of us plenty of time to come up with a concept, put together a crew, have a crisis of faith that our idea sucks, and put something together at the last minute. A time-honored SWC tradition unlike any other.

The Mandalorian launches in the U.S. this week, along with the release of Jedi: Fallen Order and the book Force Collector by Kevin Shinick. Vader Immortal: Episode III comes out next week on the Oculus Quest and Rift, and we are just about a month away from Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker hitting theaters. We’re in the endgame now.