As we start in with this week’s Holonet Blast, of course the biggest news out of Star Wars this week was the passing of Peter Mayhew, who portrayed the mighty Chewbacca in 5 films, at age 74. There are no words that can do justice to the life, joy, and wonder that Mr. Mayhew brought to the Star Wars universe, so all I will say is that all of our lives were better for him being in them, and, if it fits with your chosen belief system, he’s with Carrie Fisher again now.

Photo from StarWars.com

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There’s no possible way to segue gracefully, so: on to book news. As fans around the galaxy celebrated May the 4th, the big reveal this weekend was the full lineup for Lucasfilm Publishing’s Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker series of tie-ins to the final installment of the Skywalker saga. And a big reveal it was, including:

• Resistance Reborn, a novel by Rebecca Roanhorse (author of Trail of Lightning, a big hit among our Tosche Station writers) that will detail how Poe, Rey, Finn, Leia, and more rebuilt the Resistance after the events of The Last Jedi.
• Force Collector, a YA novel by Kevin Shinick exploring the life of a young Force sensitive teen just before The Force Awakens – might he be a future member of whatever future order Rey seems destined to start?
• Spark of the Resistance, a middle-grade book by Justina Ireland of Lando’s Luck and Project Luminous fame
• Comics, reference books, children’s books, art books, and much, much more!

And if that wasn’t enough books for you, we also got a first look at the beautiful cover of Galaxy’s Edge: A Crash of Fate, a YA novel by Zoraida Córdova coming in August.

https://twitter.com/zlikeinzorro/status/1123233694221627392?s=19

Finally, if you really just hate reading (which, interesting choice of activity for you to be doing right now, then), we got a treat for the ears this week, as well, with the release of the entire symphonic suite written by the maestro John Williams for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney Land and Walt Disney World.

That’s it folks – hope you had a wonderful May the 4th. Live your lives well enough to deserve a hug from Chewie.

This news post was definitely not written at the last minute, no sirree bob. It definitely wasn’t overlooked due to Avengers Endgame hangover and feeling sick all weekend. (I don’t even watch Game of Thrones so I have no excuse there.) ANYWAY. On with the show!

Speaking of Endgame, yes this is a Star Wars centric blog but it would be remiss not to mention Endgame‘s humongous box office take this weekend. $1.2 billion worldwide, to be specific. Aka the biggest worldwide opening weekend ever. The previous record? Infinity War, with $640 million. That’s a HUGE difference. Domestically, Endgame also broke records, taking in $350 million to Infinity War‘s $258 million. Something tells me that Disney is going to have a very good year at the box office.

Back to Star Wars, we have an excerpt for Dooku: Jedi Lost, by Cavan Scott. The audio original releases tomorrow, April 30, from Del Rey.

In news very relevant to my interests, reservations for Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland open on May 2. Yes, you will need a reservation to enter Galaxy’s Edge when the land first opens. Reservations will be handed out in four-hour chunks on a first-come, first-serve basis. Guests with Disneyland hotel reservations can already book their guaranteed time slots. Learn more about the reservation system at this link. (I am very glad this system will not be in place at Disney World. That we know of, at least.)

Finally, a big congrats to the Star Wars team for their five 2019 Webby awards! The Star Wars Show won both the Webby Award and the People’s Voice Award in Social: Television & Film as well as the Webby Award for Video: Variety. The Live From the Red Carpet of Solo: A Star Wars Story! coverage was voted the People’s Voice Winner in Video: Events & Live streams. Starwars.com won the award for People’s Voice Award for Website in the Movie & Film category (for the third year in a row) and was selected as an honoree in the category of Websites: Best User Experience.

HELLO THERE. We’re all back from Star Wars Celebration and boy howdy was there some news. So much news. We have an Episode IX title! The Rise of Skywalker! Can you believe? No but actually… Whaaaaaaat?! *insert Palpatine cackle here* Listen, I’m going to be honest with you: I’m going to try and get everything in here but I still need at least three more naps before I’m recovered from the con. Effort’s being made here though. Okay, let’s do this!

On the television front, we got a cool new poster for Season 2 of Star Wars Resistance and also people at the panel got to see the first episode and I am dying because I wasn’t there but apparently it was good. We also got a trailer for the final season of The Clone Wars and you’d best hold on to your butts because whoa those last few seconds. Even cooler though was our first look at The Mandalorian. I was lucky enough to see some of the footage and November cannot be here fast enough. (That music. THAT MUSIC!) Also, Alan Tudyk is officially returning to the part of K-2SO for the Cassian Andor series.

In publishing news, IDW announced more Jaxxon and a return to Vader’s Castle this fall. On the Marvel side of things, we mostly got art and cover reveals but we also learned of a forthcoming series (Target: Vader) and that Greg Pak and Phil Noto will be taking over the main Star Wars comic series this summer once Kieron Gillen concludes his run. We had some reveals at the Lucasfilm Publishing panel. Also wtf is Project Luminous?!? We don’t know and Del Rey is being a massive tease about it but with Claudia Gray, Daniel José Older, Charles Soule, Justina Ireland, and Cavan Scott all involved, I’m 100% onboard no matter what it is.

EA unveiled more about their new game Jedi: Fallen Order and the trailer looks pretty darn cool. Of note, Second Sister and the Purge Troopers from Soule’s Darth Vader comic will be in the game. You can also look forward to an The Art of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order book later this year.

What else, what else? Galaxy’s Edge is going to be next level cool. (I still can’t get over the Coke bottles.) We got our first look at Vader Immortal and judging by the demo they had on the floor, it’s going to be really freaking neat. (Maya Rudolph is in Star Wars!) Hasbro is putting out new things because Hasbro and I did not try and steal the display Black Series Aphra so you should all be proud of me. Finally, Star Wars Pinball is coming to Nintendo Switch.

Whew. I think that’s everything. I hope it’s everything. Celebration is always a lot. I also recommend heading over to StarWars.com as they have some great features on plenty of panels that didn’t have news and are definitely worth taking a look at. Now if you’ll excuse me… I have a Star Wars Resistance poster to stare at some more. (Tam! Just look at Tam!)