Tag Archives: Episode IX

Holonet Blast #106

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Not a lot of news dropped this week, but that doesn’t matter – it was Vanity Fair week! Just like for The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, Annie Leibovitz photographed the cast of The Rise of Skywalker. The pictures, as always, are gorgeous. There’s also a rather long article by author Lev Grossman, heavy on speculation but also with some new tidbits. The Knights of Ren are officially back; Keri Russell was “revealed” to play the masked scoundrel Zorri Bliss; Richard Grant is Allegiant General Pryde; there’s a year between TLJ and TRoS; J.J. Abrams commented on using archival footage of Carrie Fisher for new scenes with Leia.

Check out the photos and article here. My favorite photo, of the two coolest cats in the galaxy, is below.

Holonet Blast #69

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Welcome to our weekly roundup of news. Early this week I was beginning to wonder if maybe I’d have nothing to report, but Star Wars came through in a big way in time for this post.

Thrawn: Alliances

This week’s addition to the Star Wars canon from our folks at Del Rey Books is Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn: Alliances. The new book is getting rave reviews from fans of the Thrawn of Legends as well as those who were only introduced to the character via his appearances on Star Wars Rebels. Have a look at our Staff’s GO/NO GO article, and Bria’s REVIEW to know more about this newest adventure featuring our favorite Chiss Grand Admiral.

 

Fox shareholders okay Disney deal

For those of you who follow Lucasfilm’s parent company, Disney, on the corporate level, it is important to note that this week the contentious acquisition of much of the Murdoch media empire was finalized. The $71.3 billion purchase includes film properties such as Avatar and the X-Men series, television including The Simpsons and This is Us, the FX family of cable networks and National Geographic, and the streaming service Hulu. The deal must be approved by regulators in more than a dozen countries, but has been approved by shareholders in the US and abroad.

 

Cast announced for Star Wars Episode IX

The big news out of Lucasfilm this week was the announcement of the principal cast for the next (and reportedly final) episode in the Skywalker saga. Sequel Trilogy stars Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac were no surprise. TFA and TLJ veterans Domnhall Gleeson, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Billie Lourd, and Lupita Nyong’o will also be returning. New cast members announced include The Americans’ Keri Russell, well-known British character actor Richard E. Grant, and 2017 BIFA Most Promising Newcomer award winner Naomi Ackie.

While I was pleased as punch to hear of both the returning cast and the newcomers,  it was the news of certain members of the Original Trilogy cast that got me gushing. Mark Hamill’s return to the role of Luke Skywalker has many people speculating as to whether he will appear in flashbacks or as a Force Ghost to live up to his iconic pledge to “see ya ’round, kid”. Either way, fans will once again get to see Luke Skywalker on screen, and that is never a bad thing. Anthony Daniels will once again don his signature golden plates as C-3PO. And in a delightful surprise, it has been announced that Billy Dee Williams will once again bring Lando Calrissian to the screen.

But the news that had me in tears was that the role of Leia Organa will once again be played by the late Carrie Fisher. Since Carrie’s untimely passing in December of 2016, there has been much speculation as to what would happen to the character in the final episode of the saga. Director J. J. Abrams has announced that there is enough existing footage of Fisher’s Leia to tell her story to its conclusion. The choice to use existing footage (and likely ADR) possibly alongside body and photo doubles as opposed to digitally re-creating the actress in total or re-casting the role was the one I was hoping the team would make and has been signed off on by Carrie’s daughter, Billie and her brother, Todd.

John Williams will be scoring the film.

Principal Photography on Episode IX is slated to begin August 1 at Pinewood Studios in London.

The film’s release is currently scheduled for December of 2019.

 

That’s it for this week’s news from a Galaxy Far, Far Away. Send Star Wars news tips to us here at Tosche Station and send Carrie Fisher feels to @MandaTheGinger.

Holonet Blast #27

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Boy howdy, there was a ton of news last week. That’s what I get for going on vacation!

As reported in last week’s Holonet Blast, Colin Trevorrow is off Episode IX. Last Tuesday saw the announcement of Episode IX’s new writer AND director, none other than The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams. He will be writing the script along with Chris Terrio. Abrams is obviously experienced in directing well-received and hugely blockbuster Star Wars films, so there’s no doubt he’ll do a great job on Episode IX. While a woman or POC director (or a WOC director, there’s a novel thought) is definitely something that is needed in Star Wars, a safe choice like Abrams to finish out the trilogy is probably warranted here.

Not only did Episode IX get a new director, but it got a new release date, as well: December 20, 2019. Cue the cheers for Star Wars in December! Now, if only the Untitled Han Solo Film could get moved to December, as well.

In The Last Jedi news, CBR is reporting that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a cameo. This makes sense, as he previous worked with director Rian Johnson on Looper and Brick. Apparently he’s voicing an alien.

On Wednesday, the Star Wars Show announced the cover for the upcoming anthology Canto Bight, and the official site revealed some info about the four novellas: Saladin Ahmed’s “Rules of the Game;” Rae Carson’s “Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing;” Mira Grant’s “The Wine in Dreams;” and John Jackson Miller’s “The Ride.”

In other book “news,” The Last Jedi novelization will be released on March 6, 2018. This differs from the novelizations for The Force Awakens and Rogue One, in which ebooks were released on the same day as the film and the hardcovers a few weeks later. Pablo Hidalgo noted on Twitter that this is not a delay, as no previous release date was announced and this was the date initially agreed upon by all parties. If you follow Jason Fry on Twitter, he’s currently hard at work writing the novelization, which I am stoked for, no matter when it comes out.

Luke and Leia will star in a comic one-shot arriving December 27: Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Storms of Crait #1. The comic, written by Ben Blacker and Ben Acker and art by Mike Mayhew, will depict the Luke and Leia searching for a new rebel base during the Galactic Civil War. Crait, of course, is a new planet in The Last Jedi, and was also featured in the recently released Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray.

And in our last bit of literature news, the audiobook narrators for From a Certain Point of View were announced: Jonathan Davis, Ashley Eckstein, Janina Gavankar, Jon Hamm, Neil Patrick Harris, January LaVoy, Saskia Maarleveld, Carol Monda, Daniel José Older, and Marc Thompson.

Not only that, but the anthology’s authors have been revealing the titles and subjects of their short stories on Twitter. Check the hashtag #FromACertainPOV on Twitter to see the nifty social cards. I also created a Google doc with all the stories announced so far.

Phew, that was a long post! Let’s see what news Star Wars has for us next week, shall we? Enjoy!

Holonet Blast #26

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Ever so foolishly, we took last week off because it was Labor Day weekend and it was Force Friday II and what could possibly happen while we were all supposed to be busy reading our new books and playing with our new toys? Oh what sweet summer children we were… Things happened. Oh dear did things happen.

Colin Trevorrow is no longer directing Episode IX and honestly, not many people are wiping away tears of sorrow. Moral of the story: do not mess with Kathleen Kennedy.

Disney’s being the worst and putting their Marvel and Star Wars films on their exclusive streaming service which is fine and whatever because that’s why I own DVDs.

Paul Bettany is apparently in the Han Solo film though according to Ron Howard’s Twitter. I don’t have anything snarky here.

In ‘things you can get’ news, there will be a very pretty convention exclusive edition of From A Certain Point of View available at NYCC that will come presigned by some of the authors. The soundtrack for The Last Jedi will be out on December 15th and there will probably be a track titled “Luke’s Noble End” on it. (Sorry, Nanci. I’ll start running now.)

To round out the week on a high note, go watch the new Star Wars Rebels Season 4 trailer again and sob over the Space Married perfection with us. The new season kicks off on October 16th.

Rumor: Rian Johnson to write and direct Episodes VIII and IX

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Normally we don’t do rumors, but this one appears to have some legs. Deadline is reporting that Rian Johnson will be writing and directing Episodes VIII and IX.

Johnson will take over the core film franchise, and he’ll get started quickly and this will be his preoccupation for quite awhile. Johnson made his directing debut on the respected indie Brick, and then jumped to mainstream science fiction by writing and directing Looper, an inventive time travel thriller that starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis. It would be hard to imagine him taking on a higher profile challenge than two consecutive Star Wars films. I’ll tell you more when I know it. Johnson is repped by CAA.

As mentioned in that snippet, Johnson headed Looper, a time traveling film met with mixed but mostly positive reviews. His indie film resume (as well as some of his work on Breaking Bad) have won him acclaim.

This isn’t confirmed yet, but multiple major outlets are jumping all over this one.