Tag Archives: Sequel Trilogy

One Year Ago Today…

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holy

The above conversation was probably representative of a number of conversations you all had with your peers. Except you probably didn’t bother to black out the expletives.

One year ago today, the entire fandom was blindsided by the news that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm from George Lucas. That was wild enough, but shortly after those rumbling began trickling out onto the Internet something even wilder happened. Disney confirmed the sale and announced that the one thing that was never going to happen was about to become a reality: The Sequel Trilogy.

At the time of the announcement, I was in a Taco Bell in Moses Lake, Washington having just finished up a work trip. Nanci sent me the above text message alerting me to the news and a few hours later Dunc from Club Jade joined us for the first and only emergency podcast episode we have ever done.

And here we were worried we’d have nothing to talk about after Celebration VI. What are your memories from the day Disney bought Lucasfilm?

Rumor: Ford has deal for Episode VII in exchange for progress on Indy V?

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Indiana-JonesJedi News has a new rumor over the weekend that suggests there’s a deal in place to get Harrison Ford back for Episode VII. The catch? He wanted progress to be made on a fifth Indiana Jones installment. Additionally, this rumor suggests that Ford needed to see Han Solo’s arc throughout the entire trilogy, not just Episode VII, in order to agree to reprising the role.

Harrison Ford has made no secret that he wants to don the fedora and whip again. From a fan perspective, getting Indy V out of some sort of Episode VII deal would be pretty neat.

Abrams and Kasdan assuming Episode VII screenwriting role. Arndt out?

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Well this is certainly something. Maybe this is cause for alarm, maybe it isn’t. We don’t know much more beyond this little bit of information:

This was confirmed a few minutes later on the official site.

As Episode VII continues pre-production, Lawrence Kasdan and director J.J. Abrams have assumed screenwriting duties for the film. Kasdan, who has been serving as a consultant on the film, is a veteran of several classic Lucasfilm productions, writing the screenplay for Raiders of the Lost Ark and serving as co-screenwriter for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Acclaimed director and screenwriter Abrams’ credits include Super 8, Mission: Impossible III, Fringe, and Lost.

“I am very excited about the story we have in place and thrilled to have Larry and J.J. working on the script,” states Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy. “There are very few people who fundamentally understand the way a Star Wars story works like Larry, and it is nothing short of incredible to have him even more deeply involved in its return to the big screen. J.J. of course is an incredible storyteller in his own right. Michael Arndt has done a terrific job bringing us to this point and we have an amazing filmmaking and design team in place already prepping for production.”

What exactly this means is a mystery right now. Does this mean that Abrams and Kasdan have Michael Arndt’s screenplay in hand and are in the polishing stage, or does it mean that Arndt is out?

So we know a little more than we did before about Episode VII, but as often happens with these things we’ve now got even more questions and concerns.

Rumor: A Christmas Release Date for Episode VII?

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star-wars-episode-vii-logoFile this one under ‘Seriously?!?’ with a skeptical eyebrow raise.  Badass Digest is claiming that Episode VII will have a mid-December release date.  Forgive us if we take this with a mountain of salt grains.  We were told at D23 that Episode VII would have a ‘summer 2015’ release date which fits with the assumption that Lucasfilm will stick with May.  Plus, Celebration VII was announced for April 2015 which is another reason to not take this as likely.

Of course, like with most rumors, there’s a possibility it could happen but this it’s highly doubtful.

John Williams is Back for the Sequel Trilogy

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Kathleen Kennedy’s panel at Celebration Europe this morning didn’t yield much in terms of Episode VII news but she did announce that John Williams will be back to score all three Sequel Trilogy films.  A video interview (as seen below) was shown to the panel audience and he clearly seems to be as thrilled to be back in the galaxy far far away however he has yet to read the script.

You can read the entire official liveblog of Kennedy’s panel over on the main site.

Rumor: Star Wars actors to make appearance at D23 Expo

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According to The Hollywood Reporter’s Disney insiders, there may be some familiar faces making an appearance at the D23 Expo this year:

The bi-annual event, taking place Aug. 9-11 at the Anaheim Convention Center, will feature a strong Star Wars presence, with Disney planning events like Darth Vader: The Evolution of a Villain, showing the development of the villain, to Crash Course in the Fourse: Star Wars Saga 101.

Insiders say some Star Wars actors may be making appearances during the D23 Expo, confirming their participation in the J.J. Abrams-directed sequel trilogy — which is expected to hit theaters in 2015. (Filming is expected to begin in early 2014 in the U.K.)

Confirming their participation in the Sequel Trilogy? Possible, if it isn’t confirmed first at Celebration Europe.

Diversity In Star Wars

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star-wars-episode-vii-logoCasting rumors have been flying around rampantly almost as long as we’ve known about the Sequel Trilogy and with the recently leaked Episode VII casting breakdown, it seemed like a good time to tackle an issue that’s been bothering me a lot lately: the lack of diversity in leading roles in the Star Wars galaxy when it comes to gender, race, and species.

The Star Wars galaxy is an incredibly diverse place.  There is an innumerous amount of different species in the galaxy far far away all living on hundreds upon hundreds of different planets.  So why is it the default in Star Wars films and literature to (almost) always make the protagonist a white male?

Think I’m exaggerating?  I recently completed a reread of 130 Expanded Universe books.  Out of those 130, only 15 of those books had a leading character who was not a straight white man, excluding books that you could potentially argue are led by Skywalker women.  Five of those books are the Republic/Imperial Command novels and I’m even including books like The Cestus Deception and The Approaching Storm which were co-led by aliens and (you guessed it) a straight white male.  15 out of 130. That’s about 12%.  In a galaxy where I couldn’t even name all of the alien species if I tried?  I haven’t sat down and looked at every single main book in the Expanded Universe but I reckon that number wouldn’t rise much above 15%.  That’s pretty bad and unfortunately, the films don’t do any better.

Star Wars is an epic universe that is ripe with opportunity for diversity.  This is science fiction we’re talking about here.  To quote writer Jane Espenson, “And if we can’t write diversity into sci-fi, then what’s the point? You don’t create new worlds to give them all the same limits of the old ones.”  If the vast majority of the named cast is white and mostly male, then the creators are failing at truly embracing the core tenants of what science fiction should be about.  What really makes all of this jarring is when you watch the films (especially the Prequel Trilogy) and see the wide variety of species and races in the background.  It’s not that the writers and the character designers and the special effects artists are lacking in imagination because clearly those characters and those ideas are there.  So why haven’t we been seeing more Star Wars stories with more diversity in the forefront?

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The Golden Age of Star Wars

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Standing next to Tim Zahn, holding my two copies of Heir to the Empire, has blinded me.

It’s no secret that the Tosche Station staff holds the Expanded Universe close to our hearts. We may disagree on our favorite eras and characters and series, but we all agree that the EU helped develop and cultivate our love of the Star Wars saga as a whole. For me, it was Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy. For Brian, it was the X-Wing series. For Bria, it was the Young Jedi Knights. Without the EU, none of us would be here today, running a Star Wars-centric blog and podcast.

But it’s never all happy-go-lucky in the world of fandom. Lately, with all the rumors swirling around about the Sequel Trilogy, some fans have become jaded (pardon the pun). They despise the idea that the EU as we know it will cease to exist canonically, and feel betrayed by Lucasfilm after all these years. They mourn the “death” of the EU.

We’ve already written about why that’s not necessarily true, and why it’s possible that some EU elements will remain in the Sequel Trilogy. We’ve also discussed why canon vs. non-canon shouldn’t matter in the long run. The books will always exist on my bookshelf and e-reader, no matter what Leland Chee calls them.

That’s not the point of this blog post. Even though I think those fans are misguided–more Star Wars is always a good thing, right? Right?–I understand why some fans feel betrayed. To them, the EU is Star Wars, and ending the EU ends their enthusiasm.

For a long time, the EU was my Star Wars, too.

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Williams wants to score Episode VII

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John WilliamsAbrams wants Williams to score Episode VII. Giacchino thinks Williams should score Episode VII. John Williams wants to score Episode VII. Seems like a pretty safe bet at this point, no? Zap2It sat down with John Williams to discuss the prospects of returning to the franchise.

“We’ve certainly talked about that, and I’m happy and willing to do it,” he confirms. “J.J. Abrams, who will be the director, seems excited about the idea. I have to say that J.J. is a much younger man than I, but I will try to keep up with him as much as I can!”

It seems like at least preliminary discussions have been had with one or both of Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy. Here’s hoping Williams can score at least one more Star Wars film.

(Via Club Jade)

More Episode VII News and Rumors

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Star_Wars_logoThis weekend brought us more in the way of Episode VII news and rumors so here are a few pieces of news you might’ve missed.

First, Episode VII has a costume designer and it is not Trisha Biggar who worked on the Prequel Trilogy.  (Farewell gorgeous and elaborate dresses!)  Michael Kaplan confirmed with Clothes On Film that he will be the costume designer for Episode VII.  Kaplan has previously worked with JJ Abrams, mostly recently for Star Trek: Into Darkness, and is considered to be a regular collaborator with the director.

Next, we turn to the land of rumors.  According to Latino Review, actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) is supposedly in the running for a part in Episode VII.  The report does not specify what staring role Rhys Meyers could be up for and only that he is supposedly in talks.  Rhys Meyers is best known for playing Henry VIII on Showtime’s The Tudors and will be in the forthcoming Dracula show this fall.  As with all rumors, we’d like to remind you that this is not confirmed and should not be treated as fact.
(via Club Jade)

Finally, although Kathleen Kennedy has said that Episode VII won’t be surrounded with the same sort of secrecy that Star Trek: Into Darkness was, producer Bryan Burk’s comments in an interview with /Film indicate that there still might be a fair amount of secrecy:

I guess what I’m saying is it’s always that balance. It’s a hard thing. If I were to right now tell you all of the things that were going to happen in Star Wars in detail, the left side of your brain would say  ’Awesome,’ you guys would have this exclusive and know all of this stuff. But the right side is going to sit down one day and see the movie for the first time and you’d have all of that kind of spoiled, so it’s that balance of wanting to know everything and not wanting to know everything at the same time.

It’s like a magic trick and there’s nobody who wants to know how all of the magic tricks are done more than me. Then the second I learn how they are done, it’s like “Oh” and it kind of goes away.

So we might all be playing the ‘wait and see’ game in regards to spoilers or facts about Episode VII.  You can read the rest of Burk’s comments along with Damon Lindelof’s at the linked interview above.