Breakdown - Star Wars Celebration 2023 Announcements

       Hey guys, Chuck here, and hooo boy! Did the team at Lucasfilm come to play this weekend. So,.for those who don't know, Star Wars Celebration was going on in Europe this weekend, and in addition to several new trailers for projects like Ahsoka and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, we got announcements of three, count 'em, THREE new Star Wars movies. And a whole lot of other Star Wars announcements. 

       So, what new Star Wars movies are we getting? Well, James Mangold, director of the aforementioned Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, is set to write and direct a new film called Dawn of the Jedi, which will be set in an early point in the timeline approximately 25,000 years before the Skywalker Saga and explore the beginning of the Jedi Order. Okay, that's pretty cool. Also, Dave Filoni, who has been instrumental in such series as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and the upcoming Ahsoka series, is also set to write and direct a movie being dubbed as an Age of the Rebellion movie, which is described as an event film that will be the culmination of all of the Jon Favreau/Dave Filoni Disney+ Star Wars series and serve as the definitive conclusion of The Mandalorian. Now see, THIS is something I've been saying I wanted to see happen. All of these streaming shows building to a massive event film where the main heroes of the streaming series unite against the major villains like Moff Gideon and Grand Admiral Thrawn, who is set to make his live-action debut in Ahsoka. Anyway, the last movie announced was a New Jedi Order movie set to be written by Steven Knight and directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and will be set fifteen years after The Rise of Skywalker and will center on Rey Skywalker, played by the returning Daisy Ridley, training a new order of Jedi. Okay, so among these three movies, it's Dave Filoni's Age of the Rebellion movie that I'm the most excited for, because it's building from several streaming series and will serve as the big event that they're building towards. 

       And speaking of which, the first trailer for Ahsoka, which is coming this August on Disney+, was released, and it looks awesome. And we have some major casting confirmations with Mary Elizabeth Winstead taking on the role of Hera Syndulla, David Tennant returning to voice a droid called Huyang, whom he voiced in the animated series The Clone Wars, and Lars Mikkelsen returning as Grand Admiral Thrawn. And, we have Ray Stevenson and Ivanna Sakhno as Baylan Skoll and Shin Hati, who are respectively a Dark force user and his apprentice. And with these two, we get a new lightsaber color: orange. That's awesome. And, of course, we're getting the live-action debuts of Star Wars Rebels characters like Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, Chopper, Ezra Bridger, and of course Grand Admiral Thrawn. Definitely can't wait for August to get here, because Ahsoka looks awesome. 

        Two other series we got first looks at, but were unfortunately exclusive to the event, were for Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte. Developed by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford, Skeleton Crew will center on a group of kids traversing the galaxy, and will feature Jude Law as a Jedi character. Oh, and this series is set in the same time frame as The Mandalorian. Meanwhile, The Acolyte, developed by Leslye Headland, takes place at the end of the High Republic era, 100 years before The Phantom Menace, and will center on shadowy secrets and emerging dark side powers. The main focus will be on a former Padawan rejoining her Jedi master, and the two begin investigating crimes, only to learn just how grave of a threat they're dealing with. Starring the likes of Amandla Stenberg, Manny Jacinto, Carrie-Anne Moss, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Dafne Keen, and Joonas Suotamo, The Acolyte is set to release on Disney+ in 2024. I'm definitely excited for this, as I have been reading and enjoying the various books and comics published by Lucasfilm that make up the era known as the High Republic. So, to see a streaming series set in that era is pretty cool. 

        And, of course, we had another trailer for the upcoming video game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and it definitely looks exciting. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Cal Kestis and Merrin actually fighting as a team in this game, and it looks like it's definitely happening. I loved Jedi: Fallen Order, and I'm thoroughly looking forward to this new game. Lastly, there's the new trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which gives a bit more of a sense of what this movie is about. And, just based on the trailer Dial of Destiny definitely looks better than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but feels like a far cry from the original three Indiana Jones movies. Either way, I'm looking forward to what will be the last time Harrison Ford dons the iconic fedora. 

        We also got confirmation that we're getting a third and final season of the animated series The Bad Batch in 2024, as well as the first official trailer for Volume Two of the animated anthology project Star Wars Visions, which consists of a series of shorts from nine of the most celebrated animation studios around the globe. Yeah, unlike Volume One of Visions which was primarily anime studios in Japan, Volume Two of Visions also includes segments from the following global animation studios: El Guiri from Spain, Aardman from the United Kingdom, Cartoon Saloon from Ireland, 88 Pictures from India, D'Art Shtajio from Japan, Triggerfish from South Africa, Studio Mir from South Korea, Punkrobot from Chile, Studio La Cachette from France, and of course Lucasfilm from the United States. Volume Two of Star Wars Visions will release on Disney+ on May 4th, 2023. 

       Overall, this year's Star Wars Celebration had a lot of amazing announcements and reveals. I wish I could have been there, but it was in Europe, and I couldn't make it. Oh well, still excited by what was revealed. Well, that's gonna do it for now. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.