For those keeping a close eye on everything coming out of the galaxy far, far away, it’s been a busy few weeks. Star Wars Resistance has launched, and is offering some background information on the political landscape of the galaxy. Meanwhile, the Marvel comic series filled in a missing piece of lore from the original trilogy that no one even knew they missing. But that’s just the start. Here’s all the other Star Wars news from the last couple weeks you might have missed.
Here’s a Buttload of Information About the New Star Wars Streaming Show
The Source: Lucasfilm and showrunner Jon Favreau
Probability of Accuracy: This is as on-target as a Mandalorian sharp-shooter. No, wait, we’ve seen Boba Fett in action. It’s more precise than that.
The Real Deal: Without a doubt, the biggest Star Wars news over the last few weeks has been the reveal of the title and premise of director Jon Favreau’s live-action Star Wars series. Titled The Mandalorian, the series centers around a “lone gunfighter in the outer reachers of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.” Favreau offered up a picture of the titular hero via Instagram a few days back, and shared a better image of the Mandalorian’s weapon soon after, which delighted hardcore fans because it’s a nod to Boba Fett’s first appearance in the much-maligned Star Wars Holiday Special, of all things. As if that wasn’t enough, Lucasfilm also announced the directors for the first season, and it’s a genuinely impressive line-up: Dave Filoni, Jessica Jones and Mr. Robot’s Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dope’s Rick Famuyiwa and, most impressively of all, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi. Not bad for a show intended for a streaming service. No wonder it’s reportedly costing $10 million per episode.
Expect Some Unlikely Actors in The Mandalorian
The Source: Online rumormongering
Probability of Accuracy: Considering even one of the sources seems iffy on half of this report, let’s assume it’s just a little uncertain.
The Real Deal: In case you haven’t had enough Mandalorian news already, perhaps you’d be interested in rumors concerning the cast of the show? Fan site Making Star Wars is suggesting that, somewhat amazingly, Werner Herzog will be in the show, based on the discovery that The Mandalorian’s production codename seems to be Huckleberry, which is the same codename of a project Herzog had previously been connected to. Another actor rumored to be joining the series, although even Making Star Wars is a little nervous about this one, is John Leguizamo — something that makes a little bit more sense when you consider that Leguizamo worked with Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau in 2014’s Chef. Looks like the Mandalorian universe will be filled with stars.
Expect a Looser, More Improvisational Final Chapter to the Current Movie Trilogy
The Source: Everyone’s favorite boy, Poe Dameron
Probability of Accuracy: If an actor on the set doesn’t know what the set is like, who would?
The Real Deal: Of course, it’s not just The Mandalorian that’s in production right now; Star Wars: Episode IX is also shooting, and Poe Dameron himself, Oscar Isaac, offered up an interesting glimpse behind the scenes in a recent interview. “The way they’ve been shooting it right now is looser than it’s been for the last two times,” Isaac told IndieWire, reportedly referring to an increased amount of improvisation on the set of the movie. “It does feel like a relief to get on set and feel like, ‘Oh, we can try things,'” he continued. “It’s a testament to J.J. [Abrams] coming back and feeling confident. There’s less pressure for it to be right. We just want to make a good movie and have a really good time while doing it… Often, you do feel like you’ve got to find your way to make something more alive, but this time, it’s been the opposite. There’s no need to smuggle anything in there.” A looser, more confident Star Wars sounds like exactly what everyone might want after the self-conscious Solo, but audiences won’t know for sure until the movie’s released in December 2019.
The Empire Does Not Hold Favor With Twitter
The Source: Occasional Star Wars writer Chuck Wendig
Probability of Accuracy: This seems to be entirely accurate, sadly.
The Real Deal: Lucasfilm announced a raft of new books and comics during New York Comic Con, including Shadow of Vader, a five-issue comic book series written by Chuck Wendig, author of the Star Wars: Aftermath novels. Just a week later, however, Wendig revealed Marvel fired him from the series, reportedly due to the tone of his tweets. Marvel declined to officially comment, but sources confirmed that it was apparently the vulgarity of his Twitter account that got him dismissed from the project after only writing three of the five announced issues. No replacement has been announced yet, and in a subsequent blog post Wendig suggested he doesn’t actually know what will happen to the three issues he has written. “I like to think they’ll keep my first three—they told me I was being pulled off of 4 and 5, which leads me to believe that my completed scripts for 1, 2, and 3 will still end up out there,” he wrote. “I was honestly very proud of them.” (Wendig was also fired from a second, unannounced Star Wars comic, he said, but offered no further information on that series.)
Now You Can Farm Porgs Yourself, Almost
The Source: An official announcement from ILMxLab
Probability of Accuracy: As odd as it seems, this is entirely legit.
The Real Deal: If you miss the thrill of Neopets but wish you could bring it back in a more expensive format that also includes Star Wars, good news: Lucasfilm and ILMxLab have unveiled Project Porg, a new Magic Leap One experience in which none other than C-3PO (yes, actually Anthony Daniels) will instruct you how to raise a family of Porg in a virtual environment. The game—if it can really be called a game—will be available as a free download in December, and then you can just say goodbye to all your free time or else your poor little alien bird babies will probably starve.
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