Yesterday there was Star Wars news everywhere, from somehow the other Palpatine returning, to Ahsoka being set up as the next big hope, with Andor season 2, now that The Mandalorian has broken our hopeful little hearts.

Star Wars Celebration 2023 was in London, and the younger versions of our UK contributors would barely be able to believe it, but we decided to stay at home and drink heavily instead of going.

There was more news coming out of the event than even we could handle, so here is a roundup of all the other rumblings from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away:

Andor Season 2

Diego Luna, Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Andy Serkis, Joplin Sibtain, Muhannad Bhaier, and B2-EMO spoke about filming the second and final season of the show.

Gilroy said that knowing the ending already and having Rogue One as the target makes things easier:

“If you know your ending, it really helps. We know exactly where we’re going….It’s one way out.”

There was an in-room-only screening of the first trailer for the new season that won’t be online, where it showed things picking up in the world of the nascent Rebellion, with Mon Mothma making it clear:

“If we do not stand together, we will be crushed.”

Andor season 2 will be out in early 2024. Andor season 1 remains the best Star Wars since the Disney takeover.

The Acolyte

Creator, showrunner, executive producer, and director Leslye Headland says the series was originally pitched as:

“Frozen meets Kill Bill”

It was also confirmed that Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca in the latest films) will feature as a Wookie Jedi alongside Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae as a Jedi Master.

Headland went on to talk about George Lucas’ inspiration from the old samurai movies and how this is part of their guiding principles. They confirmed that four episodes have been completed so far, and Headland spoke about the plot:

“It’s about the bad guys, it’s set between the High Republic and the prequel era and has plenty of Jedi. This is when the bad guys are outnumbered, they are underdogs.”

Another in-room-only teaser was shown with Carrie-Anne Moss showing up for a martial arts fight with Amanda Stenberg’s character, and a lot of Jedi were shown with a lot of lightsabers.

Projects Not Dead

There was a press pool event after the panels, and it was here IGN asked Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy about projects that were shelved. She said they aren’t shelved. It was just a matter of scheduling:

“Well, they haven’t been shelved. Most things haven’t been shelved. Development is a complicated, long-term process. [For] some people, we’re dealing with scheduling because obviously really talented people are working. It’s often not a shelving. It’s just, ‘Is it ready?’ is really what it comes down to.”

Both the Glover-led Lando Calrissian series and Rogue Squadron were specifically mentioned, with Kennedy saying:

“Rogue Squadron, that definitely is something that we still talk about. Whether it’s a movie or whether it ends up being in the series space, that’s definitely something… [Lando] I can just tell you it’s still happening and [Glover is] very excited about it.”

On the Feige project:

“Nothing ever got developed. We never discussed an idea.”

Skeleton Crew

Kennedy compared this to classic Amblin tales, saying it’s about kids but not necessarily a kids show. Filming is finished, and the show in post-production. The story was apparently Spider-Man helmer John Watts idea and he pitched it to John Favreau while they were working together on Spider-Man.

Jude Law plays a Jedi, hiding out, and he joined the cast and crew on stage to say:

“I was six years old when this galaxy gripped me for the first time. I’ve been preparing ever since. It was a true dream come true.”

More in-room-only footage was shown, featuring space pirates and X-Wings. Skeleton Crew is out at the end of this year. release sometime later this year.

Mangold Speaks!

James Mangold gave more details if his Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi project, stating it takes place around 25,000 years before the Skywalker saga. In an interview with Variety at the event he said it is:

“…kind of a ‘Ben-Hur’ or ‘The 10 Commandments’ about the birth of the force. The Force has become a kind of religious legend that spans through all these movies. But where did it come from? How was it found? Who found it? Who was the first Jedi? That is what I am writing now.”

Midichlorians: The Movie won’t be out for at least a couple of years.

This is, of course, not the first time entire slates of Star Wars have been spoken about, only for “creative differences” to repeatedly screw things up.

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