Over the weekend, that tremor you felt was a thunderous disturbance in the Force with Star Wars Celebration 2023. The gaggle of geeks here at GVN tried to keep everyone informed about the festivities at Star Wars Celebration 2023 with tweets, posts, and the random GIF, but there was a Naboo N-1 haul of news to be heard.
And that’s why there is no better way to compile the intergalactic headlines than with one of our lovely Top 10 lists (yes, I’m biased). One of your favorite news flashes is certainly on this list, but where? Here is (our) definitive ranking of the top announcements shared from the stage–and there were some doozies.
Here are the Top 10 Flashes from the Force at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
10. Skeleton Out of the Closet
“Coming of age” stories tend to be the secret ingredient of anything Star Wars. And the Disney+ TV series is no exception featuring four children who got lost on the way home. This isn’t like down the street in some small town; they were lost in the middle of a galaxy. Showrunner Chris Ford (Chaos Walking, The Clovehitch Killer) and Director Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home, Spider-Man: Homecoming) were proud to welcome Jude Law, who is new to the Lucasfilm family. Good times!
9. Strike Two, Yer Out
August 2024 will be the second season of the most surprising Disney+ TV series featuring the adventures of Cassian Andor. Diego Luna was fantastic in Rogue One, brilliant in Andor, and will no doubt rock the galaxy in Season Two. Regretfully, the season will end at the beginning of Rogue One. The bad news is this will be Andor‘s last season. Showrunner Tony Gilroy was at peace with the news because the ending is at hand and they can see the finish line. Even though fans see it too, we’re not as happy.
8. Light of Day
How’s this sound: Frozen meets Kill Bill. Interested? Creator Leylye Headland (Russian Doll, About Last Night) believes that the comparison that needed to be made about the High Republic era “spiritual battle” runs headlong into a Kurosawa samurai epic. And this cast?! The Acolyte features Amandla Stenberg, Joonas Suotamo, Manny Jacinto, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Squid Game‘s own Lee Jung-Jae playing a Jedi master. Yes, please!
7. The Mando of the Hour
Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are having the times of their lives dorking out in the Star Wars universe. The Mandalorian Season 3 is coming with high anticipation and it centers on an “escalating war between the Imperial Remnant and the fledgling New Republic.” Although Pedro Pascal wasn’t there in person to show fans “this is the way,” there was a short-lived video message welcoming the fans. Even though Din Djarin isn’t the centerpiece of the show, Pascal is still its heart!
6. Step in the Gap
When Return of the Jedi ended, fans knew it was the culmination of one of the greatest trilogies in film history. Of course, the Star Wars faithful wanted more. That’s when George Lucas brought us the Prequel Trilogy, followed by JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson creating the Sequel Trilogy.
But meeting Kylo Ren dug some massive potholes in the nerd journey that began with the aforementioned ROTJ. Now, we will discover how Ben and Han fell out leading up to that death with Dave Filoni connecting the dots in a new film. Think he’ll bring back Mace Windu? You M*thaF*$kin’ right. (Sorry, different character.)
5. Epic of Biblical Proportions
Get ready for Dawn of the Jedi. After the post-production and media blitz is complete with the new Indiana Jones film, James Mangold is bringing his theatrical storytelling ways to Star Wars. In fact, he wants to break open the Book of Genesis to introduce us to the advent of the Jedi forces in the universe.
In fact, Mongold’s journey will begin 25,000 years before the prequel series entitled Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi. It was described as a “biblical epic” because of the premise with the first Jedi to wield the Force and uses it against oppressive powers against innocent people. Can anyone say, “Pharoah, let my people go?” This sounds amazing!
4. The New Jedi Timeline
One of the most impressive images taken from Star Wars Celebration was this–the new Jedi timeline. Kathleen Kennedy sat in her oval office shocking the Star Wars faithful and ostensibly shutting down the Force. It took Lucasfilm a hot minute to determine how to rebuild the momentum of the greatest sci-fi franchise in history, but now…look at that! Areas and eras, galaxies and planets are all undiscovered by fans (and many of these moviemakers) alike. Can’t wait.
3. It Takes Two
When news broke about Rosario Dawson bringing the former Jedi, two-sabered dynamo to life, Clone Wars fans rejoiced. Of course, she was teased for us, which sucked a little (depending on whom you ask), but this trailer here is all the feels! And this woman looks every bit of Ahsoka Tano!
Adding to her prowess in the Disney+ TV Series will be Natasha Liu Bordizzo (The Voyeurs, The Greatest Showman) as Sabine Wren and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Birds of Prey, Kate) as the revolutionary catalyst Hera Syndulla. And, not for nothing, but the goddaughter of Bruce Lee, Diana Lee Inosanto, is featured too. (Yes, her middle name is Bruce’s too. Awesome!)
2. Reyturn of the Jedi
Daisy Ridley is back. Do we need to add any color commentary to that?! The third film shared at Star Wars Celebration will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a Pakistani journalist turned director of a couple of Ms. Marvel episodes. And, as you guessed, this film will be after The Rise of Skywalker. Pappy Emperor’s grandbaby girl will be a “Jedi Master” leading an entirely new generation of Jedi. Bring it!
1. The Break of Thrawn
The time is now for the Smurf-faced sinister Grand Admiral Thrawn! He’s been a cartoon character, an animated source of evil for so long. Eventually, Lucasfilm was going to find enough blue shoe polish to cake on some dude’s face, but who?! They stayed close to home with the voice from Star Wars Rebels, Lars Mikkelsen. Arguably, one of the most compelling characters in Star Wars since Vader, Thrawn has been around since 1991 (thank you Timothy Zahn), and now the man is here to rule the empire and make Ahsoka’s life some outer space hell!
Since he saw ‘Dune’ in the $1 movie theater as a kid, this guy has been a lover of geek culture. It wasn’t until he became a professional copywriter, ghostwriter, and speechwriter that he began to write about it (a lot).
From the gravitas of the Sith, the genius of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, or the gluttony of today’s comic fan, SPW digs intelligent debate about entertainment. He’s also addicted to listicles, storytelling, useless trivia, and the Oxford comma. And, he prefers his puns intended.
