Star Wars

Star Wars Celebration kicked off in Orlando this afternoon with a giant panel to honor the upcoming 40th anniversary of the beloved franchise. As exciting as it all was, including guest appearances by everyone from George Lucas to Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, there was still a glimmer of sadness in the air as one member of the gang was absent this year. The loss of Carrie Fisher last December left a stain of melancholy across not only the Star Wars fanbase, but all of Hollywood. To celebrate the brilliance, charisma and warmth Fisher gave us throughout her lengthy career, and the iconic status of General Leia Organa, LucasFilm paid tribute to the actress in a beautiful video.

For those of us who are old enough to remember the original Star Wars trilogy in its initial release, the fact that this May 25 marks the 40th anniversary of the first film’s release is absolutely staggering. (Want to feel old? This is what Darth Vader looked like 40 years ago.)

While pop culture junkies like to joke about the fact that Lucasfilm’s new extended universe approach means the sun will burn out before we go another year without a Star Wars movie, what we really need to resign ourselves for is decades of production rumors. Every director with an ounce of style and a half-successful movie under their belt will now be a popular match for a standalone Star Wars film. So when directors such as Guillermo de Toro  —  who possesses far more than just an “ounce” of style  —  are rumored to maybe-sorta be in the market for their own Star Wars movie, that means its time to buckle up for the long haul.

Apparently Daisy Ridley has never been to Skywalker Ranch. But you could go there.

Star Wars Celebration is set to kick off in just a few days, and with the 40th anniversary of the iconic franchise on the horizon, fans are expecting this year’s festivities to be extra special — but it looks like we won’t have to wait until later this week for major news from a galaxy far, far away. Good Morning America is teasing a big Star Wars announcement for tomorrow’s episode, but what could it possibly be? The first teaser for The Last Jedi? A revelation about one of your favorite characters?

It’s been a few months since the world lost Carrie Fisher, and while many would prefer to expand the conversation to her accomplishments outside of the Star Wars universe, plenty of people are anxiously wondering how her death might affect her character in the upcoming Star Wars sequels. For some, this can be viewed as a tacky approach to celebrity, but there’s a sweeter side to things as well. Leia Organa remains an icon for people around the world; finding an appropriate way to say goodbye to her character will be, in essence, the way many Star Wars fans say goodbye to Fisher herself.

Bad Lip Reading is always hilarious, when it is from the NFL to The Walking Dead. But now, it's done a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Just last night, Woody Harrelson offered a few details regarding his role in Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s young Han Solo movie, in which the actor (and former pothead, thankyouverymuch) will play mentor to Alden Ehrenreich. As for the rest of it, Disney CEO Bob Iger has revealed some new plot intel for the Star Wars spinoff, which apparently explores how Han met Chewie and acquired the Millennium Falcon, as well as…well, that’s the confusing part.

When pals asked, “What was your favorite part of Rogue One?” and I responded, “The part at the end when they all died,” it sounded like a bitter joke. But it‘s true — the choice to take advantage of the film’s stand-alone nature by concluding with the cast’s noble, obliterating sacrifice was a bold and decisive storytelling choice that helped distinguish Gareth Evans’ film from the rest of the franchise. The characters meant more in death than they ever did while living, and the selflessness of their risky suicide mission attests to the power of the human spirit in wartime. But this was not always the game plan.

For franchise movie fans, nothing grates on the nerves quite like the lull between the day production wraps on a new movie and the day the first teaser drops. Production has been finished on Star Wars: The Last Jedi for a few months now, and since we’re not quite sure when Disney will be releasing the first trailer for the film, we’re latching onto any piece of information we can get about the new film or any new Star Wars content, period. In short, we’re in the business of reading too much into Mark Hamill’s Twitter account.

The final few moments of Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One are jam-packed with surprises. First Darth Vader storms onto the scene wielding his red lightsaber, which the director revealed was a last-minute addition. Then Princess Leia suddenly appears to acquire the Death Star plans. Not everyone was a fan of the CGI-created Leia – some of us here at ScreenCrush found the visual effects to be a but creepy – but most importantly, Carrie Fisher gave the scene her blessing.

When all was said and done, the biggest movie of 2016 in the United States was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the only film of last year to gross more than $500 million domestically. Director Gareth Edwards managed to do something not even George Lucas had accomplished: Make a well-liked Star Wars prequel.

If you thought things around Star Wars would get less secretive now that the notoriously unforthcoming J.J. Abrams wasn’t directing things, think again. Even knowing what we know about Star Wars: The Last Jedi based on the events of Abrams’ The Force Awakens, there might be even more uncertainly around Rian Johnson’s eighth episode in the Star Wars saga.

According to an LA Times reporter who was in on Disney's annual shareholders meeting, they were shown some footage from the new Star Wars movie, which hits theaters December 15th.

Oh boy, the cast for Star Wars’ Han Solo spinoff is quickly becoming one of the most exciting in ages. Omar Michael K. Williams of The Wire is the latest actor tapped to join the galaxy far far away.

For every cool new character The Force Awakens introduced, and every familiar face it brought back, ten new questions popped up in their wake. It’s been more than thirty years since Darth Vader’s death and the destruction of the Empire, and the galaxy has changed quite a bit since then. Plenty of new players have entered the game, including a mysterious organization known as the Knights of Ren. Our buddy Kylo Ren is one of these Dark Side fanatics, but he seems to be the only one. So, what happened to the other Knights of Ren? And how are they, exactly?

There are only a handful of classic Star Wars characters that Rebels hasn’t yet had occasion to reintroduce, and Obi-Wan Kenobi always seemed a likely target, given his Clone Wars past. Now, Rebels producers offer new insight into the characters’ eventual Rebels return, including what it might mean for Ezra.

When Lucasfilm initially revealed Star Wars: The Last Jedi as the full title for Episode VIII, rampant nerdy speculation ensued over what it might mean. Since “Jedi” could be either singular or plural, the title of Rian Johnson’s upcoming sequel implied a few possibilities — Luke could (obviously) be the last Jedi, or maybe it’s Rey, or maybe it’s both of them (and maybe others?). Thanks to the official international titles for the film, and a little assistance from social media, we now have an answer.

When The Last Jedi hits theaters this December, it’ll be two whole years since we saw Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, and the rest of the gang from the new trilogy. There’s no telling what kind of trouble they’ll get themselves into this time around, and all we have to go on is a mysterious recently-released official title. But that doesn’t stop the rumor mill from churning right along, and some insiders might have gotten a few new details about a brand-new spaceship and what a certain ex-Stormtrooper will be doing onboard. If you’d like to go into the movie knowing as little as possible, search your feelings and stop reading here.

It’s been a big week for Star Wars droid news. Yesterday we learned the Star Wars universe might get its first female droid in the Han Solo spinoff, a character who might be voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag. And today the new R2-D2 has been announced.