My expectations for Star Wars Celebration Japan announcements were fairly low, which led to me being pleasantly surprised in a few instances. It seems that *maybe* LFL has learned their lesson about announcing projects prematurely? Everything discussed this weekend had either a release date or a clear indication of when production will begin. I’d call that growth!
Here are my thoughts on some of the things that were announced (or given updates) this weekend:
The Mandalorian and Grogu – if this was the fourth season of the show, I’d likely be feeling more positive, but as the next Star Wars film it’s a bit disappointing. Overall I like Mando, but the show has been so uneven quality-wise that it’s hard to get excited for this film.
Star Wars: Starfighter – I’ve never seen anything from Shawn Levy that I’ve enjoyed, and yet I’m still relatively excited for this. Two reasons: 1) Ryan Gosling 2) it’s set approximately five years after The Rise of Skywalker. We’re moving the timeline forward baby!!!
Andor Season 2 – It’s the follow-up to the greatest non-film Star Wars anything; I have no doubt that this is going to rule.
Maul: Shadow Lord – I’ll admit to rolling my eyes when I first saw this edgelord logo, but after reading the synopsis, I’m honestly pretty stoked.
After the Clone Wars, Maul plots to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire.
What excites me about this is the Crimson Dawn angle. The highlight of Solo for me was Qi’ra, which led to my interest in Crimson Dawn (and the entire criminal underworld). The Marvel comics and the Outlaws video game have only increased this so yeah, mob boss Darth Maul cartoon, I’ll take it.
Ahsoka Season 2 – Season one was significantly better than I expected: perfect Star Wars junk food. I can’t wait to see where this season goes following some pretty enticing cliffhangers at the end of S1. Also: Loth kittens (and Hayden)!
Publishing – Very stoked for the Andor and Acolyte art books, and for Kelleran Beq’s comic debut.
Visions Season 3 and The Ninth Jedi limited series – Whenever someone complains to me about how “boring and safe” Star Wars has been under Disney, I always direct them to the first two seasons of Visions. Truly visionary takes on the ideas and themes of the franchise, from creators all over the world (but mostly Japan). Very excited to see the series continue / expand.
Star Wars Zero Company – While the game itself looks excellent (as would be expected from XCOM and Civilization alumni), the “Bad Batch for grown ups” characters did nothing for me. While it’s possible for a game with “Xbox and PlayStation E3 presentations in the 2000s ” vibes to be great (I love Republic Commando), I wish Star Wars would stop going back to the “A-Team meets Band of Brothers” well.
If you want to hear more of my thoughts about Celebration, Andor, and whatever else, check out the Star Wars podcast I cohost, The Blockade Runner.
That was a lot of Star Wars, but quick F1 thought for the week: Lando Norris was my driver of the day in Jeddah, but well-deserved podium finish for Charles Leclerc.
May the force be with you,
Ryan
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