That’s right, people! Couch Soup contributors Lily K, Thomas Richards, and I went to Japan and snuck into (by paying) Star Wars Celebration BAYBEEEEEEEEEEE!
Ahem. Ok, I’m done with the overexcitement for now!
It was the first time attending a Celebration for all of us, and it was freaking great. AND it was in JAPAN! Needless to say, souvenirs were bought, ramen was eaten, fools of ourselves conversing with locals were made, all of the good stuff. But we also saw some hype Star Wars announcements while we were there.
Here are five things that I came away from Star Wars Celebration thinking about.
During The Mandalorian and Grogu panel, we received a massive surprise. Instead of beginning with the titular Baby Yoda and Din Djarin, we were treated to an appearance from Shawn Levy of Deadpool & Wolverine fame. I hadn’t heard the news that he was in talks to write and direct a Star Wars movie, but that was apparently already out there. What hadn’t been revealed was any cast information or the title.
Cue Ryan Gosling.
The dreamboat emerged from the shadows, sporting a baseball cap which hid his obviously jet-lagged visage from the crowd, but that didn’t stop the excitement in the audience. Levy and Gosling are keeping the rest of the details under wraps aside from the title: Star Wars: Starfighter.
Will Gosling play a rebel pilot? Or will he be more of a lovable rogue a la Han Solo? In the grand scheme of things, we don’t have a long time to wait to find out because this film is due for release in 2027!
The Celebrating 20 Years of Star Wars Animation panel was my biggest surprise of the weekend. Not only did we hear from Dave Filoni about the development of Rebels and The Clone Wars series, but we also received an exclusive poster commemorating the 20th anniversary. It’s pretty damn cool.
What was even cooler were two exclusive looks Filoni treated us to.
The first was a FULL EPISODE of the upcoming Tales of the Underworld series focusing on Asajj Ventress. I freaking love Ventress, and although I annoyed Tom by asking too many questions during the opening, I soon settled into a banger episode!
The second was the reveal of Maul: Shadow Lord, a new animated series coming next year. Sam Witwer will once again provide the voice of the Dathomirian Sith Lord, and it will focus on a time seemingly between Order 66 and his ultimate demise. Maul is great character, and I popped the f*ck off for this!
During Saturday’s Ahsoka panel, the successor to Ray Stevenson was announced. Game of Thrones alumni Rory McCann will be taking up the role of the former Jedi Knight in Season 2 after the untimely and tragic passing of Stevenson.
There were some people hoping to see someone like Gerard Butler or Jeffrey Dean Morgan take up Skoll’s saber going into the second season, ultimately facing Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka in a likely epic battle, but McCann is a solid choice. The former Hound is a terrific actor, and I’m sure he’ll convey the same confidence and stillness Stevenson brought that instantly made Skoll a fan favorite.
I, personally, want to see how McCann gels with surrogate daughter and apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakho), because that was a relationship I was totally invested in.
The Star Wars: Visions panel was a deep dive for Season 3, dropping in October. It was confirmed that three episodes from the first season would be continuations: “The Duel,” “The Village Bride,” and “The Ninth Jedi.” It was so cool to hear from all of the studio directors and see snippets of concept art, and even some video clips!
Not only that, but it was also confirmed that “The Ninth Jedi” would be continuing further with a standalone SERIES, entitled Star Wars Visions Presents: The Ninth Jedi. It’s the first of its kind, taking an episode from the anthology and expanding it to something worthy of a full run. It’s pretty exciting.
I really enjoyed myself at Star Wars Celebration in Japan. It was an awesome, once-in-a-lifetime experience that I have no regrets about partaking in. But, man, was it disorganised and chaotic!
On the first day, we had reservations for The Mandalorian and Grogu panel that started at 10 am. We were told that we needed to be in the reservation queue by 9:30. Before that, though, we had to traverse the entrance into the event that took over 40 minutes to get through and the doors only opened at 9 am! Logistically, it was impossible unless we entered the entrance queue at 7 am, and there ain’t no way we were doing that. Luckily, a lot of other folks were having the same issue, so we had no trouble getting into the panel.
That was just one example, but there are plenty more. From the ridiculousness of not limiting customers to purchasing single quantities of exclusive merchandise that sold out within minutes of opening, to the circa six hours cumulatively that Tom waited in the merch line over two days. And, the queuing itself was pretty dumb. There wasn’t enough real estate around the stalls or exhibitors for people to line up effectively. People had to criss-cross walkways just to find space to queue!
The disorganisation left a sour taste in my mouth at moments.
But that’s not what I’ll remember. I’ll remember the fun times I had with my buddies celebrating Star Wars. I’ll remember meeting Hayden Christensen and Rosario Dawson. I’ll remember the banger time we had in Japan. I loved my time there, and I’m happy I was able to attend with my friends here at Couch Soup.
So freaking awesome.