Star Wars Bits: 'Star Wars Insider' Stories Are Canon; Plus Filming Update, Rebels And Adam Driver

Lots of big Star Wars info over the last few days: casting, set photos, but always bits, there are. Below read about the following:

A few weeks back, Lucasfilm defined the Star Wars canon as the movies, TV shows and everything created moving forward. Apparently, that includes fiction written for the Star Wars Insider magazine. Each month, exclusive, new Star Wars stories are in the magazine and beginning with a recent issue, those stories are officially part of the canon. Read more about it at Star Wars Underworld.

We've mentioned in recently but, the production of Episode VII has recently finished the desert filming in Abu Dhabi and moved to the soundstages in London. Want proof? Here are the two stars of the film – John Boyega and Daisy Ridley - at a concert in London, as well as the Bad Robot team (including Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams) toasting in the city:

One by one, the actors cast in Star Wars Episode VII are commenting on their excitement. The latest is Girls' star Adam Driver. In an interview with Empire, via Contactmusic, he said the following:

You grew up watching something and then suddenly you're in the midst of all those characters with them talking to each other! You want to make R2-D2 noises and lightsaber whooshes – but nobody actually did.

Over on MakingStarWars, several tweets are embedded that allow you to read the entirety of Ezra's journal, one of the lead characters in Star Wars Rebels. It's not going to hit shelves for months but, you can check it out now. Lots of cool little nods and winks to the saga in there. Head to that link to see them all but here's the cover:

Thursday, Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni will be hosting a Star Wars panel at Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference. It's called Star Wars Past, Present and Future and here's the description via Apple and JediNews:

Star Wars is a universe unlike any other. Its characters and stories have touched generations of fans across the world. Dave Filoni represents not only the fan that exists in all of us, but is also one of the key creatives at Lucasfilm. From when George Lucas asked Dave to helm Lucasfilm Animation's Star Wars: The Clone Wars to the development of the highly anticipated animated television series Star Wars Rebels, Dave is the past, present and future of this great legacy of storytelling. Join Dave as he describes his journey to a galaxy far, far away as a fan and as a filmmaker.

In order to get kids hooked on the original Star Wars trilogy, without watching the movies, Disney is releasing multiple children's picture books of the original stories. Here's a trailer for the first one, The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight:

Star Wars Weekends are still going on at Walt Disney World and, each weekend, they do a Stars of the Saga event speaking with some of the Star Wars actors who are appearing at the event. Rebelscum posted this video of a recent panel, which featured Jeremy Bulloch and Warwick Davis.

Also at Star Wars Weekends, Star Wars Rebels' actors are being interviewed about the show to get fans excited. One of the first interviews was Tiya Sircar, the voice of Sabine. Star Wars Underworld was at the talk, which included a few new clips of the characters killing Stormtroopers and more. You can read about it at the link.