Star Wars Bits: The Planets Of 'Han Solo,' Some Love For Aunt Beru, And Some Pressing Canon Questions

In this edition of Star Wars Bits:

Making Star Wars says they know every planet that shows up in the upcoming Han Solo spin-off movie. And here they are:

And if you're not the person who knows what all of those names mean instantly (and props to those of you who do!), they offer a breakdown of each planet is at the link above. However, many of you may be familiar already with Corellia (Han Solo's home planet) and Kessel, which is most famous for a certain "run."

Those #Corellian nights get a little chilly. Screenwriter @JonKasdan and I try to keep warm #UntitledHanSoloMovie pic.twitter.com/3FnUnY8dxo

— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) October 6, 2017

However, at least one of those planets shouldn't come as a surprise. Director Ron Howard confirmed Corellia on Twitter with a picture from the film's set.

StarWars.com has a great interview with Elizabeth Schaefer, the editor tasked with assembling the 40 short stories collected in the new book From a Certain Point of View. Here's a sample:

At the very start of this project, I sat down in front a blank Excel sheet and proceeded to fill in the names of all of my favorite authors. It was a dream list of people I've always wanted to work with. The craziest thing was how many of them said yes. The first-timers were universally invested in getting the lore right. Everyone wanted recommended reading lists — I think Sabaa Tahir went out and bought Star Wars: Kenobi on the spot to make sure her Tusken Raider story felt authentic!

You can read the whole thing at the link above.

In another great StarWars.com interview, author Meg Cabot explains why she chose to write about Aunt Beru in From a Certain Point of View and how this minor character is far more important than most people realize:

I chose Beru Lars right away. I was actually super paranoid that someone else might have chosen her first. But fortunately, the Force was with me. One of the reasons I wanted Beru so much is that I had just seen a guy dressed up for Halloween as a stormtrooper, carrying a sign that said "I Shot Aunt Beru." After I finished laughing at how funny that was, because it was a little funny, I got mad. The Aunt Berus of this galaxy and the next never get any respect! I mean, I get it, it's a funny gag...but without Aunt Beru, Luke would never have saved the galaxy. So I'd been kind of looking for a way to tell Aunt Beru's side of the story when Elizabeth [Schaefer, the editor of From a Certain Point of View] contacted me. I still feel like the Force had something to do with it.

If you don't have time to read From a Certain Point of View, Star Wars Explained has put together a handy video explaining how the 40 short stories plug a bunch of tiny plot holes scattered across the movies. That's pretty handy for all the nerds out there (we say with love, counting ourselves among the nerds).

Meanwhile, Star Wars Explained has dedicated another episode to R5-D4, the red astromech droid that Uncle Owen almost bought instead of R2-D2. And this new story diverges from its original expanded universe story. You can learn how in the video above.

Thrawn is back. And he's bringing Vader with him. Coming summer 2018. #Thrawn2 #BlackandBlue pic.twitter.com/hIw1dgRnyb

— Star Wars Books (@StarWarsByRHW) October 6, 2017

In other book news: Thrawn is back. In book form! And Timothy Zahn, who created the character in the old extended universe and returned him to the new canon with this year's new Thrawn novel, is returning to the blue-skinned military mastermind. A new book is coming next year and you can check out a mysterious teaser above...

When asked about J.J. Abrams returning for Star Wars: Episode 9, John Boyega was his typically charming self:

"Yeah, I'm really happy [and] really excited. I actually sent him an email and asked him if the real reason is because he misses me. And I think that's what it is – that's the only reason why he came back, and I appreciate that."

Yeah, we'd miss hanging out with John Boyega, too. But in an interview with Coming Soon, Boyega removed the wink and spoke a bit more seriously about working with Abrams again on Episode 9:

"I think what's fantastic is it feels like it's coming back full circle. I don't know nothing about the script, the story. I don't know where Finn's going, I don't know where Rey is going, but definitely I feel this is the war to end all wars in this movie. I'm interested to know how he will handle that. I'm asking so many questions and I haven't had a chance to kinda sit down and write J.J. a message just to say congratulations and I'm stoked. My fixation now is that he needs to get some SLEEP and GEAR UP because we're doing another one of these movies, mate! But I think he's gonna do a great job, as always. He's J.J."

Speaking of Episode 9, Mark Hamill spoke about the role the late Carrie Fisher would have played in the film, noting that she would have been more prominent than in the first two entries in the sequel trilogy:

"You're going to really love her in [The Last Jedi]. I know they're going to try and find a way to close her story in [Episode IX] that gives her the respect she deserves, because [Han Solo] was more prominent in [The Force Awakens], Luke's a little more prominent in [The Last Jedi], and certainly Leia was meant to be more prominent in [Episode IX]. Worldwide, everyone feels that gap she left, but we all have to hang in there."

Star Wars may be a big deal...but not to the Queen of England. It turns out that Lucasfilm requested permission to film on land owned by the Royal family, but they were denied. Nick Day, the Crown Estate's head of commercial operations, offered this statement:

Our priority is to maintain and protect Windsor Great Park and we can facilitate film crews if we're sure the risk to the park is minimal.  But Star Wars is a huge machine, and there's also massive outside interest in those sort of things. It wasn't right for here.

To be fair, it seems like Lucasfilm doesn't have much trouble finding other pristine and incredible locations to shoot. So file this one away under "interesting trivia."

For those of you wondering, Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm story group has confirmed that the Cantina band aliens are no longer known as "jazz wailers." Thank the maker.

While we're here and talking about Pablo Hidalgo and Star Wars names, he confirmed that character names are not decided by the group – that's up to the storytellers. But they do need a lawyer to sign off on them.

And let's complete the trilogy: Hidalgo also noted that he ends up naming lots of "background stuff" in the Star Wars universe because of his involvement in produce descriptions.

Hi @pablohidalgo it's just dawned on me: why weren't there any star destroyers at Yarvin 4? (I'll take a non canon answer 😉)

— Mikee (@MikeeTeasdale) September 28, 2017

Heck, how about one more? First, here's a fan question for Hidalgo that's actually worth talking about! He supplied two answer: the practical, real world one and the in-universe one:

When the fan notes that the Rebels had time to stick around and plan a medal ceremony after the battle, Hidalgo started dropping the real goods:

Star Wars canon always has an answer. Always.