Star Wars Bits: Domhnall Gleeson Recalls First Reaction To 'Episode 9' Script, 'Vader Immortal' Episode II Coming To D23, And Much More
In this edition of Star Wars Bits:
Star Wars Explained highlights a nice selection of easter eggs from Star Wars: Myths and Fables, the collection of fairy tales set in the galaxy far, far away, and how they may connect to the events we're familiar with from the existing films and TV shows.
In an interview with Collider, actor Domhnall Gleeson, who plays General Hux, explains how he felt when reading the script for Episode 9 for the first time.
"It was cool. It was a page turner, and it was different than what I'd thought, and it was great. It was exciting, and also you feel part of this tiny club that gets to read these things ahead of other people, and that feels great. I really did enjoy that, and I think it's going to be cool."
Way to rub it in! What a Hux move.
And speaking of Gleeson, he was recently on an episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden and shared an amusing anecdote about encountering a small child who prefers Hux to characters like Rey or Finn.
After a horrible, no good, terrible week, there's nothing quite like a giant floating #DarthVader balloon to distract from reality & raise your spirits. #ThanksDad https://t.co/Js4J0Pb2WK
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) August 8, 2019
You may have seen photos of this Darth Vader hot air balloon floating around online before (heck yeah that pun was intended), but I'd never seen it from above until Mark Hamill shared this brief video.
Here's arguably the most intriguing item in this article: a new book is coming out on November 19 called Star Wars: The Secrets of the Jedi, which is a recounting of Jedi history in the words of The Last Jedi-era Luke Skywalker. In it, Luke addresses the concept of Force ghosts (which he calls "Force spirits"), saying Qui-Gon Jinn learned the technique from Force Priestesses, and confirming that the spirits could interact with the physical world. That raises some interesting questions, and you can read some more about it here.
StarWars.com has an interview with the folks at Stern Pinball, who, along with Lucasfilm, created this nearly $4,500 original trilogy-themed pinball game. I'm guessing this is mostly aimed at arcade owners, but if you have that much extra cash laying around and aren't scared of an impending recession...well, no, it still seems like a pretty unreasonable thing to spend that much money on. But maybe that's just me! Check out some more photos of the full (admittedly cool-looking) game cabinet at the link.
GeeksAreSexy says Mattel is now selling some chic Barbie dolls inspired by Star Wars characters like Leia, Darth Vader, and R2-D2. They're available for pre-order right now, and they'll be available this November.
The D23 Expo is right around the corner, and part of the team behind the VR experience Vader Immortal, including director Ben Snow, Senior experience designer Jose Perez III, and Lucasfilm Story Group creative executive Matt Martin will be on stage during a panel next Friday to unveil a sneak peek at the Vader Immortal II, the second installment in the ongoing VR story.
Does the length of a Star Wars movie have any direct correlation to its quality? Inverse tried to run the numbers, and while I have my doubts about some of their conclusions (anyone who writes off The Last Jedi is dead to me), you can decide for yourselves how successful they were and if you agree with their findings.
Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge – Black Spire, the forthcoming book by author Delilah S. Dawson, is a set across the backdrop of the Resistance's arrival at Batuu, and centers on Resistance spy Vi Moradi. In this excerpt, she gets her orders from General Leia Organa:
"I have a mission for you," Leia said, her attention flicking from various holos to Vi and back. Leia's mouth fell into a familiar grim line, which told Vi she wasn't necessarily going to like her assignment. That was fine—she didn't particularly like how her last mission had gone, either. It wasn't her job to like it.
"As you know, we're massively outgunned. We don't know what the First Order is planning, but it's something big. Some kind of attack. I'm leaving immediately for Takodana to collect some valuable intel, so I wanted to meet with you personally and underline how very important your work will be."
You can read more of the excerpt at the link, and the book hits shelves on August 27, 2019.
I don't know about you, but I found my Halloween costume for this year: a Sith Trooper. This and several other pieces of Sith Trooper-themed merchandise will be on sale on Triple Force Friday, aka September 1, 2019.
A Reddit user has published a leaked version of the DVD cover of the upcoming re-release of The Force Awakens, if you're into that sort of thing.
StarWars.com continues its ongoing series about the making of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and while you may be thinking, "How is this possible? Haven't we already heard everything there possibly is to hear about the making of the theme park land?" apparently the answer is, "not yet!" Click that link for a deep dive into the park's art and design.
Warning: potential spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ahead (but probably not, because this is just a random-ass theory). Could Rey be a clone? Is that why she's so great at using the Force, or could it be that (gasp) we don't actually need an explanation for that at all? We'll have to see what our old pal J.J. has up his sleeve in Episode 9, but in the meantime, Inverse seems to think that a recent post from Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo crushes the whole "Rey is a clone" theory.
We started this with Star Wars Explained, so let's wrap up with them, too. This video dives into the young adult novel A Crash of Fate, and pulls out some connections to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge with which you might be able to impress your nerdiest theme park pals.