Star Wars Land will open in 2019. But that isn’t the biggest bombshell dropped in Star Wars Land News this week. We have some breaking news, a bunch of questions and an interesting theory. Strap yourself in…we’re in for a bumpy ride!
| “Star Wars-Themed Land” In 2019 |
Well…we have a date. Or…more like a narrowing. A year. 2019 is when the “Star Wars-Themed Lands” (as described by the Disney Parks Blog) is coming to the domestic parks. Disney CEO Bob Iger made the announcement on the company’s shareholder conference call last Tuesday. 2019 has been anticipated by MiceAge readers all along. But the world got very excited over that tidbit of information. So . . . we need to know more… like maybe the name of the place!
On a related note, Iger also told shareholders he’s seen The Last Jedi and describes it as, “A great next chapter in the iconic Skywalker family saga.” Come on, Bob! Tell us who Rey is!
| Josh Gad Wants To Know |
And I do, too! Last time, I shared a video from Josh Gad (voice of Olaf in Frozen) questioning Daisy Ridley, who is currently filming Murder On The Orient Express.
Josh didn’t “Let It Go” (see what I did right there?) and tried again:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMFCvLLe-oU
And when that didn’t work, he pulled in some big guns. He asked Dame Judi Dench to use the Jedi Mind Trick. Here’s how it went:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm3mKVm9TGU
And the camera goes off just as it gets good! URRRRGGGGGHHHHH! We need to know!
| News From The Outer Rim |
Clone Wars Leaving Netflix
Have you watched this? Star Wars: Clone Wars, the 2003 animated series that takes place between Episode II and III is leaving Netflix on March 7. If you haven’t seen this series, you’re missing out on a heck of a lot of backstory for the Star Wars universe. The show spans six seasons and one feature film. While it is a big chunk of show to binge watch in a month, each episode is about 23 minutes and highly addictive. One aspect of the series is that it’s told out of chronological order and story segments can sometimes span three to four episodes. You can watch it as it was presented, or go to this link to get the list of the episodes in chronological order. That’s how I’m watching it right now. So if you want to know how Saw Guerra fits into the timeline, who is Asoka Tano or Satine and how they might fit into future Star Wars movies, Star Wars: Clone Wars is the source. And that information may be helpful soon…but more on that in a minute.
Force Friday: September 1, 2017
Force Friday has been announced for this year. Force Friday is now a two-year tradition when new Star Wars merchandise is released. On September 1st, we can get a closer look at characters, sets and tech from The Last Jedi. Are you excited? Or is it way too early?
Star Wars Celebration Guests
Star Wars Celebration 2017 is coming up fast. This week, guests Ian McDermond (Emperor Palpatine), Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso), & Jeremy Bullock (Boba Fett) were announced.
We can expect a lot of news in the coming weeks about Celebration 2017, its guests and hopefully the first footage from The Last Jedi.
Rosario Dawson Wants To Play Ashoka Tano
Speaking of Clone Wars (and Rebels) characters, actress Rosario Dawson (who is currently featured in all of the Netflix Marvel shows as Claire, the nurse who has to sew up all the heroes) said she wants to play Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars. While Ahsoka’s fate is currently unknown after a showdown in a Sith Temple with Darth Vader at the end of Rebels season two, if Ahsoka were to come back in another spin off, it sounds like a good fit to me!
| Rebels In Rogue One |
If you were paying attention in Rogue One (and watch Star Wars: Rebels), you probably caught these well crafted Easter Eggs:
- The Ghost: The hero’s ship in Rebels was parked at the Rebel Base on Yavin IV and in the Battle of Scarif.
- “General” Hera Syndulla was paged at the Rebel Base, apparently with a promotion.
- Chopper mad a live action appearance, if only briefly in the background.
- Karblast! A common exclamation used by Zeb Orrelios popped up during the Battle of Scarif.
- The Hammerhead Corvette: These ships were stolen by Princess Leia and given to the Rebels. They came in handy at the Battle of Scarif.
While these inside jokes were great for the hardcore fans, we really didn’t have a tie-in from Rebels in Rogue One. The stories take place only a couple years apart. We know the characters in Rebels have a direct effect on what happens in the Star Wars Saga, but they don’t appear in any of the four following films.
Is that about to change? Ready for the bombshell?
| Rey’s Parents…? |
This is where I should give a spoiler alert. So if you want to scroll down to the Star Wars Land photos, now would be a good time. But since this is just speculation at this point, we can’t really call it a spoiler. However, I really like this theory. It goes a little something like this…
Benicio Del Toro (famous for The Usual Suspects and playing The Collector in Guardians Of The Galaxy) has an undisclosed role in The Last Jedi. A theory popped up online last week that he is playing Rey’s father. And his name…
…is EZRA BRIDGER!
The theory goes on to say that Rey’s mother is Sabine Wren, also from Rebels.
And…it gets better from there. In this theory, Sabine’s mother (who hasn’t been named yet in Rebels, but could be in the storyline that is playing out right now) is Satine Kryze, another Mandalorian royal (as Sabine’s family is mentioned to be) who was featured in several episodes of Clone Wars.
Her stories in Clone Wars involved her spending a lot of quality time with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Before Satine’s death, she admitted her love for Obi-Wan. If Sabine is the daughter of Satine and Obi-Wan, that would make Rey Obi-Wan’s granddaughter!
Ok…there are obvious holes in this theory. First, the whole Jedi can’t marry B.S. and when Yoda tells Luke that the “Last of the Jedi he will be” in Episode VI, where is Ezra? Yoda knows him. He gave Ezra his Kyber Crystal in Rebels. So did Ezra go bad along the way? Is he helping Snoke turn Kylo Ren? Did Luke hide Rey to keep Ezra from luring her to the Dark Side as well? I like this theory and I think this would be a wonderful tie in with the Rebels Universe. What do you think? Are you with me?
Bottom line here is…there’s a lot of information in Clone Wars and Rebels. And if you haven’t seen them, you’re missing out. And Disney needs to give us a little something more (like Benicio Del Toro’s character) or I’m going to get an aneurysm. What do you think? Is it good to be keeping us in suspense, or are you like me and need to know now?
| Star Wars Land Construction |
As if that news weren’t exciting enough, Star Wars Land has some advances this week as the Battle Escape attraction started moving above ground in construction. Let’s take a look at the muddy awesomeness.
MiceChat created a graphic that shows what the area was like before, and what we expect the layout to look like when complete.
[beforeafter]
[/beforeafter]
Turning to the Northeastern section of Star Wars Land, a berm has been built to separate the atmosphere of Star Wars Land from the newly re-routed Disneyland Railroad. Trees have been replanted recently along the new berm.
On the other side, the Railroad will go into a tunnel before coming out into the Toontown station.
The Southeastern area will be where the Fantasmic backstage will be along side the entrance to Star Wars Land from Frontierland.
From the Frontierland side of this area, the rocks are getting some coloring and we can see a little more detail in the work.
The south section of Star Wars Land is where the Disneyland Rail Road will pass in front of a waterfall into the Rivers Of America and a walkway will go from Critter Country around the Hungry Bear Restaurant and into Star Wars Land.
Looking at it from the Hungry Bear Restaurant side, you can see the stages of progress from dirt, to concrete, to wire and finally to faux rock.
The western portion of Star Wars Land, the Battle Escape Attraction has made some progress.
One side of the Battle Escape Attraction, which was a large pit just a couple weeks ago, has been framed for a circular base.
And the other side has started reaching upward as framing started.
This building should look amazing next week. Watch out for it!
If you want to catch up on how far the construction has come so far, you can check out the archives of Star Wars Land News here.
| As Always… |
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