Posted in: Movies | Tagged: a new hope, empire strikes back, kathleen kennedy, return of the jedi, star wars, star wars celebration, star wars show, star wars: the last jedi, The Last Jedi, unaltered trilogy

Mindless Speculation On The 40th Anniversary Panel At Star Wars Celebration

Yesterday, Lucasfilm announced through their weekly Star Wars Show on YouTube many great things. Rogue One is coming to streaming March 25 and then to blu-ray on April 3. But it was one announcement that really perked my ears up, especially since I will be going to Star Wars Celebration in April, and that was that there will be a panel opening day of the con celebrating the 40th anniversary of Star Wars.

From the Celebration website:

A very special tribute to the 40th anniversary of Star Wars will kick start Celebration Orlando in grand fashion.

The panel, hosted by Warwick Davis, will feature Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and discussions with some of the saga's brightest stars, highlighting the impact of the galaxy far, far, away and the fandom that has propelled it for the last four decades. As is tradition, this marquee Celebration event will undoubtedly include many not-to-be-missed surprises. Fans will definitely want to mark their calendars for Thursday, April 13th and make the Star Wars 40th anniversary panel a priority for their Celebration weekend!

And as put by Star Wars Show host Andi Gutierrez:

Celebration is the place for surprises, make sure you attend this event. That's all we are going to say.

Now, there are some exciting ways this can go. Some old Republic content? The third stand-alone film announcement? A Bossk animated series? George Lucas walking out onstage? Anything is possible. But for my money, I am going to guess it will be one of two things:

The more likely of the two is that this is where we will see the first The Last Jedi trailer. "But Jeremy, The Last Jedi panel is the next day on Friday, why would they show it a day early" the internet says. There have been rumors going around that not only is a trailer being worked on, but one of those "behind the scenes" videos is as well, like the one they showed at SDCC for Force Awakens in 2015, or Celebration Europe last year for Rogue One. If they truly are working on both, it would make sense to open the show with this panel focusing on the saga, then closing the panel with the first trailer. The panel the next day can open with the trailer, and already having the pressure off about when we are going to see it, delve into the making of the film and show the behind the scenes reel for the first time there. That way, they are split up, The Last Jedi panel won't have people focusing so much on seeing the trailer and will pay attention to the panel itself, and you have a gangbusters first day.

The other option involves a rumor circulating the interwebs today after Making Star Wars ran a story that they have a source telling them the original, unaltered trilogy of films is finally getting a blu-ray release this year. Now, this rumor has been going around FOREVER. I would link you to articles over the years saying they were coming, but there are way too many. However, Jason Ward and the crew over there have gotten a well-deserved reputation for being very accurate with their stories. They are rarely wrong (and great people to boot). So when they say its coming, I tend to believe it. What better place to announce this is finally happening than onstage, with cast and crew, in front of the most rabid fans in the galaxy? I can't think of one. The only way to top the announcement itself would be to hand out copies to the audience right there Oprah style.

I could for sure be wrong here, but either of these would be really fun to experience, live or at home, especially after what is sure to be an emotional panel where you can bet they will honor Carrie Fisher. I can't think of a better way to cheer us up after that.

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