star wars

One of the most debated plots points of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been the lineage of Daisy Ridley’s Rey. Could she be the daughter of Luke Skywalker? The daughter of Obi-One Kenobi? The daughter of… actually, come to think of it, those are the only two human Force-users we’ve met since the original Star Wars movie, so it’s either a very familiar face or someone totally out of the blue. Regardless, fans have now spent two years not knowing something about their favorite character, and that’s a long, long time for knowledge to be withheld in 2017. They’re ready for answers.

The talk of Star Wars Celebration on Friday was undoubtedly all that lovely The Last Jedi footage, but once those glorious two minutes were up, there was still plenty of amazing sights and sounds to take in around the floor. If you thought Thursday was a good day for cosplay, day two of Star Wars Celebration Orlando brought it even harder. For real.

While fans from around the world have gathered to share their love of Star Wars at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, there has been one sobering element to the festivities. The loss of Carrie Fisher has been felt at every level of the convention, from Thursday’s bittersweet memorial video put together by Lucasfilm to the sadness felt while Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson shared his behind-the-scenes footage from the set. And since this is a convention of all things Star Wars, fans have also speculated about the role the actress might play in the next film. Is there a place for Fisher in Star Wars: Episode 9?

Fans are never satisfied. Here we are, finally enjoying the first batch of footage from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and we’re already wondering about Star Wars: Episode 9 and beyond. The resurgence of Luke Skywalker in particular has us wondering a bit about the franchise’s endgame. The Star Wars movies have always been tied to the emotional journeys of one father and one son; can this universe maintain a new Skywalker narrative after the main one is complete? Or will Star Wars: Episode 9 bring this chapter in the Star Wars universe to a close?

The 'Force Awakens' gang's all back... mostly.

'Star Wars' icons Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford posed for an emotional photo with Carrie Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd in Orlando.

For those of us who are old enough to remember the original Star Wars trilogy in its initial release, the fact that this May 25 marks the 40th anniversary of the first film’s release is absolutely staggering. (Want to feel old? This is what Darth Vader looked like 40 years ago.)

Star Wars is great, everyone’s pretty much on the same page about that one, but the problem is that it’s just so dang long. Eight movies, with more on the way? And they’re all two-plus hours? And there are TV shows?! It would take a viewer days if not weeks to wade through all of that action, and so the minds at Lucasfilm and Disney have done us all the service of condensing Star Wars into segments a little closer to bite-size. In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes; likewise, in the future, new Star Wars content will be between two and three minutes long.

Apparently Daisy Ridley has never been to Skywalker Ranch. But you could go there.

The final few moments of Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One are jam-packed with surprises. First Darth Vader storms onto the scene wielding his red lightsaber, which the director revealed was a last-minute addition. Then Princess Leia suddenly appears to acquire the Death Star plans. Not everyone was a fan of the CGI-created Leia – some of us here at ScreenCrush found the visual effects to be a but creepy – but most importantly, Carrie Fisher gave the scene her blessing.

If you thought things around Star Wars would get less secretive now that the notoriously unforthcoming J.J. Abrams wasn’t directing things, think again. Even knowing what we know about Star Wars: The Last Jedi based on the events of Abrams’ The Force Awakens, there might be even more uncertainly around Rian Johnson’s eighth episode in the Star Wars saga.

This year’s Star Wars Celebration will take place in Orlando (good news for those of you who couldn’t make it across the pond last year), and as it’s the 40th anniversary of the iconic franchise, you can expect some pretty major things. While we wait to learn more about Lucasfilm’s plans for the 2017 convention, the studio has unveiled a beautiful new poster along with a few details regarding the first panel of the year.