Star Wars Franchise (1977-∞)

[DarkImbecile]

Another woman?! If she’s not in a slave costume and/or related to one of the central characters from Episode IV, my childhood will be ruined.

[Mr Sausage]

Keri Russell has joined Episode IX

I guess this’ll be the most excited Andre Jurieu’s ever been for a Star Wars movie.

[domino harvey]

Billy Dee Williams will also return for Episode IX

[MoonlitKnight]

Billy Dee Williams will also return for Episode IX

Probably the least surprising casting news in a while.

[domino harvey]

Great contribution, I was worried you might have something positive to say for a change

[McCrutchy]

To be honest, I was shocked Billy Dee Williams wasn't lined up to reprise the role in some way for Solo, but this news fits the formula of what the Disney/Lucasfilm team have been trying to do with all of these films. Williams as Lando is virtually the last vestige of original trilogy nostalgia that they can wring out, and while I don't think they ever planned to go there, I suspect that Carrie Fisher's death, along with certain issues in The Last Jedi, forced them to turn to the character/actor.

Of course, Williams, seemingly in average health at 80-82 in 2018/19, is even older than the seemingly quite fit 71-73 that Harrison Ford was in 2014/15, so I can't imagine he'll have a very complex or action-oriented role. But I expect the main reason he's been cast in the film is simply so they can say he's in it, and use him in the trailers and promotional materials.

[MoonlitKnight]

Great contribution, I was worried you might have something positive to say for a change

The snark is strong in this one, as usual.

To be honest, I was shocked Billy Dee Williams wasn't lined up to reprise the role in some way for Solo, but this news fits the formula of what the Disney/Lucasfilm team have been trying to do with all of these films. Williams as Lando is virtually the last vestige of original trilogy nostalgia that they can wring out, and while I don't think they ever planned to go there, I suspect that Carrie Fisher's death, along with certain issues in The Last Jedi, forced them to turn to the character/actor.

Indeed, with the combination of Fisher's death (will they simply have Leia die off-screen, or will they recast her?), Hamill's passive-aggressiveness toward the direction the series is going, and how much TLJ alienated people on its own, they've undoubtedly been forced to play the one remaining ace up their sleeve. Just goes to show you should really have an actual plan for the overall narrative in place from day one - that EVERYONE agrees to follow - for a continuous, sprawling franchise like this one. Of course, they already initially had that with Lucas' actual VII-IX storyline (a faithful adaptation of which, I'm pretty sure, was all most fans wanted in the first place -- which is what makes this all so frustrating), but chose to throw most of it out and replace it with what felt more like glorified fan fictions from each subsequent director rather than trying to thematically fit in with Lucas' vision carried over from the first 6 installments.

[nitin]

Right, because from what we have heard about Lucas’ plans for VII-IX, everyone was clamouring for that.

Also there is zero chance of Leia’s role being recast. If that happened, the world would end/childhoods would be ruined well before the film even gets released.

[MoonlitKnight]

As with the prequels, the employ of a proper screenwriter and/or director would've almost certainly been able to make said ideas work. I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[JamesF]

Hamill's passive-aggressiveness toward the direction the series is going

This is demonstrably nonsense - Hamill has championed TLJ non-stop since its release and repeatedly disavowed his earlier ambivalence to Johnson's take on Luke. Plus there is absolutely no way he won't be back as a Force Ghost for likely a hefty chunk of the narrative.

Given Williams' present shape, Lando's role will likely be confined to showing up at Leia's funeral at the start of the film, sitting in the cockpit of the Falcon briefly and giving Rey and Finn a piece of the puzzle they need to kick the plot off. I certainly doubt they'd kill Lando off given the potential optics for a) killing off another beloved character, though I doubt that was the original intention with Leia and b) especially an elderly African-American.

[bearcuborg]

If you close your eyes, Joely Fisher sounds just like Carrie. I’m not sure what they could do with that-but it would be a hard sell to recast her part. Apart from Rian’s brilliant idea with Leia in space, he really didn’t do her character any favors in TLJ-but JJ & co hit TFA out of the park-so I have a lot of confidence in them to close out this trilogy.

[Big Ben]

, Hamill's passive-aggressiveness toward the direction the series is going,

Hamill regularly hangs out with Rian Johnson and there's photo evidence on Twitter. Not only this he's defended plot points, including the stuff like sucking on that monsters tit. He may not have liked where things went initially but he's more than embraced it online. Unless there's some secret I'm missing regularly defending and talking to people you supposedly dislike is not the way to do it. If anything Mark appears to be reveling in his place in the spotlight again all while championing the young women who have been harassed online for months.

[R0lf]

Obvs Leia should be recast with esteemed character actress Margo Martindale.

[tenia]

His claim about the milk alien wasn't really positive. He said he regretted his reaction to Han's death being cut this way :
"They had time to show me milk that big alien but to show any human emotion ? Nah, we don't have time for that. But again, not my call !"

[black&huge]

It looked like to me as Hamill's criticisms became more vocal at the time Disney told him to shut up so he changed gears instantly. Whatever was happening he just sounded like another whiny fanboy so props to Johnson for persuading him to do something different.

[Kirkinson]

I think Hamill just has a very sardonic and crotchety sense of humor and that has lead to a proliferation of (primarily) YouTubers spinning hours and hours of conspiratorial content out of hyper-literal interpretations of comments where he's clearly not being totally serious.

(That said, as much as I truly adore The Last Jedi, I kind of agree about screen time for milking vs. screen time for mourning Han!)

[All the Best People]

Rian Johnson did contemplate bringing back Lando for the character that eventually became the Benicio del Toro self-parody character, but decided he needed someone truly amoral to effectuate Finn's arc toward being committed to the cause.

[Kirkinson]

Disney is bringing back the Clone Wars animated series for a 7th season (which was actually already in production when the show was canceled four years ago) on their upcoming streaming service. I wouldn't be surprised if this is at least partly an effort to assuage some of the angrier elements of the fandom, who generally seem to hold the series in high regard.

[Big Ben]

Disney is bringing back the Clone Wars animated series for a 7th season (which was actually already in production when the show was canceled four years ago) on their upcoming streaming service. I wouldn't be surprised if this is at least partly an effort to assuage some of the angrier elements of the fandom, who generally seem to hold the series in high regard.

I've never seen the show but I know people who have and they really seemed to like it. A worthwhile dish to serve to people.

I'm quite interested in seeing where this whole streaming service thing goes now that Disney deal is going to go through with the Fox stuff. If they put considerable effort into it it might be be quite a thing (I imagine having older seasons of The Simpsons in the correct Aspect Ratio would delight even the coldest of hearts on this forum.).

[Kirkinson]

I've seen a highly curated selection of it and it wasn't bad. I think it's at least an improvement over the actual prequel films, particularly in its portrayal of Anakin, who seems far more like the character Obi-Wan reminisces about in A New Hope than the version we got to see in the movies. It also gets much weirder in the mystical side of the force than any other incarnation of Star Wars, which I like.

[Big Ben]

I've seen a highly curated selection of it and it wasn't bad. I think it's at least an improvement over the actual prequel films, particularly in its portrayal of Anakin, who seems far more like the character Obi-Wan reminisces about in A New Hope than the version we got to see in the movies. It also gets much weirder in the mystical side of the force than any other incarnation of Star Wars, which I like.

From what I was told Padme in particular seems to have been redeemed somewhat insofar that she's far more competent. I wasn't aware it made Anakin less...well like he is in the live action films. Not sure if I'll watch it but I think it's good that these characters have at least been fleshed out more.

[All the Best People]

I've seen a highly curated selection of it and it wasn't bad. I think it's at least an improvement over the actual prequel films, particularly in its portrayal of Anakin, who seems far more like the character Obi-Wan reminisces about in A New Hope than the version we got to see in the movies. It also gets much weirder in the mystical side of the force than any other incarnation of Star Wars, which I like.

Who/what provided the curation? I've tried checking out the series a few times, but the first few episodes skew so young that they are really a slog, and I never get into it. But I'm curious about some of the arcs people seem to love.

[aox]

Yeah, I would love to see an essential episodes list for the Clone Wars that omits the filler. I can't get into the series at all.

[Kirkinson]

I basically looked at a few articles and videos that talked about the best episodes and used that to construct my own program based on what seemed interesting. I think I started with this one from Nerdist, though I skipped the theatrical film, which most other sources seemed to agree was not worth it. I know I used this one as well, though with more mixed results. And here's a longer recommendation list from Kotaku in chronological order (the actual timeline of the series jumps around a lot).

The storylines I liked the most, all of which are mentioned in that first Nerdist article, were the Mortis trilogy (S3E15-17), the Umbara Arc (S4E07-10), the final story arc concerning Anakin's apprentice, Ahsoka Tano (S5E17-20), a couple of clones almost uncovering their true purpose (S6E01-04), and Yoda learning weird things in weird places (S6E11-13).

The Mortis trilogy is probably the craziest thing in the series, and while I personally love how strange it gets, I would not blame anyone who thought it was the stupidest Star Wars content ever, so it's probably not what I would suggest watching first. Ahsoka's final plotline (until she appears again in the new season and on Rebels) is probably the series' emotional high point, and also a really good illustration of how the Jedi Order in this era is actually kind of terrible. (Incorporating the events of this story into Anakin's ultimate betrayal in Revenge of the Sith would have helped his character arc immensely.) The Yoda episodes also do some heavy lifting for the saga, in that they explain why there aren't hundreds of thousands of Jedi force ghosts popping up all over the place all the time, and also attempt to bridge the somewhat different personalities and philosophical views expressed by Yoda in the prequels vs. the original trilogy. They also bring back Liam Neeson and feature a cameo by Mark Hamill (not as Luke). And speaking of cameos, the Umbara Arc features a single episode directed by Walter Murch for some reason (his only directing credit aside from Return to Oz).

I also watched most of the Darth Maul stories, which seem to be fan favorites, but they didn't do much for me. That said, he appeared a lot on the show, and his episodes form a huge chunk of what people tend to say is the best of the series, so YMMV. I think the Kotaku list I linked to above includes all of them (and pointedly excludes the Mortis arc!). He's also all but certain to return in the new season based on what's already public knowledge of the storylines they had planned. Another fan favorite arc that I couldn't get into (and never finished) is the one where Kenobi goes undercover as a bounty hunter — possibly owing to my ongoing ambivalence regarding every bounty hunter character that has ever existed in this franchise.

[jindianajonz]

My favorite is Landing at Point Rain, which is straightforward battle episode that felt very at home among the most adrenaline fueled scenes in the feature films. But for the most part, this show always aims primarily at children, and the irritating habit of trying to provide a lesson at the end of a story lingers for a frustratingly long time, and surprises you in later seasons when you start to think they are beyond that. Thankfully the follow on series Rebels remedies this.

Some other good picks are any episodes that feature Hondo or Cad Bane.