SDCC 2015: Star Wars Panel Starts With BTS Reel, Ends in Concert

It seems JJ Abrams decided to go with the mantra of "go big or go home" for Friday's Star Wars: The Force Awakens panel at the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). Moderated by Chris Hardwick (Nerdist, @midnight) included Abrams, producer Kathleen Kennedy, co-writer Lawrence Kasdan (who also wrote Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi), new good guys of John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Issac (Poe Dameron) then the bad guys of Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Domhall Gleeson (General Hux) and Gwendonline Christie (Captain Phasma). If that wasn't enough, later Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford joined the panel.

During the panel Abrams showed a behind the scenes reel that showed off sets, props, actors (including Simon Pegg playing an alien) and more that teased various aspects of the movie. Usually these reels are never released to the public (for reasons I never understood) but Lucasfilm released that same reel to the public about the same time they showed it at SDCC (1st video below, screenshots here). By most standards that is enough for Star Wars to have won comic con but nope Abrams decided to kick it up a notch by inviting everyone at the panel to a Star Wars concert at the San Diego Symphony that ends in fireworks (3rd video). Below is a summary of key bits from the panel or you can watch the entire panel by clicking the second video below.

Star Wars Film Focused on Han Solo?

It seems the departure of Josh Trank has led to a re-evaluation of how Disney might handle their Star Wars Anthology films. The director was set to direct the second film that would focus on Boba Fett but now it seems the film might either be bumped or replaced with one that will focus on young Han Solo according to The Hollywood Reporter. If true it will be directed by Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, the team behind The Lego Movie using a script from Lawrence and Jon Kasden with a release day of May 25, 2018. This would replace them directing The Flash for Warners Bros. Disney has not officially confirmed this news so it remains a rumor but THR tends to have solid sources for news like this.

Darth Vader Big Bad of Rogue One?

As always this is to be taken with a grain of salt but Birth Movies Death is reporting that Darth Vader might appear in Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One. The movie will be a prequel to 1977's Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope by showing how the plans for the first Star Wars were stolen and I assume made their way to Princess Leia's hands for the iconic opening of that movie. Darth Vader's role is described as "[Vader] will not be the main antagonist but he will be working behind the scenes, pulling strings and will appear onscreen. Literally, I'm told - he'll be showing up via viewscreen or holo projection or something." Considering the "time" of the film's setting, a cameo appearance of the character does make sense. As usual time will tell on rumors like this.

Andy Serkis' Star Wars Role

The thing about a JJ Abrams you need to understand up front is the secret cone of silence covers all aspects of production for as long as he can retain them. There is no secret to small that shouldn't be held back for a moronic amount of time even though his very own experience should tell him its better to focus on keeping the big stuff quiet and let the small stuff go. On the other hand the cone of silence means that little tidbits of news gets play all over the web forcing me to do the same. So what is the big news? Well we now know thanks to a picture from Vanity Fair that Andy Serkis is playing an all CGI character called "Supreme Leader Snoke".

I guess because Snake just seemed to on the nose (and Snape was already taken). Yep that is all. What is he leader of? No info. What does he look like? Remains in the cone of silence until a toy leak tells us. On the bright side Snoke will be partially created by the world's acting expert on motion capture so at least we know he will be interesting to watch regardless of how likely Abrams screws up the character itself (Abrams is extremely weak when it comes to characterizing bad guys). So until next time when the interwebs report with breathless abandon on what the character looks like.

May the Fourth Be With You Day Character News

For Star Wars fans today was May the Fourth (as in Force) Be With You Day. Fans use it to let their fan flag fly while Disney and various news outlets used it to reveal new character info from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. None of it is really major or plot related but you finally get some confirmation on what a few characters names and who is playing them along with a few behind the scenes pics thanks to Vanity Fair.

Adam Driver has been confirmed to be playing sith Kylo Ren (the three pronged light saber wielder), Gwendoline Christie's character is Captain Phasma, an officer in the First Order of Stormtroopers and Lupita Nyong'o is playing Maz Kanata which is a pure CGI pirate. The full gallery of pictures can be found here or here. Below is a behind the scenes look at Vanity Fair's photoshoot for the film.