Lucasfilm’s new Star Wars series The Acolyte has earned praise for simply existing outside of the Skywalker Saga — after 47 years of stories set in the same stretch of timeline, a jump back “100 years before the rise of the Empire” to the shinier High Republic era is enough for aching Star Wars fans. But even with a prohibitively old setting and a cast of characters divorced from Anakin and Luke, The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland is still finding ways to pepper the drama with Easter eggs. Episode 4 gave those in the know a whopper: Plo Koon.
Plo Koon, the Kel Dor Jedi known for his chic oxygen mask, first appeared in scenes of the Jedi council in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and grew into a fan favorite when he took on an action role in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Plo’s biggest fan might be The Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni, who has made his passion for the B-tier Jedi extremely clear to the Star Wars fandom over the last 20 years, having cosplayed at conventions as the Jedi, snapped photos with fellow cosplayers, and showed off his Plo Koon toy collection on social media. His “personal life” section on Wookieepedia is entirely facts about his Plo Koon collectibles. Despite him being one or two levels removed from a Glup Shitto, Dave Filoni is all in on Plo Koon.
I believe Filoni when he says he has talked extensively about Plo Koon with George Lucas. Reportedly, when the animator was pushing to beef up Plo’s part in the The Clone Wars, there were plans to cast an actor who sounded like Toshiro Mifune in Seven Samurai to give the Jedi a samurai feel. But Lucas thought the character was goofier than that and wanted a Jim Carrey type. Filoni landed on actor James Arnold Taylor because of his Gandalf vibes. The Lucas-versus-Filoni Plo-off doesn’t end there; at Star Wars Celebration 2023, Filoni admitted that he made the case to his boss that Plo Koon, due to #skillz, obviously would have survived Order 66. Lucas shot down the canon alteration request, but Filoni stands by his defense.
None of this was relevant to The Acolyte… until now. For a split second, standing in a drop shop with Osha on their way to meet the Wookiee Jedi Kelnacca, is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-him appearance by Plo Koon, who has not actually appeared in live action since Revenge of the Sith. How could Plo be alive during the High Republic era? That’s very human of you to ask, but just like Yoda, he is technically old enough to be around kicking; nerd number-crunching based on decanonized Legends materials puts him around 382 years old during the time of The Clone Wars, which should make him already a seasoned veteran of the Jedi in The Acolyte.
For a hot second, it sounded like Filoni may have snuck his guy into The Mandalorian. Leaks hinted at a potential reveal in the season 2 finale, but as it turned out, early storyboards and VFX footage were all an elaborate scheme to hide the return of a de-aged Luke Skywalker. “All it takes is one person treating the film in color correction, one person who goes on social media and says, ‘Guess what I saw today?’” Mark Hamill said in the Disney Gallery making-of doc centered on the episode. What no one seemed to care about at the time was how mad Filoni’s fellow Plo Koonheads must have felt!
Technically, The Acolyte is one of the few Star Wars projects that Dave Filoni does not seem directly involved with; he doesn’t share any writing or directing credits on the series, nor does he hold a general producer credit. (By all accounts, his attention is fully on Ahsoka season 2.) And maybe it’s THE Plo Koon. In theory this unnamed Jedi is just another Force-sensitive Kel Dor.
But c’mon, it’s Plo Koon. And it makes sense why Headland would want the cameo. As the showrunner has said, she purposefully set up her writers room to represent a broad spectrum of Star Wars fandoms and surrounded herself with people who could bring their own Easter egg wishlists to the table. So while longtime fans may have prayed at the altar of George Lucas, others involved were weaned on The Clone Wars — and Filoni’s pro-Plo brand of fandom. So it’s no surprise that The Acolyte would find ways to nod to the OT, the prequels, and even the cartoons that have little in common with its world: If you are on the right side of Star Wars history, you make room for Plo Koon.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that Plo Koon last appeared in live-action in The Phantom Menace, but his final live-action appearance was in Revenge of the Sith. We’ve edited the article to reflect this.
Obi-Wan Kenobi once said, “Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” In that scene from Return of the Jedi,the master’s disembodied spirit explained to Luke Skywalker why a more corporeal Kenobi, back in Episode IV, had declared that Luke’s dad was dead when he was, in fact, inside the suit of Darth Vader. The real reason is that when George Lucas was making the first Star Wars movie, he hadn’t decided that Vader and Anakin Skywalker were one and the same. In universe, though, the line is more revealing than even Obi-Wan knew. Yes, from one perspective, Obi-Wan’s original contention to Luke was technically correct. But it was also comforting for Kenobi, in hiding on Tatooine (except for that one time), to think that his former Padawan was dead. He was deceiving himself as much as he was twisting the truth for his new protégé. As Kenobi told Ezra Bridger in Rebels,“The truth is often what we make of it. You heard what you wanted to hear, believed what you wanted to believe.”
The same principle seems to apply to Episode 3 of The Acolyte—and this time, too, those squirrely Jedi are directly involved. Last week’s two-part premiere reunited Mae and Osha, two Force-sensitive twins who hadn’t seen each other since a childhood calamity destroyed their settlement and family, leaving each one believing that the other was dead. “Destiny,” a roughly 40-minute flashback that begins and ends at the poisonous but beautiful bunta tree, takes us back to Brendok, where that incident transpired 16 years earlier. (In contrast to last week’s two-word titles, this week’s has one, presumably because the twins are still together.) If we accept the episode’s version of events, there’s a lot about the twins’ backstory—and the series’ central mystery—that doesn’t add up. Perhaps, then, what we’ve seen is simply a certain point of view, one just as skewed by motivated reasoning as Obi-Wan’s was.
Last week, I wrote that in light of Mae’s vendetta, Master Torbin’s Barash Vow and subsequent suicide, and Kelnacca’s off-the-grid digs, “the Jedi’s sins must be worse than the order’s standard cradle-robbing recruitment process.” Yet this week’s installment would have us believe that the Jedi on Brendok did nothing worse than thousands of other Jedi have done with thousands of other potential trainees. (Which, to be clear, is super sketch, but not something most Jedi seem to feel bad about.)
In the middle of the Ascension ceremony that will mark Mae and Osha as full-fledged witches of their mothers’ coven, Indara, Sol, Kelnacca, and Torbin burst in to politely requeststrongly suggest pointedly demand that the two girls take the Jedi entrance exam. Mae, who quite reasonably wants to be a witch and doesn’t want to leave her family forever, flunks on purpose. Osha, who wants to see the galaxy, tells the truth, passes the audition, and prepares to set off for Coruscant. In response, a seemingly sociopathic Mae decides to kill her sister rather than let her leave. She sets a fire outside Osha’s room that soon spreads and destroys everyone, save for Mae herself and Osha, whom Sol rescues.
Which, well, doesn’t make much sense. Not to be all “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams” about this, but it doesn’t track that a stone sanctuary would go up in flames. Or that the blaze would kill a whole clan of Force users. Or, for that matter, that Jedi with nothing to hide or flee would leave a bunch of bodies lying on the ground and whisk Osha away without trying to help anyone. This is Star Wars,so all of the above may be sloppy storytelling. But that seems unlikely, considering creator Leslye Headland’s repeatedreferences to the Rashomon effect. “We started to get really influenced by Rashomon, and the themes of the show started to rise to the top of duality, seeing things from different points of view,” she told Entertainment Weekly in an interview about “Destiny.” “So it made sense to me that when you did go back in time, there are a lot of different ways to interpret an event that happened.”
Frankly, this series wouldn’t be very interesting if it turned out that the takeaway was that Mae was a monster who always wanted to Force pull the wings off a Brendok butterfly. (As we saw in the first scene, Osha briefly placed the winged creature in Force stasis, too—which might be why she reacted so strongly when Mae displayed the same impulse.) Nor would The Acolyte break any new narrative ground if it solely concerned the unintended consequences of kindly looking, well-intentioned but entitled Jedi taking immaculately conceived kids away from their moms. (See: the Star Wars prequels.) There must be more to the story.
There are plenty of downsides to “Destiny,” which was directed by Kogonada and written by Jasmyne Flournoy and Eileen Shim. Aesthetically speaking, The Acolyte looks like Andor in its on-location establishing shots—Brendok’s vistas rival those of Aldhani—and The Book of Boba Fett in its interiors. The latter look fine by broader small-screen sci-fi standards, but a bit cheap for big-budget Star Wars; instead of giving “galaxy far, far away,” its sets scream “soundstage somewhere in England.” (I’m the “They Can’t All Be Andor” guy, but compare the witches’ ritual to the Eye of Aldhani.) The extended flashback’s pacing and dialogue are uneven, and despite strong work from Jodie Turner-Smith as Mother Aniseya, the episode suffers from its reliance on child actors—twoactors, a departure from the two-for-one approach to Amandla Stenberg’s adult twins—to sell its emotional moments. And though the Nightsister-inspired coven is conceptually cool, there’s something sorta hokey about the witches’ chants and gesticulations. Han Solo would say that the Jedi are hokey, too, but an underrated aspect of lightsabers is that they give you something to do with your hands. Moving your arms in circles to generate VFX-supplied power sometimes looks a little silly. (Just ask Benedict Cumberbatch.)
For now, though, I’m reserving judgment about the big beats that triggered my “Wait, why—?” response. I prefer to watch Star Wars series week to week when I’m recapping, so unlike a lot of critics, I haven’t seen Episode 4. I’m not saying I want the next chapter to be a full recounting of the same events from Mae’s POV—though if that’s what’s in store, they could call it “From My Point of View, the Jedi Are Evil”—but I’ll give it a week or two for the pieces to fall into place. (Give me more Kelnacca!)
Even though the truth remains murky by design, “Destiny” does convey a clear point. Although we’re watching primarily through the Jedi-pilled Osha’s 8-year-old eyes, the “deranged monks” (in Mother Koril’s words) come off as creepy cops. Lee Jung-jae makes it tough to root against the Qui-Gon-coded Sol, but consider what the character is doing when we first see him in this episode: skulking around a forest as he spies on little girls. The Jedi then slice the platform to coven HQ so that they can crash the witches’ sacred ceremony. They cite Republic law that doesn’t obtain on Brendok to justify their actions and dubiously claim that they thought the planet was uninhabited. (If that’s the case, what brought them there?)
On the surface, their visit is peaceful, but the subtext is clear. “Mother Aniseya, you cannot deny that Jedi have the right to test potential Padawans,” Indara says, but what gives them that right? Maybe might makes right: The implicit threat in her words is hardly leavened by her hasty “With your permission, of course.” (Especially since Sol insists on Mae taking the test against her will.) When Sol takes out his lightsaber, it seems for a second that he has violence in mind. The reality might be more disturbing: He’s using this “elegant weapon for a more civilized age” to tempt Osha away from her family. If that’s what she wants, so be it, but Sol may as well be handing out candy to kids to entice them into an unmarked van. (Children, don’t take sabers from strangers.) And then there’s Torbin, who takes a blood sample without warning or consent. There’s something almost vampiric about the Jedi’s descent on Brendok to harvest its young—except that, unlike vampires, the Jedi don’t ask to be invited in. At least the negotiations were short.
And hey, ever wonder how the witches wound up in exile? As Mother Aniseya says, “We were hunted, persecuted, forced into hiding, all because some would consider our power dark. Unnatural.” Hunted by whom, one wonders. Think the Jedi may have been among the multispecies coven’s persecutors? “This is about power and who is allowed to use it,” Mother Aniseya says. And though the witches are the ones chanting “the power of many,” the Jedi wield it.
If anything, this is all an overdue dragging of the Jedi MO: We’ve seen plenty of wholesome scenes—and one not so wholesome scene—of younglings in the Temple, but The Phantom Menace aside, we haven’t seen any on-screen depictions of how they get there. Sure, some families might see it as an honor to send a high-midi-chlorian-count kid to Coruscant, or they accept that the order will give their kid a better life than they can. But it can’t be the case that every Jedi’s parents handed over their kids without being coerced. And how many younglings do you know who would willingly leave their homes with cloaked visitors, never to return?
Granted, in light of their past wars with the Sith, it’s understandable that the Jedi would still be a tad sensitive to Dark Side–adjacent techniques. And unlike the Jedi, the coven seems comfortable dwelling in the gray. (Witness the witches’ mental takeover of Torbin.) The mysterious practices surrounding the twins’ birth may be forbidden fruit. “What happens if the Jedi discover how you created them?” Koril asks Aniseya. That question, and Aniseya’s allusion to the fact that “some” consider the coven’s power “unnatural,” echo Palpatine’s tale of Darth Plagueis the Wise.
In the now decanonized Legends timeline—which Headland is well versed in—Darth Plagueis and his apprentice, Darth Sidious (a.k.a. Palpy), inadvertently cause Anakin’s creation by messing with midi-chlorians to bring about life. (Mae and Osha mirror Anakin so closely that The Acolyte is starting to seem like a dry run for Episode I; “they have no father” is almost word for word what Shmi Skywalker said, and their Force screening is the same as Anakin’s.) If Aniseya performed a similar “miracle,” it’s hardly surprising that Osha and Mae would be of such interest to the Jedi and Sith. Remember, the prophecy from the prequels—which refers to a Chosen One “born of no father”—is an ancient one, and though this era appears peaceful, balance is easily lost.
It’s suspicious that before the Ascension, Aniseya and Koril seem to sense a disturbance—possibly a saboteur?—in the vicinity of the coven’s power core, which just as suspiciously explodes soon after Mae sets a small fire. (The fire-suppression system must not have been OSHA—ba-dum tsh—compliant.) I’m not necessarily saying that Brendok was an inside job; maybe Mae was framed by the Jedi or Sith in an effort to spirit the twins away. This may mean nothing, but there are two hooded figures who don’t blend in with the witches—a master and an apprentice?—behind Aniseya at the ceremony:
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Most suspicious of all: At the end of the episode, Torbin is visible in the background, bearing a fresh wound that will turn into the scar he sported in Episode 2. We haven’t seen how he got hurt, but the fire didn’t do it. Maybe the Jedi jumped to conclusions because of their bias against the coven—or were goaded into rash action by the Sith or Koril (whose body wasn’t shown).
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Despite the “witch” terminology, the “mother” honorifics, the bows and arrows, and the presence of a zabrak, Aniseya’s followers are not the Nightsisters. There’s plenty of precedent in canon and Legends alike for groups that have different conceptions of, and names for, the Force. This clan calls it the Thread, and they say they don’t see it as a “a power you wield” (although they sure like to talk about power). That difference may be mostly semantic because the Jedi and the coven are aligned on the fundamentals of the Force: that it links all living things and binds the galaxy together. Aniseya’s council even consists of 12 members, just as the Jedi Council does. More connects them than divides them, yet they’re hopelessly separate—not unlike the two twins who revolve around each other, like the blue and red celestial bodies in Brendok’s sky (which line up less and less as the twins’ paths part).
Speaking of intractable differences: That this franchise has become a culture-war battleground muddies discussions of any new release’s quality. As I write this, the IMDb user rating for “Destiny” is 4.0. However one feels about child actors, lackluster sets, and the flammability of stone, that number undoubtedly has more to do with the episode’s diversity (and lack of white dudes) than it does with any problems with the production or plot. (As Mother Aniseya says, “This is not about good or bad.”) Aniseya also says, “The galaxy is not a place that welcomes women like us,” which sounds like an accurate commentary on some portion of the Star Wars audience. Naturally, the trolling, harassment, and review bombing from that toxic quarter not only prompt righteous condemnations, but also, perhaps, elicit some overexuberant rave reviews intended to balance out bad-faith attacks. All of which makes it more difficult to assess the sentiments of viewers who approach this prequel without preconceptions.
Less online Star Wars watchers are probably blissfully unaware of this discourse, just as Mae and Osha were unaware of each other’s survival. These fans will watch, or they won’t; get engaged, or be bored; theorize, or write off the rest. Thus far, I think it’s OK to come down in the middle, much as the series so far ranks near the midpoint of recent Star Wars extremes. The Acolyte is neither a misfire nor an unalloyed narrative triumph. It’s neither another entry in the franchise’s traditional time frame nor a drastic departure from its typical content. I want to watch more of it, but I also want more out of it. Fortunately, five weeks remain. “You will never feel like this again,” Sol promises Osha. Maybe I’ll feel less ambivalence soon.
In a galaxy teeming with iconic heroes and villains, Star Wars Outlaws dares to chart a different course. Meet Kay Vess, a protagonist defined not by her strength or perfection, but by her relatability and growth. As players embark on an epic journey through a galaxy fraught with danger and intrigue, they are invited to challenge traditional notions of heroism and embark on a deeply personal quest for freedom and self-discovery.
I was lucky enough to hands-on sneak peek at this groundbreaking open-world Star Wars game during the Ubisoft Forward 2024 event, and let me tell you, I need a copy of it, stat. From daring heists to adrenaline-pumping space battles, the gameplay promises a wealth of diverse experiences, all centred around the dynamic duo of Kay Vess and her trusty (and adorable) companion, Nix.
The hype around this game is off the charts, and it’s easy to see why. It’s not just the GTA-esque gameplay or the expansive universe that has people buzzing; it’s the fact that we finally have a woman of colour as the protagonist. This game promises to deliver a fresh, exhilarating experience in the Star Wars universe, and so far, I’m obsessed.
Speaking with Creative Director Julian Gerighty, we chatted about all things Outlaws, from the inception of Kay Vess’ character to the challenges of crafting an open-world adventure set in the Star Wars universe, and more.
What to Expect in Star Wars Outlaws
Before we dive into that, what exactly is Star Wars Outlaws about? Set between the iconic events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Outlaws promises a gripping tale of rebellion and liberation. In a galaxy rife with turmoil and conflict, Kay and Nix navigate treacherous waters, dreaming of freedom amidst the chaos. Their journey is one of audacious heists, perilous encounters, and the constant threat of both the Empire and criminal syndicates.
From heart-pounding space dogfights to nail-biting stealth missions, the gameplay offers a rich tapestry of experiences. Armed with an impressive array of gadgets and weapons, including blasters and smoke bombs, Kay is a force to be reckoned with. However, it’s her trusty companion Nix who steals the show, with their keen senses and nimble manoeuvres proving invaluable in the face of danger.
A Tale of Freedom and Adventure
As the gaming world eagerly awaits its next big adventure, Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws emerges as a beacon of innovation and excitement. Stepping away from the familiar Jedi-centric narratives, this game invites players into the thrilling underworld of the Star Wars universe, where the scoundrel Kay Vess and her endearing companion Nix reign supreme.What sets Star Wars Outlaws apart from its predecessors? According to Julian Gerighty, it all boils down to one word: freedom.
“We actually started off with, okay, we’re gonna make open world because that was our skill set,” Gerighty shared. “That’s what we knew how to do.”
Ubisoft
It’s More Than Just the First Open-World Star Wars Game
But it wasn’t just about creating another open-world title. It was about capturing the essence of the scoundrel lifestyle, the thrill of living on the fringes of society.
“We wanted to make sure that [Kay’s] reputation with the syndicates was at the heart of the experience,” he elaborated. “So every quest we’re gonna give you, there’ll be a dilemma and that dilemma is, do I side with these guys? Do I backstab these guys? What do I do?”
But amidst the adrenaline-pumping action and tough decisions, Gerighty stressed the importance of storytelling. “We wanted to tell a super compelling story with a character that was different, relatable and super ambitious, super inspiring at the end of the day.”
And as we’ve seen in Star Wars Outlaws so far, Kay is no mere pawn in the game; she’s a force to be reckoned with. Armed to the teeth with everything from data spikes to grappling hooks, she’s a formidable adversary. But let’s not forget her secret weapon: Nix, the furry little troublemaker whose sharp senses and nimble moves make all the difference in dodging danger.
The Vision Behind Kay Vess
Contrary to conventional notions of strength, Gerighty emphasised relatability as the cornerstone of Kay’s character development. Kay Vess isn’t the typical stoic, unflappable hero. Instead, she’s flawed, relatable, and dynamic.
“I never thought of her as super strong as in, that’s not the defining feature there. I think it’s much more, what we were aiming for is super relatable. So it’s not perfect… She’s not particularly cool. You know, when you first meet Han Solo, he’s the coolest guy in the galaxy,” Julian said.
“But it’s so competent, so cool, that it creates a little bit of distance between you as a player and that character. And we wanted to make that much shorter by creating somebody who wasn’t perfect, who had flaws, who threw herself into things.”
Empowering Representation
As Gerighty further emphasised, Kay Vess’s narrative arc mirrors a transformative journey of self-discovery and growth. Her character embodies empowerment and resilience, challenging players to navigate the complexities of morality and choice in a galaxy fraught with danger and intrigue.
“This is almost an origin story, like a coming of age sort of thing,” he shared. “You start off as a sort of street thief pulling off small cons in a very closed location with dreams of exploring and freedom and everything.”
Kay’s narrative isn’t just about survival; it’s about empowerment and agency. “You’re catapulted into this sort of huge adventure with galactic stakes, but it’s not necessarily what you wanted to do,” Gerighty continued. “What you wanted was freedom. What you wanted was to be left alone, what you wanted to was to explore. It wasn’t to, you know, face off against some of the biggest criminal syndicates in the galaxy.”
Breaking Boundaries
Playing through the game, it’s clear that Star Wars Outlaws is more than just another action-RPG; it’s making a statement. Sure, there’s been some backlash from certain parts of the gaming community, with the usual complaints about the protagonist’s gender and ethnicity. But for me, and many others, Kay Vess represents a much-needed shift in the gaming landscape. It’s exhilarating to see a character who looks different from the usual male leads we’ve grown used to.
Ubisoft
Addressing the Critics
Of course, there have been the usual complaints: “What if I relate to male characters more because I’m a man?” or “It’s unrealistic for a woman to survive alone in the Star Wars underworld.” These arguments totally miss the point. Video games, like all media, are about experiencing diverse stories and perspectives. It’s not about seeing a mirror image of oneself in every protagonist. Moreover, there are countless examples of strong, capable women in both fiction and reality who have thrived in challenging environments.
And for those insisting “all video game characters are women now”, that’s just not true. There are plenty of games with male protagonists. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, released just last year, featured the male character Cal Kestis. The variety in gaming characters is growing, but it’s far from being skewed towards female leads.
Star Wars Outlaws Release Date
With its release slated for August 30, 2024, on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC, Star Wars Outlaws is shaping up to be one of the most exciting games of the year. The prospect of exploring an open-world Star Wars game with such a dynamic and groundbreaking protagonist is incredibly exciting. The story, the characters, and the gameplay mechanics all point to a game that is set to redefine what we expect from Star Wars titles.
So, as we inch closer to the game’s release, I can’t help but feel a mix of excitement and hope. Kay Vess is more than just a character; she’s a symbol of progress in the gaming industry. Her presence challenges the status quo and opens the door for more diverse and inclusive storytelling in the future. I can’t wait to dive into this new adventure and see where Kay’s journey takes us. This is a game that promises to be as groundbreaking as it is fun, and I’m all in.
If you’re a Star Wars fan and love competitive games, Zynga’s latest release, Star Wars: Hunters, might just be what you’ve been waiting for. This new battle arena game, developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, is now available for free on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices. Here’s a closer look at what you can expect from this exciting new game.
Welcome to Vespaara: The Arena Awaits
Star Wars: Hunters transports players to the planet Vespaara, a new and vibrant location in the Star Wars universe. Vespaara is home to the Arena, the galaxy’s favorite spot for sporting events. In the Arena, teams of four players face off in fast-paced, competitive matches. The game offers a variety of battlefields inspired by iconic Star Wars locations, including the infamous Death Star and the sandy deserts of Tatooine. Each battlefield provides a unique backdrop and strategic elements to keep the gameplay fresh and engaging.
Meet the Hunters: Diverse and Endearing Characters
One of the standout features of Star Wars: Hunters is its diverse roster of characters, known as Hunters. These characters are based on familiar Star Wars archetypes, but each comes with their own unique twist. For example, J-3DI is a droid who believes he is a Jedi, while Utooni is a pair of Jawas stacked atop one another in a trench coat. Each Hunter boasts a unique set of abilities and moves, allowing players to experiment and find the character that best suits their playstyle. Whether you prefer brute force, strategic maneuvering, or clever tricks, there’s a Hunter for you.
Game Modes: Something for Every Player
Star Wars: Hunters offers several game modes to keep players engaged. In Squad Brawl, teams compete to rack up the most eliminations in a set period. This mode is perfect for players who love fast-paced, action-packed gameplay. Another mode, Trophy Chase, adds a layer of strategy as teams vie for control of the elusive droid TR0-F33. Each mode requires different tactics and teamwork, ensuring that no two matches feel the same. These varied game modes provide ample opportunity for players to test their skills and work together to achieve victory.
Easy to Learn, Hard to Master
One of the game’s biggest strengths is its accessibility. Star Wars: Hunters is designed to be easy to pick up and play, making it suitable for both casual gamers and hardcore fans. However, while the controls and mechanics are straightforward, mastering the game is a different story. The unique abilities of each Hunter and the strategic depth of the game modes mean there’s always room to improve and refine your skills. This balance ensures that the game remains engaging over the long term, offering plenty of challenges for players to overcome.
Conclusion: Ready for Battle
Star Wars: Hunters is a refreshing addition to the Star Wars gaming universe, offering a fun and competitive experience for players on multiple platforms. Whether you’re battling it out on the Nintendo Switch, iOS, or Android devices, the game provides a rich and engaging experience. Best of all, it’s free to download and play, with no need for a Nintendo Switch Online membership. So, gather your team, choose your Hunter, and dive into the Arena. May the best team win!
Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal, Jonathan Kermah, and Aleya Zenieris Social: Jomi Adeniran
“A Long Time Ago…In A Galaxy Far Far Away” is a phrase that many Star Wars fans are familiar with. But with how newshows keep dropping on the famed streaming site, lots of people are wondering whenThe Acolyte actually takes place in the Star Wars timeline.
TheAcolyte premiered on June 4, 2024 on Disney+. The show is described as a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. It stars Amandla Stenberg as the dual roles as Mae and Osha, Squid Game star Jung-jae as Sol, Carrie-Anne Moss as Indara, Manny Jacinto as Qimir, Dafne Keen as Jecki Lon, Charlie Barnett as Yord Fandar, and Jodie Turner-Smith as Mother Aniseya.
Live Actionhows like The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka, and The Mandalorian take place after Episode IV, V, and VI, while others like Andor take place in between Episode III and IV. Not to mention the animated shows like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch take place inbetween Episode II and III. If you’re just a casual Star Wars fan, it can get very confusing to when everything actually takes place. But don’t worry, we got you covered about Disney+’s newest Star Wars release.
When does The Acolyte take place?
The Acolyte occurs 100 years before Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. If you’re a die-hard Star Wars nerd that means 132 BBY (Before The Battle of Yavin). The show takes place when Jedis were at their peak.
Showrunner Leslye Headland wanted to explore a new side of the Star Wars universe that we’ve never seen before. “If Star Wars is about the underdog versus the institution, [in The Acolyte] the Jedi are the institution,” Headland told StarWars.com. “I was so interested in a storyline where the Jedi were at the height of their power — and I don’t mean ThePhantom Menace, because at that point, there’s a Sith Lord in the Senate that they’re not picking up on.” If you think Siths will be frequently encountered in the series, you’ll be mistaken. She likens it to seeing a velociraptor in the wild. “Like it’s a thing I’ve heard of, but it’s not a thing that you would ever consider you’d be interacting with.”
If you’ve consumed different Star Wars media, then you’ll know that most characters are intertwined storylines with each other like in The Book Of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian etc. We can never get rid of those darn Skywalkers. However in this series, there’s only one character that’s been introduced in previous media— a Jedi Master from novels named Vernestra Rwoh.
“Leslye wanted this show to be accessible — no homework needed before watching,” writer Jocelyn Bioh told The New York Times. “She wanted to potentially invite in new fans — people like me.”
Be sure to check out tickets for the Ringer Residency in Los Angeles this summer!
Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Guest: Jake Castorena Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
These fabulous things are here to podcast historic! Mal and Jo rev their engines to give you their reactions to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (30:07). But before that, they assess their hype at an all-time high with some light prep for The Acolyte, premiering next week (05:22).
Be sure to check out tickets for the Ringer Residency in Los Angeles this summer!
Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
Daisy Ridley is back on the big screen with one of her finest works to date in Young Woman and the Sea. Directed by Joachim Rønning, the biographical drama about legendary swimmer Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle is the highest testing film of Jerry Bruckheimer’s storied producorial career that includes the likes of Top Gun: Maverick, Beverly Hills Cop and Flashdance. Originally slated for a Disney+ exclusive release, Ridley and co. were rewarded with a limited theatrical run that begins on May 31. Such upgrades don’t come easy given the costs associated with theatrical exhibition, but as Rønning put it, Bruckheimer was “relentless” in his successful pursuit.
The film’s road to theatrical, in a way, parallels the underdog story that Young Woman and the Sea is telling involving Trudy, and Ridley considers this hard-earned achievement to be as rewarding as anything she’s done to date.
“It certainly felt like we set out to make a film that was wonderful and cinematic. So, for that to be appreciated is wonderful, and I hope that people go and see [Young Woman and the Sea] on the big screen,” Ridley tells The Hollywood Reporter.
To play an Olympic gold medalist in the 1920s and the first woman to swim across the English Channel, Ridley went to the same great lengths that she became known for while playing a Jedi in the Star Wars franchise. She was trained by an Olympic silver medalist named Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, and by the end of production, she was confidently swimming in the Black Sea and fighting off currents.
At the recent L.A. premiere of Young Woman, Ridley was tidying up in the bathroom when she received an unexpected endorsement from another one of history’s most fabled long-distance swimmers, Diana Nyad. Based on the latter’s attendance at the Young Woman premiere and her subsequent praise of Ridley, it’s evident that Nyad’s own biopic, Nyad (2023), and Young Woman can coexist without being pit against each other, as often happens when two films cover similar territory within a year of each other.
“I was washing my hands in the bathroom … and she came in. It was the most surreal thing. I kept going, ‘This is so trippy, this is so trippy. You did the thing, and I just played the person that did the thing,’” Ridley says. “But she was very encouraging because she could see that I had trained really hard. I really wanted to do justice by swimmers … So getting a pat on the back from Diana Nyad was pretty cool.”
Ridley recently produced and starred in her own indie film, Magpie, and after its recent premiere at South by Southwest, the Sam Yates-directed thriller — penned by Ridley’s husband, Tom Bateman — has already lined up distribution in the U.K. and Ireland. And Ridley is now revealing that U.S. distribution is already a done deal: “We also have distribution in the U.S. We just haven’t quite announced it yet,” Ridley shares.
While Ridley was shooting Magpie, Lucasfilm boss Katlheen Kennedy invited her to breakfast in order to pitch her what is currently regarded as Star Wars: New Jedi Order. Together with director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, Ridley’s beloved Jedi Master, Rey, will reestablish the Jedi Order, and she expects to read screenwriter Steven Knight’s script imminently: “I have not read actual words on actual paper, but [a script] is soon coming,” Ridley says.
Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Ridley also discusses how Young Woman, after a decade-plus of work, finally allowed her the proper chance to perform opposite sister and mother characters.
I spoke to you while you were shooting Magpie in January 2023, and you had just watched Young Woman and the Sea for the first time and said how great it was. Well, the test screenings proved you correct, resulting in a theatrical bump. Has this turn of events been as rewarding as anything you’ve been a part of so far?
Yes. I read somewhere that a streamer going theatrical hasn’t happened this way, and while maybe that’s wrong, it certainly felt like we set out to make a film that was wonderful and cinematic. So, for that to be appreciated is wonderful, and I hope that people go and see [Young Woman and the Sea] on the big screen. I’ve seen the finished film twice, and last night’s [L.A. premiere] screening was just beyond compare. Watching it on a screen of that size, there’s so much scope. The story is so intimate, but the space is so great that it’s served so beautifully on a cinema screen.
Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Vladisav Lepoev
You shot this about six or seven months before you went on to produce and star in Magpie. Did you ever get a chance to discuss your producorial ambition with Young Womanand the Sea producer Jerry Bruckheimer?
Was it only six or seven months before?
Yes, the summer of 2022.
Oh my God, you’re right! Wow. In my head, it was longer than that. Did I talk to him about [Magpie]? Yes, Jerry and [producer] Chad [Oman] and [writer-producer] Jeff [Nathanson] and [director] Joachim [Rønning] knew I was doing it. It was wonderful because I got to be on a film with Jerry Bruckheimer, and then I got to go and make my own thing. Of course, they are two very different projects, but over the last few years, I’ve been very blessed to make a lot of very different projects with a lot of very different filmmakers, who I respect and whose work and genres are different. So they’re very different projects, but beyond just being an actor, there’s a lot of joy in being a part of a team that’s bringing a story to life.
Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Disney
You and Trudy both made your names a century apart, but as I was watching Young Womanand the Sea, I found myself drawing parallels to your own career. Could you relate to Trudy’s experience on some level?
In terms of her doing something that broke down boundaries, I don’t know that I could compare to that, but I certainly feel a dogged determination. It’s funny, I saw my sister’s friend recently, and she knew me as a teenager. I hadn’t seen her for ages, and she went, “I always just remember you being super determined as a teenager.” And I was like, “That’s interesting.” So I feel like I was determined, and I was able to do something even though I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I wanted to be an actor, but I didn’t know how to do that. I just figured my way through. So, in a spiritual way, that determination and that love of doing what you want to do, I suppose there would be some comparison there.
Kim Bodnia as Henry Ederle, Jeanette Hain as Gertrud Ederle, Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle, Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Meg Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Elena Nenkova
I’m glad you mentioned one of your sisters, because Young Woman is the first time you’ve had a prominent sisterly relationship in a film. Did you welcome that familiar yet new dynamic on screen?
I very much encouraged it. I’ve never had a sister on screen, and I’ve never actually had a mom on screen. So when I read the script, it was so beautiful already, but I had a conversation with Jeff Nathanson and Jerry and Chad and Joachim, where I said, “For me, this relationship is the absolute heart of the story. I want this to be a love story about these two sisters who are totally representative of totally different moments in their lives.” Trudy is overcoming a lot of obstacles, and she actually has a lot of freedom in that, strangely. But Meg doesn’t. Meg is representative of basically every other woman of that time, and I wanted it to feel real when sisters bicker. My sisters and I bicker, but we love each other so fiercely that there’s just no denying that sisterly bond.
When I was testing with people for Meg, I tested with amazing actors, but it just didn’t feel right for me, sister-wise. And then, when Tilda [Cobham-Hervey] and I spoke, there was just alchemy. There was that chemistry thing, and it just really worked. So I was very encouraging of that relationship, and I love Tilda. I’m glad that the relationship we have together as people, hopefully, translated onto the screen. And Jeanette [Hain], who is this gorgeous performer, plays our mother, and she is unbelievable as the rock of this family. So I was so thrilled to work with both of them.
Jeanette Hain as Gertrud Ederle and Daisy Ridley as Trudy Ederle in Disney’s Young Woman and the Sea
Vladisav Lepoev
Did Trudy really eat fried chicken while simming in the middle of the English Channel?
(Laughs.) I don’t know if she ate fried chicken. She must have, because there was a lot of research done, but [as a vegan], I was eating some fried tofu [in that scene].
We did a day of underwater work in a tank. We had done all of the open water stuff in the Black Sea at nighttime, which obviously had to be more controlled because it was more dangerous. But then we did a day of underwater work, and it was more comfortable to stay in the pool. So I had my little floating [lunch] tray, and I ate my lunch. It was enjoyable. But it’s that funny thing where you don’t want to eat too much. You’re starving because you’ve done so much work, but you don’t want to eat too much in case you vom, basically.
You worked with one of the Nyad producers on The Marsh King’s Daughter. I know you shot this after MarshKing, but was there ever any playful joshing between long-distance swimming films?
I met Diana Nyad last night [at the L.A. premiere]! It was so surreal. I was washing my hands in the bathroom, waiting for my people, and she came in. It was the most surreal thing. I kept going, “This is so trippy, this is so trippy. You are real. You did the thing, and I just played the person that did the thing.” But she was very encouraging because she could see that I had trained really hard. And that’s wonderful [to hear], particularly from the sports people that were there last night. I really wanted to do justice by swimmers, and in a physical way, I wanted to try and do as much as I could to look able and to sell the story. So getting a pat on the back from Diana Nyad was pretty cool.
So much time, money and energy is put into teaching actors skills for a movie, and some of them have told me that they feel a bit of regret when they don’t keep up with a particular skill. So, whether it’s twirling your laser sword or swimming laps, do you ever wish you had more time to maintain it all?
I feel like I work really hard for what I have to do. I work really hard for the training and I work really hard for the filming, and then afterwards, I go to sleep. But I’ve also maintained a lot of the skills I have already learned. I did a [Martin Campbell] action movie before Christmas called Cleaner, and I had done kickboxing for the last Star Wars film, so I did kickboxing again. I wasn’t starting from scratch there. I was relearning, and I already had a foundation. Swimming is the big one that I hadn’t really done before and I haven’t really done since, but watching the film again last night, I thought, “Yes, I did do a lot of swimming and my body deserves a rest.”
Before we return to Magpie, I have to do that obligatory thing where we ask about that other upcoming Disney movie [Star Wars: New Jedi Order]. Have you seen words on paper yet?
(Laughs.) I have not read actual words on actual paper, but [a script] is soon coming.
Daisy Ridley in Magpie
Courtesy of SXSW/Rob Baker Ashton
Magpie premiered at South by Southwest, and it recently landed distribution in your own backyard [U.K. and Ireland].
We also have distribution in the U.S. We just haven’t quite announced it yet.
Overall, what’s been the biggest eye-opener about birthing your own film?
Honestly, making films is really hard, and I knew they were, but the making of the film was actually not difficult. It’s just the after stuff that’s such a maze. Being independent and then finding distribution, we have amazing partners, which is wonderful, but I just didn’t realize how long everything took. So that was surprising. But I love our movie. We wanted to do something that we felt we hadn’t seen in a while, and I’m very happy that we are able to share Magpie with audiences this year.
*** Young Woman and the Sea opens in select theaters on May 31.
Forty-seven years ago today, everything changed. True believers might already know what it was: On May 25, 1977, Star Wars hit movie theaters and irrevocably altered nearly everything pertaining to the act of moviegoing. Lines around the block, overly excited nerds, an appetite for action figures. Star Wars taught Hollywood that certain genres—sci-fi, fantasy, anything that percolated in the offbeat TV shows, books, and comics of the 1950s and ’60s—had fans, and those fandoms would show up. Star Wars made a meager $1.6 million in the US in its opening weekend. But people kept coming back, and by the end of its initial run it had made more than $300 million. Hollywood’s Next Big Thing had arrived.
Common wisdom dictates that Jaws, which came out in 1975 and made some $260 million, was the first summer blockbuster. That’s true, but it was Star Wars that shifted the idea of what kind of film future popcorn flicks tried to be. In the years after its release, a trove of sci-fi and genre films landed in theaters: Blade Runner, Alien, E.T., the Mad Max sequel The Road Warrior. By the ’90s, the summer movie energy had shifted to action fare—Twister, Speed, Jurassic Park, Independence Day—but nerd stuff still ruled. For every Forrest Gump there was a Batman Returns or Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Then came a little juggernaut called Marvel. By the time Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies started clearing nine-figure opening weekends in the aughts, it was obvious that comic book heroes’ true superpowers involved making your money disappear. The Avengers opened in early May 2012 and nearly recouped its $200-million-plus production budget in three days. Suddenly, there were at least two superhero movies every year, if not every summer, and some new Star Wars flicks at the holidays.
The one-two punch of Covid-19 theater closures and streaming pretty much kneecapped this entire process. The summer of 2020 had virtually no blockbusters, and by the time moviegoers returned to multiplexes in 2021 and 2022, there had been a vibe shift. Movies like Black Widow and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness did well, but they weren’t events. Rushing to Fandango for tickets didn’t feel as urgent as it once did. Last summer, Barbenheimer was the buzziest thing in movies. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made money, but they still got beat by Barbie’s might.
Overall, this year could be a wake-up call for studios that superhero fatigue has fully set in, says Chris Nashawaty, author of The Future Was Now, a new book out in July about how the movies of 1982—Blade Runner, E.T., Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, among others—ushered in the current blockbuster era. That epoch, he says, “was always going to be something that couldn’t last forever; I’m frankly surprised that it lasted as long as it did.”
Nashawaty says the success of Barbenheimer—both movies—indicates that audiences are hungry for smart films, but Hollywood’s risk aversion likely means studios will greenlight more projects based on toys and games like Monopoly rather than movies about physicists. “This is a real existential moment in Hollywood right now,” he adds, and studios need to be bold to stay relevant.
And, no, he will not re-releasing his original versions of the first Star Wars trilogy anytime soon, thank you. Photo: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images
Sorry, fellow nerds, George Lucas has no intentions of releasing the original versions of the first Star Wars trilogy on home video anytime soon. When asked about it during a lengthy on-stage interview at the Cannes Film Festival, Lucas noted that they’d already been released on laserdisc and that everyone at the time said they looked terrible. (I can confirm this, but they looked awful because of the shoddy video mastering, not the actual source material.) He also insisted that the special effects on the original films were incomplete — “movies get abandoned, they don’t get finished” he said, echoing Leonardo Da Vinci — and that part of his reasons for restoring, revising, and adding new VFX to them in the late 1990s was because he wanted to complete them the way he saw them. “I’m a firm believer that the director or the writer or the filmmaker should have a right to have his movie be the way he wants it,” he added, sounding slightly more annoyed than usual.
None of this is news, of course. And Lucas’s wide-ranging chat at Cannes didn’t exactly offer any revelations. Rather, it was a chance for the packed audience to sit in the presence of the man who made Star Wars for 90 minutes. (The wild standing ovation he received beforehand, complete with several rounds of boisterous cheers, confirmed this fact; it was by far the most enthusiastic applause I’ve heard at the festival this year.) And the avuncular, soft-spoken Lucas was very much in character in his now-iconic leisurewear of checkered untucked shirt, loose and comfy pants, and big sneakers that look like well-used pillows. None of which should come as a surprise, but at a festival where security might tase you for wearing the wrong-colored bowtie on the red carpet, it was certainly notable. We’ll see if Monsieur Lucas will don the obligatory tuxedo for the festival’s closing ceremony tomorrow night, where he’s due to receive an honorary Palme.
It’s always fun listening to Lucas recount his remarkable road to success and how he managed to maintain and build on that success. He’s always so matter of fact about it. “We were never interested in making money,” he said at the start of the conversation, talking about how New Hollywood filmmakers such as himself, his mentor Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, and others managed to revolutionize the American movie industry. “We just wanted to make movies.” He then spent a good part of his 90-minute chat talking about money.
Not in a bad way, though. Lucas revolutionized licensing and merchandising on the first Star Wars, and he recounted how that was one of the keys to the film’s success. “Licensing in those days did not exist because it took longer to build a toy than it did to make a movie,” he recalled. He said that he spent the two years before the movie’s release going to Star Trek and comic book conventions with Star Wars posters and T-shirts, building up interest in the film among a core audience of genre devotees. When the film finally opened in 1977, its struggling studio, 20th Century Fox only released it in 32 theaters, because its board of directors hated it. When the lines started going around the block, they expanded it to more than a thousand screens, an unprecedented number for that time.
Lucas expounded to the audience at length about the difference between net profits and gross profits (in short: net profits, which only kick in after shady studio accountants deduct all sorts of real and imaginary costs, are useless, while gross profits are where you make real money), and about how he managed to finagle gross profits on Star Wars after only getting net profits on American Graffiti. He also discussed how he managed to secure sequel rights to the first Star Wars because his original script was so long and he’d cut most of it out. He also knew that the studio’s initial contempt for the film, coupled with the fact that Fox was about to be sold anyway, meant that they didn’t care about the sequel rights.
Lucas also talked at length about his friendship with fellow Cannes attendee Francis Ford Coppola, who transformed his career at several points in their early years. It was Coppola who suggested that Lucas stick with him during the making of Finian’s Rainbow (1968), at a time when Lucas had decided he was bored with being on film sets and intended to try his hand at animation instead. Later, Lucas joined Coppola on the tiny crew for his low-budget road movie The Rain People (1969), as they traveled across the country improvising locations and scenes. (Lucas didn’t discuss the excellent short documentary about Coppola that he made during this time, called Filmmaker: A Diary, but you should check it out if you haven’t.) At the end of that shoot, Lucas told Coppola he intended to go back to San Francisco and make short experimental films. Coppola told him to write a feature length script instead, which he promised to produce.
That 1971 debut feature, the Robert Duvall-starring THX-1138, actually played at Cannes, in the Director’s Fortnight sidebar. The studio wouldn’t pay his way to France, so Lucas and his sound editor Walter Murch (who was also present during his Cannes talk this year) pooled their money and went to Cannes on their own, where they had to buy tickets to see their own movie. Lucas recalled that some years later, a reporter at Cannes asked him why he skipped the press conference for THX-1138. “We didn’t know there was a press conference!” Lucas exclaimed.
After THX-1138 failed to recoup its cost, the studio asked for its money back. Desperate for funds, Coppola took on the job of directing The Godfather. When Lucas asked how he could help, Coppola suggested he write a comedy. “If you want to make a movie, don’t make one of these artsy sci-fi whatever,” he recalled Coppola saying. “I dare you to make a comedy.” Which is how Lucas came to write American Graffiti, whose incredible success gave him the clout to make Star Wars.
Lucas recounted that after Universal executives first saw American Graffiti at a preview screening, they hated it. The screening was packed, and the audience had loved the film, but he recalled Lew Wasserman, the head of the studio, coming to him and Coppola after the screening and telling them they should be ashamed of the film. “Francis got very mad at him,” he said, “and we were having this big fight in the back of the theater. Francis said, ‘How dare you? This kid almost killed himself making this movie, shooting it in 28 days and nights. How dare you at least not say it was an interesting movie?’”
Afterwards, Lucas and Coppola slowly started having more preview screenings, always with a packed, receptive crowd, slowly making their way back to the film division executives, who eventually changed their minds. American Graffiti would go on to become the third highest grossing release of 1973, and, given its low budget, probably one of the most profitable pictures of all time. It set Lucas up to make Star Wars on his own terms. And then keep making it, sequel after sequel.
“But that was Hollywood then,” Lucas said. “I’ve been retired for 10 years. I’m not sure what it’s like now.”
A year after the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruisertook its last flight, here’s a look back at the best of Disney Parks’ bold venture into the immersive entertainment space—and why in the end, it couldn’t quite work.
James Mangold on his Future Star Wars Film | io9 Interview
At io9, Star Wars and fantastical realms of sci-fi coming to life are a major component of what we write about through films, shows, and theme park experiences. And that’s because bringing to life some of the idealized futuristic worlds we hold dear presents a lot of challenges—particularly when they’re brought into a very real world that may only really share themes of banding together with civil unrest against a fascist tyranny. In Star Wars the people find ways to come together and play a role to defeat the bad guys; in real life things are far more complicated.
To many Star Wars fans who were able to check out Galactic Starcruiser during its short-lived existence, the attraction presented a chance to act on the frustration many share in their day to day lives of watching atrocities happen and feeling like there’s little we can do about them. There was an irony in this, since Galactic Starcruiser was part of Disney, a major corporation that prioritizes its financial bottom line.
And indeed, Galactic Starcruiser’s exorbitant cost turned off a lot of folks who thought it was a hotel—which it never was, instead more resembling a fancy theater camp where you could wallflower it or actively participate in your own corner of Star Wars. Hotels are generally built around recreational, relaxing areas like a pool or a spa; the only amenities that reflected a familiar Disney vacation aspect aboard Galactic Starcruiser were the dinners and the Galaxy’s Edge excursions at adjacent Walt Disney World. On a surface level, that’s what probably misled regular folk—vacationers who don’t actively follow the immersive experiences niche—into thinking Galactic Starcruiser was a Disney Cruise on land. Coming on board to realize it was not, and that you had to get involved in ways that could be compared to pretending to be a coach for your fantasy football league, in a realm where you’re in the game, threw the unprepared off. That’s a big part of what ultimately led to Disney shutting down the attraction, which at its core was a community-building endeavor born out of Imagineering and Lucasfilm’s story trust to inspire at least a portion of people to feel like if they could be a part of a story like Star Wars, then perhaps they could take their experiences from it to the real world, in small and big ways.
While there’s a lot of outrage out there to deconstruct the pared-down end result that came from an ambitious idea, many folks who got to visit Galactic Starcruiser enjoyed the experiment, whether they saw it as an imaginative interactive playground to bring their loved ones to or experience on their own. It was a sandbox: if you wanted to be there to cosplay while trying funky-looking food and drinks, that was a path you could take; if you wanted to embrace the childlike wonder of lightsaber training and blasting baddies into space, there was that too. And some people just wanted their kids to play and meet their heroes.
The milage varied on how open and social you were willing to be to find the path of best enjoyment. On my own visit, I went in as a disenchanted space witch on her honeymoon, and with the intention of leaving behind how limited I felt in being able to change the real world. I quickly made an alliance with some reluctant scoundrels to help the good guys out, playing up some Cassian Andor vibes (I pretended to be a relative). I had some issues with having to be on my “data-pad” (what that really means: one’s own phone) to do the more gamer app stuff around Galaxy’s Edge; that was not for me as a non-gamer. But I found that character interaction and roleplay on board the ship to be a highly rewarding experience. I befriended other guests, young and young at heart; moved smuggled goods about (how did they know I’d be down to hustle the Empire?); and when my beloved and I needed a romantic space moment to share our vow renewals, the in-room droid—D3-O9, who encouraged me to help the Resistance—performed a whole ceremony that makes me cry to this day, because right after, she sacrificed herself and got attacked by the First Order.
That event, like in any hero’s journey, quickly radicalized me and I was able to find the Rebel princess for the people inside me I’ve dreamed of being since I was a little girl. Then it was on and along with the Padawans in training we led stormtroopers to their own imprisonment by pretending to lock up Chewbacca, used a fake proposal to move precious cargo, and stood tall with a galactic pop-star along with our fellow Resistance members to back up Rey when Kylo Ren showed up for the epic finale. And finally—when the good guys won—I was able to step into my power and begin the Jedi (witch princess) training I’d felt I long abandoned hope for. As soon as I ignited my lightsaber on that last night, I was ready to fight again.
Oh—and here are the vows D3-O9 recited for us:
D3-O9: You have come today to declare your promise of devotion to your chosen partner.
Please repeat after me:
…We vow to share our triumphs and troubles…
…No matter what difficulties may come…
…We share in each other’s successes…
…Not with jealousy, but with joy and admiration…
…We promise each other a life cycle…
…Filled with curiosity, humor, and adventure…
…We pledge unquestionable devotion…
…for we are worthy of each other’s love.
You are destined. The galaxy has connected you amongst the millions of other inhabitants. Though you may have once traveled singular paths, you now travel united, and stronger for it. Cherish your bond, and seek to share it, for your bond shall inspire others to seek their own. From love to love, the galaxy grows stronger. And you are now a part of that great and unending chain.
Like those who did find the best of our experiences to outweigh the kinks that had so much potential to be ironed out, it is nice to feel a part of that “great and unending chain” with those whose lives were enriched by the experience of the GalacticStarcruiser.
The official Star Wars site just posted a beautiful new video of Stenberg, who stars in the upcoming The Acolyte, playing the violin, something they’ve been doing since childhood. But what’s special about this video though is that John Williams himself not only approved Stenberg to play the piece, he also wrote them a specific new version optimized for solo violin. Which basically means you’ve heard the Star Wars theme a billion times, but never quite like this. Check it out.
The Acolyte | Amandla & Her Violin | Streaming June 4 on Disney+
Well, that was amazing. And we’re hoping Stenberg is equally as amazing as Mae, their character on The Acolyte which is coming sooner than you think on June 4. Mae is described by the official Star Wars site as someone who “gets swept up into a sinister mystery—one that puts her into the center of a conflict in unexpected ways.” We imagine that will be expanded out mightily in the coming months.
As for Williams, as far as we know, his music isn’t in The Acolyte (the composer for the show is Get Out’s Michael Abels), but hopefully, we get a theme here and there. The show, which co-stars Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss, premieres with two episodes on June 4. Are you as excited as we are?
At this point, 25 years after its release, there’s no reason to debate the quality of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. A catastrophe for boomers and Gen Xers forever entranced by the spell of the original trilogy; a defining tentpole moment for millennials who rode the high of the 1997 Special Edition rereleases only to hit the turbulence of George Lucas’ bubbly new vision; a bedrock of a new era of storytelling for Gen Zers who have more love in their hearts for The Clone Wars TV show than anything in live action — it’s a film that means something different to everyone and, almost objectively, an inflection point for blockbuster moviemaking. Or, to put it another way: The Phantom Menace is.
But The Phantom Menace trailer… a masterpiece. And Lucasfilm is rightfully treating 1998’s biggest two-minute hype video, a preview that helped the notorious bomb Meet Joe Black make what little money it made back in the day, as an equally important part of the Star Wars legacy: With the movie back in theaters for a 25th anniversary rerelease, the studio has remastered its original trailer, which was produced and released so early that it was simply called “Episode I” instead of The Phantom Menace. LeAndre Thomas, project manager for video & digital assets at Lucasfilm, said on X that he and his team rescanned an original 35mm print of the trailer in order to remaster it in 4K. The new version was posted to YouTube on Sunday night, and was immediately watched by people who enjoy a good nostalgia trip.
In honor of a pristine new version of the Phantom Menace trailer arriving online, here are the top five moments that still make me think, Hot damn, this movie is going to be absolutely sick, Star Wars is so back, baby, hell yeah!!!!, despite knowing that it is not exactly a perfect movie.
5. The 20th Century Fox logo
Image: 20th Century Studios
I will never age as long as the Phantom Menace trailer is watchable with the click of a button. When the 20th Century Fox logo pops up in silence at the beginning of the trailer, I am a child in a dark movie theater, barely breathing. That logo is Star Wars to my brain, with an additional hit of dopamine arriving when Lucasfilm’s logo sparkles onto the screen a second later. Ah, to be young and alive at a time when getting fired up over a corporate logo was not only acceptable, but welcome! I still hold a grudge against Disney for acquiring Fox and opening The Force Awakens with just the Lucasfilm logo — at the end of the day, I am now a grumbly adult.
4. Darth Maul firing up the dual lightsaber blades
Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Who is that guy????? Tell me everything about that guy. Everyone in the old movies had one lightsaber, but he has two. Holy hell. (Equally important to the Sith presence in this trailer: Mace Windu’s laser stare bringing balance to the badassery of the Force.)
3. The cockpit of the podrace
Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.
There’s no reason to debate the quality of The Phantom Menace, but… the podracing sequence is unimpeachable. The first taste we get of the No. 1 best action sequence in all of the Star Wars movies (fight me) is from Anakin’s POV — a complete adrenaline rush as John Williams’ theme kicks in. The other images race by like scenery witnessed out the side window. Truly, I had no memory of how many times we see Jar Jar doing Jar Jar shit in the trailer, because it’s cut like the podrace. Spectacular.
2. Padme standing in front of a window, fade to Darth Vader exhaling over ‘every saga has a beginning’
Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Chills. Finally, Darth Vader’s tragic story will be told.
1. Gungans emerge from the fog of Naboo’s swamps
Image: Lucasfilm Ltd.
The greatest opening shot in a movie trailer ever. Lucas doing Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood with a brand-new alien race. Star Wars is art now. Nothing could possibly go wrong with any of this.
Giancarlo Esposito Instantly Knew Baby Yoda was the star of The The Mandalorian
The news was first reported by TheInSneider and a Lucasfilm representative could not be reached for comment. io9 sources, however, do believe the story to be accurate. There’s also no word on who Weaver could be playing in the film but it’s Star Wars! She could be anyone or anything: human, alien, bounty hunter, droid. She played a teenage version of herself in 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water. She’s got range.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is the next Star Wars film coming and, with production expected to start later this year, it makes sense cast is starting to get locked in. Jon Favreau is writing and directing, as he has done on much of the first three seasons of The Mandalorian, with Dave Filoni and Kathleen Kennedy producing. We still don’t even have “official” confirmation of returning Mando cast members such as Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, and others, but we do know that Grogu will be there. And really that’s all that matters.
So what do you think? Does Weaver fit in a galaxy far, far away? Do you want her to play a hero? A villain? A scoundrel? Will you be buying her action figure? To that last question, we certainly say yes.
Red vs. Blue is officially over. On Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery released Red vs. Blue: Restoration, the final installment in the long-running saga that was once at the forefront of a whole new form of entertainment: web videos created from in-game footage. Machinima signaled a new world where that footage—of Halo, in Red vs. Blue’s case—could power viral clips. That was 2003. Now it seems as if Restoration might be machinima’s swan song.
“Machinima directors use game engines, which allow them to record a scene from any conceivable angle, like a Hollywood director uses a cinematographer,” WIRED wrote in a 2002 piece heralding the potential of this new filmmaking technique. When it launched a year later, Red vs. Blueexemplified those possibilities. The series was created by linking several Xboxes together and recording footage of a Halo multiplayer match, then adding voiceover. The absurdist, existential tone of the dialogue was a hilarious counterpoint to (and commentary on) the run-and-gun gameplay of the first-person shooter used to create it. The show’s creators founded a production company, Rooster Teeth, and made over a dozen more seasons worth of episodes.
Red vs. Blue would go on to develop a huge fan base and become a geek touchstone in the two decades that followed. Which is why Restoration’s release feels like an ignominious sendoff. In March, Rooster Teeth general manager Jordan Levin announced that Warner Bros. Discovery, now Rooster Teeth’s parent company, was shutting down the studio, and it soon became clear that the IP was being split up and sold off for parts. Today, the final installment of Red vs. Blue is being unceremoniously dumped onto streaming platforms with minimal fanfare or promotion.
It’s a sad moment for fans of Red vs. Blue and Rooster Teeth, but it’s a great moment to reflect on the impact the web series had. Machinima isn’t talked about much these days, but across the media landscape, you’ll find people using games to create everything from streams to clips to GIFs to art films, and doing it in ways that were unimaginable 21 years ago. “Machinima is not a word we use anymore, and it’s not really something we think of as like a medium or a genre anymore,” says Adam Bumas, a writer for the Internet culture newsletter Garbage Day. “But it’s still going strong. In fact, it’s everywhere.”
What hath machinima wrought? For starters, look at the phenomenon of Fortnite concerts. Over the last few years, major recording artists like Kid Laroi,Ariana Grande, and Travis Scott have performed sets for millions of people logged in to the game world. (Lil Nas X did a similar virtual event inside of Roblox.)
“The reason those concerts happened is because Epic realized that people were just hanging out in Fortnite and not even playing,” notes Bumas. “It’s like an evolution of a social space.” And since Fortnite’s gameplay is centered on building and creating things as well as shooting each other, it was only natural that Epic would also lean into developing tools that help people express themselves and entertain each other within the game world.
The game publisher has also developed tools that let filmmakers use the underlying game engine that Fortnite runs on in their production process. For instance, Industrial Light & Magic has employed Epic’s Unreal Engine in its StageCraft virtual on-set production process since the first season of The Mandalorian. For the most recent season, the company used Unreal to help actors and filmmakers visualize how a CG droid character would interact with flesh-and-blood actors.
“When you’re confronted with a sea of green and representations of characters on ping-pong balls or tennis balls, it becomes a pretty daunting experience for the actors and the director,” Epic Games’ chief technology officer, Kim Liberi, tells WIRED. “I think what we’ve been able to do here is give control back to the filmmakers.”
In a different galaxy far, far away, artist Tim Richardson recently collaborated with fashion designer Iris van Herpen on the CG short Neon Rapture, which was also made with Unreal. The tech allowed van Herpen to push her eye-popping concepts and designs further than she ever could have in the real world, and Richardson says that the game engine was his “sound stage” for the production. Where the Red vs. Blue creators had had to simply capture footage of themselves playing Halo, Richardson had a toolkit to work with that was specially designed for someone intending to render content rather than have a play experience. It allowed the filmmaking team and the fashion designer to prototype every aspect of the shoot from designs to lighting to costume to sets, and mix motion capture data with a digital environment on the fly to figure out their shots.
“It was the closest thing to shooting live-action I’ve experienced in VFX-based filmmaking,” Richardson says. “I was able to share ideas and collaborate with Iris on a time-scale impossible in linear VFX. I see game engines as an essential aspect of my future work.”
Last summer was pretty packed with big movies, from the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3to Across the Spider-Verse and Barbie. 2024’s summer movie season began this weekend with The Fall Guy and a re-release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. With two throwback movies coming out in the same weekend—one based on an old ‘80s TV show and the other that first released in ‘99—you’d think we were in for another big summer, but so far, things aren’t hitting quite as hard in terms of box office.
The Secret to Taika Waititi’s Success
Individually, those two movies did fairly solid: Fall Guy (headlined by Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt) ended up with $65.4 million worldwide, with $28.5 million of it coming from North America. While it fell just shy of initial projections of $30-40 million domestically, it’s still got pretty good reviews, and word of mouth may help get it across the finish line. In second place came Phantom with $8.1 million for North America and $14.5 million overall. A growing prequel fondness goes a decent way, as does attaching a preview of June’s The Acolyteseries for Disney+.
But in Fall Guy’s case, its opening numbers mark a sharp falloff (heh) from that of 2023 and 2022. In both instances, Marvel kicked things off: Guardiansopened last year on May 5 to $118.4 million, and Doctor Strange 2saw $187.4 millon. Deadpool & Wolverinewas once meant to come out this weekend as well alongside Fall Guy, but production was suspended that July due to the strikes, and it had just over a month’s worth of shooting left. So with no Marvel movie taking up a May slot as per usual, this year’s numbers are down by 53% (for 2022) and 66% (2022), making for what Variety called the softest start for summer movies in around 15 years.
Looking ahead, the rest of May is well-stocked with blockbusters. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesreleases next week with strong buzz behind it, followed by The Strangers: Chapter Oneand Ifon May 17. Furiosawill close things out on May 24, riding right into Memorial Day weekend. Come June 7, that first weekend’s packed with three big movies: Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return with Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the Shyamalan family trot out The Watchers, and Russell Crowe returns to horror with The Exorcism.
TheStar Warsuniverse is massive, filled with hundreds of books, games, TV shows, and more. And let’s not forget the movies, which started all of this wild nonsense back in 1978 with A New Hope. Throughout all of Star Wars, from all the fan fighting over Last Jedito people going wild over Grogu, one thing has remained true: The galaxy is filled with freaky little guys.
WhenStar Wars Jedi: Survivorlanded from EA and Respawn last year, the internet fell head over heels for Turgle, a frog man that is a perfect example of a freaky little guy.
What is a freaky little guy? Well, it’s an alien that doesn’t have to necessarily be a male, they just need to be a bit freaky. A little weird. An oddball, if you will. The kind of character that shows up and you think to yourself, “What a freaky little dude, huh?” There’s really no specific definition or criteria. It’s more of a vibe they put out rather than a checklist of requirements that need to be met. Based on those vibes, we’ve collected this list of the 10 freakiest little guys in all of Star Wars.
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