Information about The Last Jedi hasn’t been particularly forthcoming from Lucasfilm, even though Josh Gad tried very, very hard. Now we’re getting our first idea of what to expect thanks to Star Wars Celebration.
Josh Gad continued on his mission to discover as many secrets about The Last Jedi as possible by taking to the stage to moderate the panel at Star Wars Celebration. Unlike his series of attempts earlier this year, he had a little more success with teasing information out of Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy.
We’re rounding up everything we learned at The Last Jedi panel before we move on to obsessing over every single detail of the trailer.
‘The Last Jedi’ panel: Everything we learned
- Touching tributes to Carrie Fisher continued on into day two of Celebration, as Johnson revealed that she provided input on The Last Jedi script. Not entirely surprising, as Fisher also found success in Hollywood as a renowned script doctor. It’ll be twice as emotional knowing her fingerprints are also in the DNA of the film, and not just in her on-screen presence.
- The Last Jedi is quite far along in the post-production and editing process. There were no mentions of any pick-ups or re-shoots at this time.
- According to Kathleen Kennedy, Rian Johnson writes “amazingly fierce and independent women.” This bodes well for not only Rey and Daisy Ridley, but also for newcomer to the franchise Kelly Marie Tran.
- As many of us suspected, The Last Jedi will continue to dig deeper into Rey’s story — though her relationship with Luke may not be all smooth-sailing. “It’s difficult when you meet your heroes,” Ridley said of their dynamic. “It might not be what you expect.”
- BB-8 rolled his way into our hearts when The Force Awakens debuted, and we’ll be getting even more of him in The Last Jedi. “You can’t have enough BB-8. He’s the Buster Keaton of this movie,” Johnson told the audience at Celebration.
BB8's determined little head-down roll RT if you agree pic.twitter.com/0KvQA2IJvj
— L.D. Lapinski (@ldlapinski) April 14, 2017
Article Continues Below - Finn left The Force Awakens in pretty bad shape. His recovery from the near-fatal blow landed on him by Kylo Ren will continue into The Last Jedi, but his place in the galaxy, and the Resistance itself, still isn’t a sure thing. “Is he going to be a part of the Resistance or is he going to keep running away from The First Order? We’ll see,” Boyega offered.
- What about our favorite dynamic duo of Poe and Finn? That relationship will “continue to blossom” and they will have some more adventures together. Are you hyped? We’re hyped!
- And what of the First Order? They suffered a set-back the end of The Force Awakens when Starkiller Base was destroyed. Well, they’ll be “making big moves” when we return to the galaxy far, far away. “They did manage to take out the seat of the Republic,” Johnson said. “That has sent the galaxy into chaos and the First Order is jumping on that very aggressively. Things are going to get dire.” (Should we start worrying now, or…?)
- Kelly Marie Tran was introduced by Johnson as one of the major new characters. Tran is playing Rose, a maintenance worker in the Resistance (pictured below). She’ll be a hero in the same vein as Luke in the Original Trilogy — someone who isn’t looking to be a hero, but is pulled into the adventure in a big way.
- And what about the man himself, Luke Skywalker? While Mark Hamill played coy about the Star Wars films no longer being about Luke, Kennedy said of his role in The Last Jedi: “He is so significantly important to this next film.” Despite Luke still being a core part of the story, there will still be some mystery surrounding him.
The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15, 2017.
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