Tag: Lucasfilm

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Lando’ Co-Writer Stephen Glover Says ‘Star Wars’ Series Morphing Into Feature Film: “The Idea Right Now Is To Do A Movie”

Back in July, it was revealed that Justin Simien (“Haunted Mansion,” “Dear White People”) would no longer be developing the Lando Calrissian spinoff series, “Lando,” for Lucasfilm. Instead, the creative reins of the project would shift over to star Donald Glover (“Solo: A Star Wars Story) and his brother/writing partner Stephen Glover (“Atlanta”). It was sort of a shock that the studio was still pursuing the “Star Wars” project and potentially a welcome shift in development, as the Glovers are on quite a creative roll with their acclaimed FX series “Atlanta” getting a lot of attention.

Now, Stephen is suggesting during a podcast appearance on Pablo Torre Finds Out (See video below) that the project is no longer even a series but is pivoting towards becoming a feature film instead.

“It’s not even a show…I’m sure the nerds will figure it out anyway. They’ll read my lips or something…No, the idea right now is to do a movie. Right now because of the strike it’s kind of like ‘telephone,’ all the information coming out,” Glover said.

Could this be a way to attract “Solo” co-stars like Alden Ehrenreich and Emilia Clarke to reprise their roles after a shaky box office reception? I guess we’ll have to wait and see who exactly ends up appearing in this new movie incarnation.

Previously, both “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and “The Book of Boba Fett” started out as movies in development only to be snuffed out and resurrected as Disney+ original limited streaming series. However, given Lucasfilm’s current track record with slow crawl development on their recently announced feature films, we might not be getting “Lando” until 2030 or beyond (kidding, of course).

Lucasfilm’s growing number of films in development consists of one from Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”), a force/Jedi origin film from James Mangold (“Logan”), Shawn Levy (“Deadpool 3”) is attached for another, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) is tackling a film set 15 years after the events of “The Rise of Skywalker” with Daisy Ridley attached to reprise her role of Rey Skywalker, and Dave Filoni (“Ahsoka”) is going to be making his big jump from TV to the big screen with another mysterious film set during the timeline of the streaming shows which is years after “Return of The Jedi.” It’s really hard to too excited knowing that a lot of these movies could have a similar fate to “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron” where there is a moment of excitement from it’s announcement to a thud when it just gets tossed into limbo.

We should all be cautiously optimistic for the moment until cameras actually roll on it because there seem to be a lot of “Star Wars” films announced to be in “development” but not many are actually getting made. With the WGA strike way past the 100-day mark, it would suggest that not a whole lot of writing has been happening with many of these projects in recent months.

SOURCE: PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT PODCAST

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Lando’: Lucasfilm Hires Donald & Stephen Glover To Write ‘Star Wars’ Series As Justin Simien Exits

Back in December 2020, Lucasfilm had first announced early plans to develop a new Disney+ series that would focus on Donald Glover‘s incarnation of Lando Calrissian from “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” An infamous smuggler pilot and card shark turned businessman that first appeared as a former acquaintance of Han Solo in “The Empire Strikes Back.” Affectionally titled “Lando,” there really hasn’t been much in the way of updates on the streaming series until now.

Yesterday, it was revealed by a report from Variety that the show is very much still alive as Lucasfilm has replaced Justin Simien (“Haunted Mansion,” “Dear White People”) after the creative had exited the “Star Wars” spinoff series. They’ve now hired Glover and his brother Stephen Glover (“Swarm,” “Atlanta”) to write the series, which isn’t that entirely shocking since the pair are currently working together over at Amazon as part of the overall deal which includes the upcoming “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” series at Prime.

While there is going to be plenty of speculation of the series being a sequel surrogate to “Solo,” it’s unclear if some or any of those characters will make their grand return to the “Star Wars” universe. The show is expected to mainly focus on Lando’s own adventures and potentially explore how he ends up running Cloud City, an iconic franchise location that is a tibanna gas mining colony on the planet of Bespin.

Given that show is starting with new writers it’s unlikely going to begin shooting anytime soon given the writers’ strike is still ongoing. “Ahsoka” is the next big “Star Wars” show to debut on Disney+ next month on August 23.

SOURCE: VARIETY

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Natasha Liu Bordizzo To Play Sabine Wren In ‘Ahsoka’ Series

In December 2020, it was announced by Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy that they would be giving Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano her own live-action series on Disney+ and Dave Filoni would be writing alongside producing with Jon Favreau.

After making her long-awaited live-action debut in The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano’s story, written by Dave Filoni, will continue in a limited series starring Rosario Dawson and executive produced by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau.

Over the summer it was first revealed by THR that the Star Wars: Rebels character Sabine Wren would join the series.

Now, Dawson is leading a live-action Ahsoka spinoff for Disney+, with sources saying Lucasfilm is looking for an actress to star opposite Dawson as Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren.

Lucasfilm has now found their actress, as Deadline reports that Aussie actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo will play the live-action version of Sabrine Wren. The young actress co-starred with Rogue One’s Donnie Yen and Shang-Chi’s Michelle Yeoh in Netflix’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny back in 2016.

Hayden Christensen is also reportedly back for the upcoming Ahsoka series. The assumption here is that he’ll potentially play the force ghost incarnation of Anakin Skywalker as Ahsoka Tano’s appearance in The Mandalorian took place many years after the death of Darth Vader/Skywalker.

Ahsoka and Anakin have a long-established relationship in the animation side of Star Wars canon as she was the apprentice of Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars before Tano exited the Jedi Order. In Star Wars: Rebels, they were reunited as they came to blows as Skywalker had been transformed into the Sith Lord, Darth Vader.

The beloved Star Wars character was on a mission to find Grand Adrimal Thrawn in her episode of The Mandalorian, which suggests that we’ll be getting live-action incarnations of both Thrawn and Ezra Bridger. Although, actors have yet to be announced by Lucasfilm despite rumblings of certain actors being selected.

Filming isn’t expected to begin until next year which would suggest a 2023 debut on Disney+.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

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‘Star Wars: Rogue Squadron’ Production Reportedly Being Delayed By Lucasfilm

Last December, Lucasfilm announced at the Disney Investors Day presentation that Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins would be helming a new Star Wars movie that was expected to begin shooting next year as pre-production had been moving along and they, later on, hired screenwriter Matthew Robinson to pen the script.

The next Star Wars feature film will be Rogue Squadron — directed by Patty Jenkins (Wonder Woman franchise). The story will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.

The filmmaker had stated to IGN that the project wouldn’t be a direct adaptation of the books or video games, but based on an original idea.

JENKINS: “[In the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron movie] we’re doing something original with great influence from the games and the books. There’s a lot of things being acknowledged and understood about the greatness of all of those things, but yes, it’s an original story and I’m so psyched to do it.”

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Lucasfilm is delaying Rogue Squadron and possibly won’t even start shooting until 2023, Jenkins seemingly hasn’t exited the movie.

While “scheduling issues” are being blamed for the delays, the report doesn’t indicate what project is actually causing problems. Patty Jenkins is attached to direct Gal Gadot in Cleopatra and Wonder Woman 3.

The only problem with that, Gadot is expected to shoot Disney’s Snow White next after landing the Evil Queen part, which suggests that the scheduling issues could be a cover for something else probably that the script not being ready to go into production.

Rogue Squadron had been given a release date of December 22, 2023, and they suggest that date could still be used. Another Star Wars project could swoop in, however, what that could be hasn’t been announced by major trades or Lucasfilm there are multiple things in various stages of development.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

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‘Andor’ Getting A Season 3 & ‘The Acolyte’ Lands Working Title ‘Paradox’

Disney+ Day is coming next week and there is plenty of online speculation regarding what is going to be shown or announced by Lucasfilm for their upcoming string of live-action Star Wars shows for the streaming service that is expected to get a big promotional bump at the event.

Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist mentioned in a recent tweet that Deigo Luna’s prequel series Andor will be getting a third season with showrunner “Tony Gilroy staying on.” We already knew that Andor was going to have 12 episodes shot and expected to be split into two seasons, this would be the second Star Wars show to get a third season alongside The Mandalorian.

Forest Whitaker will reprise the role of Saw Gerrera, which was confirmed earlier in the year via Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, Dune, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo). Whitaker also reprises the role in the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

I’m sure fans are curious if we’ll see characters from Star Wars: Rebels or the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, as someone like Cal Kestis (played by Cameron Monaghan) could be a good fit depending on Lucasfilm’s live-action plans for him.

The rest of the Andor cast includes Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Robert Emms (Chernobyl), Fiona Shaw, and Kyle Soller. 

Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Utopia, Black Mirror) will be directing with a writing team that includes Tony Gilroy (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards), and Stephen Schiff (The Americans).

Andor’s 12-episode run will debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

There is also a tiny production update on The High Republic series, The Acolyte, as the show is said to have the working title of Paradox, as mentioned by The Illuminerdi. The show’s working title is also backed up by Production Weekly.

Adding that a key role is a female character named Aura (possible codename) and production could begin sometime this summer, despite director/directors not being announced.

Lucasfilm has an opportunity to give fans an original story and characters given that this takes place 200 years before the Skywalker Saga, allowing the studio to finally make something new that isn’t beholden to previous films and shows. As stuff like The Mandalorian quickly shrugged off their original angle to bring in existing characters like Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker, Bo-Katan, and Ahsoka Tano becoming more focused on fan service than doing its own thing.

We suspect Lucasfilm will be announcing directors for The Acolyte next week and likely won’t be ready to air on Disney+ until 2023 alongside Ahsoka. There is also an assumption that we’ll get some casting updates on Patty Jenkin’s Star Wars: Rogue Squadron as well.

SOURCE: THE PLAYLIST & THE ILLUMINERDI

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‘The Book Of Boba Fett’: Jennifer Beals From ‘Flashdance’ Confirmed As A Twi’lek Character

Yesterday, Disney and Lucasfilm released the first look trailer for the next live-action Star Wars show, The Book of Boba Fett.  The former bounty hunter has hung up his spurs for a more ambitious adventure, taking over Jabba’s criminal syndicate. A rather large feat given all the criminal scum of the Star Wars underworld looking to bump him off and take his position.

Temuera Morrison (Boba Fett) and Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand) have been the only two cast members identified officially for The Book of Boba Fett, until now as a new actress has been spotted in the footage.

One of the more striking shots was one with two Twi’lek women and it’s been confirmed that actress Jennifer Beals (Flashdance, The Book of Eli) is playing one of them.

https://twitter.com/jenniferbeals/status/1455243614913634306

I’m curious how many other 80s icons are part of the series, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Its directing team is expected to include Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Bryce Dallas-Howard, and Sam Hargrave.

The new series will debut on December 29 on Disney+ and will continue into 2022.

Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and season three of The Mandalorian are other Star Wars shows that are expected to be released next year, giving fans a heap of content ahead of the next film, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron being released in 20223.

“The Book of Boba Fett,” a thrilling Star Wars adventure teased in a surprise end-credit sequence following the Season 2 finale of “The Mandalorian,” finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate. “The Book of Boba Fett” stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen. Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson are the executive producers. Karen Gilchrist and Carrie Beck serve as co-executive producers, with John Bartnicki producing and John Hampian as co-producer.

Posted on in Film News, News

‘Eternals’ Director Chloe Zhao Coyly Muses On Prospect Of Making A ‘Star Wars’ Movie

After winning the Oscar for Best Director, Chloe Zhao will be releasing her big MCU film Eternals next month and during the promotion for the new superhero flick seemingly revealed a desire to explore Star Wars.

While chatting with Empire Magazine’s Al Horner, the filmmaker was aspect about potentially making a Star Wars film after mentioning Star Wars multiple times in the interview.

“Hmmm. I have to tread very carefully with what I say here. [laughs],” the filmmaker said carefully. “Yes. Let’s just say, it’s a world I have so much reverence for because it was such an important part of my life. [laughs].”

Interestingly enough, her wording at the top of the response would suggest previous interactions with Lucasfilm. Could she have already shot something Disney+-related or taken meetings with the studio?

It wouldn’t but like she would be the first Marvel Studios alumni to tackle the Star Wars universe after folks like Jon Favreau, Peyton Reed, and Taika Waititi working on the Disney+ shows. Waititi is attached to make his own movie after Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars: Rogue Squadron and Kevin Feige is producing another pic with screenwriter Michael Waldron (Loki, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness).

I’d personally love to see Zhao jump into the world of Star Wars, but when and where seems to be a question. There could easily be sequels to Eternals and she’s attached to make a sci-fi western Dracula film for Universal Pictures.

Zhao’s Eternals will be released next month on November 5.

ETERNALS – The immortal heroes, the Eternals, came here 7,000 years ago, since the dawn of man, to “protect humans from the Deviants.” Sersi reveals that she hasn’t seen some of the other Eternal teammates for centuries. With the monstrous creatures, the Deviants, long thought lost to history, mysteriously return, Ikaris decides that it’s time for them to “find the others” and defend humanity once again. As the epic story unfolds, Sersi and Ikaris reunite with Kingo (played by Kumail Nanjiani), Sprite (played by Lia McHugh), Gilgamesh (played by Don Lee), Thena (played by Angelina Jolie), Makkari (played by Lauren Ridloff), Phastos (played by Brian Tyree Henry), and Druig (played by Barry Keoghan).

SOURCE: EMPIRE & AL HORNER

Posted on in Film News, News

Andy Serkis Was “Slightly Mortified” By Snoke’s Death In ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

Actor/director Andy Serkis is making the press rounds to help promote his latest directorial effort, Venom: Let There Be Carnage and finally is talking about his experience on Star Wars.

While speaking with geek outlet iO9, the topic predictable turned to Star Wars and specifically the death of his big villain, Supreme Leader Snoke. It was expected that Snoke would become the new Emperor Palpatine and that was cut short, literally, with a death scene in the throne room.

Serkis reveals that he was shocked to find out while reading the Star Wars: The Last Jedi script that his new villain wouldn’t survive the second film, giving the impression he assume Snoke would become a franchise staple or at least stick around for the third film.

“I was devastated when I read that script because it was all going so well. I was like, ‘Man, this is a boss character. I’m going to love playing… what!? You’re kidding me, what?’ I was like ‘Okay, is a good idea? I supposed it is. I was slightly mortified, pardon the pun. It was all in the right, I think. I loved playing that character and I love the face-off scene between Kylo Ren and Rey, and so it was great.”

Serkis also says that he was kept in the dark about the origins of Snoke that were revealed in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which isn’t terribly surprising since there were multiple incarnations of Episode 9 and the Palpatine stuff seemed to be tagged-on once Colin Trevorrow exited.

“The journey towards discovering that he was a Palpatine clone was something that happened during the process because everything was so secret since Force Awakens.”

I personally wasn’t a fan of the return of Palpatine, as they could have made Snoke an immortal entity that has died thousands of time and simply brought him back in The Rise of Skywalker. Oh well.

Luckily, Serkis was doing motion capture work and allows him return to play future characters, if called upon for other film and television projects.

There is an assumption that Andy Serkis, while won’t play Caesar, will be involved in the fourth Planet of The Apes installment from director Wes Ball. The pair almost worked together on Mouse Guard, one of the large budget projects that got killed during the Disney/Fox merger.

SOURCE: iO9

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Lucy Lawless Suggests Cara Dune Recast Campaign Hurt Chances For Different ‘Star Wars’ Role

A while back, there was a call online from Star Wars fans to see the Cara Dune role to continue with New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless (Xena, Battlestar Galactica) taking the part in season three of The Mandalorian (currently filming in California).

However, Lawless alludes to Metro during a chat that the online campaign may have hurt her chances to land another Star Wars role that she had been in discussions for. Although, she won’t name the project other than it’s not The Mandalorian.

“Well to be honest with you, I was already in discussions about something on – it wasn’t The Mandalorian – something Star Wars-affiliated.”

“It might have hurt me in some way, because then they couldn’t hire me because it would seem to be pandering to… I’m just guessing here, I don’t know anything, but in some ways, it can be unhelpful, because if they pander to this fan group, then how are you going to pander to every other fan group, do you know what I mean?”

It doesn’t sound like Lucy Lawless is going to join the Star Wars universe anytime soon, revealing that she might have talks with Lucasfilm for something else would suggest that nothing came together. Normally, we don’t often hear from actors that didn’t land roles so it’s certainly interesting to hear her perspective of a well-meaning online campaign.

As expected since December, The Mandalorian will return to Disney+ in 2022.

SOURCE: METRO

Posted on in News, Television News

‘Andor’: Diego Luna Teases “Familiar Faces” To Appear As The ‘Star Wars’ Series Wraps Filming

Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Book of Boba Fett aren’t the only upcoming Star Wars series wrapping their productions, as Andor star Diego Luna has revealed to Deadline in an interview that they have finished filming on 12-episode Rogue One: A Star Wars Story prequel.

Luna also teased familiar characters from the Star Wars universe showing up in Andor.

“You’ll definitely see familiar faces.”

“I can tell you about this project like no other because I can’t spoil the ending if you’ve seen [Stars Wars: Rogue One] already. No matter what I say, I can’t ruin the ending.”

“While I can’t say much, what I can tell you is that the experience was literally a transformation for me. It’s something that I really wanted to do and that I thought I was not going to be able to do. I’m more than happy.”

Forest Whitaker will reprise the role of Saw Gerrera, which was confirmed earlier in the year via Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard (Thor, Dune, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo). Whitaker also reprises the role in the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

Originally, Alan Tudyk was announced to reprise his role as the smart-mouthed droid K-2SO, but had recently revealed to Collider that he was unlikely going to be involved with Season 1 due to changes made by Tony Gilory when he joined the project and rewriting episodes. He also inadvertently teased Andor would be getting multiple seasons.

TUDYK: “They’re shooting it right now, I’m not in it. But, if it stays on the air, stories keep getting told, I’ll end up in there.I’m going to be in the show. It’s just that the story that Tony [Gilroy] is telling doesn’t involve K-2SO until later on… I can’t be too specific, but I can definitely say that I’m not going to be in the first season.”

It wouldn’t be shocking if we end up seeing other existing characters like Darth Vader or folks from the animation side. I had assumed that Thrawn might be a contender to appear but we’ll have to wait to see if that is happening before the Ahsoka show.

The rest of the Andor cast includes Adria Arjona (Morbius), Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma, Robert Emms (Chernobyl), Fiona Shaw, and Kyle Soller. 

Toby Haynes (Sherlock, Doctor Who, Utopia, Black Mirror) will be directing with a writing team that includes Tony Gilroy (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler), Beau Willimon (House of Cards), and Stephen Schiff (The Americans).

Andor’s 12-episode run will debut on Disney+ sometime in 2022.

SOURCE: DEADLINE