STAR WARS Holonet Weekly: Politics, Series Additions, and How To Get Your Kids Addicted
Some small talk this week for the small screen galaxy. Politician secrets, additions to the live actions and a new way to get your kids hooked on your favorite franchise. Let’s see what we’ve got.
The only time we like getting political is when we want to talk about Senator Palpatine. But in this case, we’re going focus on a comment from a politician in our system. During a speech by British Conservative Politician Boris Johnson at a Democratic Union Party Conference, a little spark of hope has been made that the Obi-Wan Kenobi film could still happen….at some point. He states, “We have more Nobel prizes from one Cambridge college than from Russia and China combined. By far the most dynamic creative culture and media industries. Which was the biggest grossing movie last year? Star Wars; and where does George Lucas propose to make a follow-up about Obi-Wan Kenobi? Northern Ireland.” Now we know a few months ago, Disney and Lucasfilm announced they were not going to move forward with any more stand-alone films. But then it was reported that Lucas himself visited a Belfast studio. Not much has been said since (well, except this) but it could be under wraps. Plus, maybe Mr. Johnson knows something the public doesn’t since the studio would have to receive permission to film there from the government.
But let’s move away from rumors and talk about some more solid announcements, like the casting of Nick Nolte in the upcoming Jon Favreau live action series, The Mandalorian. Yup, Variety has confirmed the news, and much like with Pedro Pascal and Gina Carano’s characters, no details were released about his.
Moving from speculation to a casting confirmed by sources on set is Carl Weathers, known for roles in Rocky and Predator. Rumors of him joining the cast started when he was a guest on the Making Star Wars podcast, “Now, This is Podcasting” Episode 248. Since his conversation with them about some possible involvement, they have managed to get a “firm and reliable confirmation” that he is involved and has already shot several scenes. But again, nothing on his character or any images of him working. The only images of people working on set is of Jon Favreau with fellow directors Taika Waititi, Anthony and Joe Russo, and Petyon Reed. Guess that will have to do for now.
Things are also moving along with Disney’s other live action series, the Rogue One prequel. This week Stephen Schiff was announced as the show runner. He just finished a five-year run on the FX drama series The Americans, which he joined in their second season, eventually becoming the executive producer and having two best drama Emmy nominations for the show. Schiff started his work in feature films, writing/co-writing movies like Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Deep End of the Ocean, and more recently, American Assassin.
Moving away from live action, Disney announced new Star Wars content for children. Their newest venture is called Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures, featuring animated shorts about many of our favorite characters. James Waugh, Lucasfilm’s VP for franchise content and strategy, told StarsWars.com they wanted to “craft something that allowed parents to help their kids take their first step into a much larger world whether they were ready to show their kids the films or wanted to find new ways to explore the content.” The first six shorts debuted on the all new StarWarsKids.com and Star Wars Kids YouTube channel on November 30, combining original dialogue, music, and sound effects with new animation, and fun educational add-ons to help the older generation introduce the younger generation to the galaxy. More shorts will debut in December with more throughout 2019.
That’s a wrap for this week. Look for us next week for the happenings around our favorite galaxy!
