First off: Bad news, Expanded Universe fans—that Mara Jade cameo in Episode IX looks less likely now that her creator, Timothy Zahn, has seemingly dashed hopes that she'll show up in the movie, saying that he's had no heads-up that Lucasfilm plans to use the character. Of course, there's always the possibility that he's playing dumb—or that Lucasfilm hasn't told him anything because he goes public with statements like this more than a year before the movie hits theaters. Everyone will find out in 2019. Now that that's out of the way, what else is happening in a galaxy far, far away? Read on.
The Clone Wars Flare Back Up Without Warning
The Source: An official announcement made at Comic-Con International
Probability of Accuracy: It doesn’t get much more accurate than an official announcement.
The Real Deal: For Star Wars fans, there was no bigger news at Comic-Con than the reveal that Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been revived, with 12 new animated episodes set to debut on Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming service in 2019. "Any opportunity to put the final pieces of the story in place is meaningful as a storyteller," supervising director Dave Filoni told StarWars.com about the revival. "I'm happy for the opportunity to define these things and the end of this part of the Clone War." Does … does this mean a revival for Rebels might be in the cards afterwards? Because that show definitely ended with a kind of notable cliffhanger, all things considered.
Darth Vader’s House Will Get Spooky This Halloween
The Source: Another official announcement made at Comic-Con
Probability of Accuracy: Please see our previous statement about the accuracy of official announcements.
The Real Deal: Another piece of news out of Comic-Con: IDW Publishing will be releasing another Star Wars horror comic this October with a weekly five-part series called Star Wars: Tales from Vader's Castle. (The first foray, in case you're wondering, was last year's "Screaming Citadel" crossover between Doctor Aphra and the core Star Wars title.) Each issue of the all-ages series will be written by Cavan Scott, with art by Derek Charm, although the series as a whole will be a horror anthology featuring characters from all across the mythology, including Hera, Kanan and Chopper from Star Wars Rebels, Han and Chewie, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and, apparently, Ewoks. (We all knew they were a little bit creepy, let’s be honest.)
Marvel Follows the War From Beginning to End
The Source: A third official announcement made at Comic-Con
Probability of Accuracy: Once again: If an official announcement isn’t accurate, someone has made a mistake somewhere.
The Real Deal: IDW wasn't the only comic publisher announcing a major new Star Wars comic series at Comic-Con, though; Marvel did too, announcing the 24-issue "maxi-series" Star Wars: Age of project, which will run across three different eight-issue series: Star Wars: Age of Republic, Star Wars: Age of Rebellion, and Star Wars: Age of Resistance. As the titles suggest, the project will span the three eras shown in the movie trilogies, with one writer heading up each series: Jody Houser will helm Republic, Greg Pak Rebellion and Tom Taylor Resistance, with each issue featuring two stories, spotlighting a hero and villain. A launch date wasn’t announced, but Houser shared on Twitter that the first issue of Age of Republic will feature stories about Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn.
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An Old Face (and Beard) Might Return for Episode IX
The Source: J.J. Abrams' good luck charm, actor Greg Grunberg
Probability of Accuracy: It's certainly entirely accurate that the actor is teasing fans, if nothing else.
The Real Deal: With Star Wars: Episode IX more than a year away, it's far too early to wonder about which characters will make a return for the movie—well, aside from Lando, obviously. That said, Greg Grunberg dropped a few hints in a recent interview that he's preparing to return as Snap Wexley in J.J. Abrams' second Star Wars outing. “I can't officially say anything, but this [beard] is getting itchy, and I’m getting itchy to go over there and do it," he told Yahoo Entertainment in what might be the least subtle tease of what's to come known to media professionals. On the plus side, if Snap’s back, does that mean that the rest of Poe's Black Squadron will be showing up as well?
The Finished Version of Rogue One Was Missing Some Iconic Words
The Source: The original screenwriter of Rogue One
Probability of Accuracy: Only Gary Whitta knows for sure—well, Greg and whoever else saw the original draft of the screenplay, presumably.
The Real Deal: Let’s cast our minds back to 2016, and the surprise that met many a fan when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story started without the traditional Star Wars opening crawl. Heresy? Some believed so, and that it was a step too far away from tradition for the standalone Story series. Turns out, that wasn't always going to be the case, as screenwriter Gary Whitta revealed on Twitter:
The same number of words as the crawl form A New Hope is either a wonderful attempt to prove nerd cred, or the kind of boast that will drive some people mad wondering a) how many words the original crawl has and b) where they’ll be able to find the lost Rogue One crawl. (Note to those people: You’ll most likely never find it. Consider it a writing exercise to come up with your own.)