Everything You Missed at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2022!

In case you missed it, Star Wars Celebration took place over May 26th - May 29th at the Anaheim Convention Center, and there was no shortage of news! From books to comics to The High Republic to live action and more, there was a lot to keep track of. Not to mention Youtini’s first presence at Celebration! We’re here to break down all the news for you so you don’t miss a thing. 

‍Lucasfilm Studio Showcase

To say that there were major reveals in this panel is an understatement. The sheer number of celebrities and Star Wars big-wigs was insane. We won’t recap the entire panel here, but it’s worth it just to see who showed up! If you want a play-by-play, check out our live tweet thread.

Now, for the actual news that came out of the panel! We got a bunch of details on the upcoming live action show Andor. It will be at least two seasons made up of twelve episodes each, with the first season airing on August 31, 2022! The show takes place around five years before Rogue One, and Cassian’s character will be quite different from the man we saw in the film. They also showed a teaser trailer!‍

A new show was also announced during this panel! Skeleton Crew will be a live action show directed by Jon Watts and Christopher Ford. It will star Jude Law, despite the premise focusing on a group of children lost in the Star Wars universe. 

This isn’t news, but it’s worth mentioning anyway! The maestro John Williams went on stage to conduct the first ever live performance of Obi-Wan’s theme from the new show. He also conducted the Indiana Jones theme. Why is this important you may ask? Because Harrison Ford joined Williams on stage shortly thereafter! He wished Williams a happy birthday, and announced the release date for the next Indiana Jones film: June 30, 2023. The panel ended with William’s conducting the Imperial March. It was quite a treat! 

‍Lucasfilm Publishing Panel

The Lucasfilm publishing panel on Thursday gave us a few reveals, including one from The High Republic: a new in-universe book about the Jedi called Chronicles of the Jedi by Cole Horton. It was teased that the book will have information about Phase II and maybe Phase III if you pay close enough attention. A very non-specific and vague tease that came out of this panel was that E.K. Johnston, Cavan Scott, Delilah S. Dawson, and Rodney Barnes are all working on secret projects. What does this mean? Hopefully we’ll find out soon! Keep your eye on this space, because we’ll share any news as soon as it breaks. The last slide they showed at the panel showed many images with the text: “Coming soon to a galaxy near you… ?” 

The images showed the following characters: Rae Sloane, Dexter Jettster, Max Rebo, General Veers, Jaxxon, Sabé, The Grand Inquisitor (from Dark Legends), Sana Starros, Constable Zuvio, Fode and Beed, Dash Rendar, DJ R-3X, Therm Scissorpunch, B1 battle droids (from the Battle of Naboo), Chewbacca (in Life Day garb), Qi’Ra, a Scout Trooper, Anakin’s Podracer, Magna Tolvan, Ewoks, and Grand Moff Tarkin. Will all of these characters appear in upcoming projects? According to the panelists, no, they will not. Some may show up, and others certainly will not show up. Which gives us book fans a lot to mull over until we get new books announced! 

In terms of comics, Amanda Deibert discussed her new Dark Horse series Hyperspace Stories and showed some early art from Lucas Marangon. At the same panel, Cavan Scott discussed his upcoming Dark Horse miniseries Tales from the Rancor Pit and showed some interior art from Nick Brokenshire. He revealed that The High Republic’s Ty Yorrick will be present in the story. 

‍The High Republic Panel

The High Republic panel also took place on Thursday. It was livestreamed, so if you’d like to watch the whole thing, you can do so!

A ton of concept art for Phase II was revealed as well. First to be revealed were Chancellors Greylark and Mollo. Greylark is more focused on expansion, while Mollo is more focused on the Core. 

Next to be revealed were the Pathfinders. This group shows the teamwork of the Jedi and the Republic working together during this period of discovery and expansion. 

Another concept art reveal was of the Communications Team. Their role is to help messages get from one place to another in a time where communication beacons didn’t exist. They essentially make up the only communication infrastructure in the galaxy, so they play a very important role in the story. 

You can’t have The High Republic without Jedi, so naturally the next concept art revealed two new Jedi: Matty and Oliviah, who are based on Jedha. Speaking of Jedi, Master Arkoff (from The Edge of Balance) is back! The concept art reveal confirms new Manga in Phase II.

The next concept art is actually by Daniel José Older himself! It depicts the Dank Graks, who will be featured in the Dark Horse comic series. He said that while they may look funny, they are MEAN. 

Justina Ireland was in charge of the next couple of reveals! The Mother, who leads a new organization. Ireland told us that her mantra is “the Force will be free.” The last concept art reveal was of The Herald, a Nautolan who looks like he’s been through some rough times. He runs some administrative business for The Mother’s organization.

That was a LOT of concept art reveals! But that wasn’t the only thing they brought to show off. Next up was new cover reveals! First to be revealed was the work in progress cover for the adult novel Convergence by Zoraida Córdova. The middle grade novel Quest for the Hidden City by George Mann also got a cover reveal. Also by George Mann, a comic miniseries from Dark Horse called The Nameless Terror got a cover of its own. The last cover reveal was for the main High Republic comic from Marvel by Cavan Scott with art by Ario Anindito.

While that’s a lot of news as it is, they had even more up their sleeves! They left us with new project announcements. First announced was The Blade, a comic miniseries from Marvel by Charles Soule, all about Porter Engle!

The next project revealed was yet another project from George Mann, an audio drama called The Battle of Jedha.

The last announcement was three books from Wave II of Phase II: the adult novel Cataclysm by Lydia Kang, the middle grade novel Quest for Planet X by Tessa Gratton, and the young adult novel Path of Vengeance by Cavan Scott. These three books don’t have any official covers yet, but getting actual titles announced for the Wave II despite the Wave I not having even been published yet was quite the surprise! 

They couldn’t leave it at that, though. They gave us two more pieces of concept art, some of the most disturbing art known to mankind: the Nameless and the Leveler. Shivers went through the entire crowd, and for good reason! 

Mando+ Panel

The title of this panel is slightly misleading: it’s not just about Mando! Although we did kick off the panel with some news about the third season of The Mandalorian. Rick Famuyiwa will return as a director, but will also be executive producing this season! The footage that was also shown at the Lucasfilm Studio Showcase panel played, with an additional clip at the end. 

Then, discussion surrounding Ahsoka began! Let’s just say that the stars alone gave away some reveals: obviously Rosario Dawson was there as the titular Ahsoka, but then came the surprises: Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren (yes, THAT Sabine), and the anamatronic version of Chopper (yes, THAT Chopper)! Just as we’re all losing our minds, they show exclusive footage! We saw The Ghost (yes, THAT Ghost), and the back of a green Twi’lek with an orange jumpsuit, which can only mean one thing: Hera (yes, THAT Hera)! So, needless to say this panel was absolutely wild! Closing the panel were the dates for both shows: sometime in 2023. 

Tales of the Jedi Panel

Tales of the Jedi is a new animated anthology series from Dave Filoni. It’s going to be six episodes: half about Ahsoka Tano, and the other half about Jedi Dooku.

The Dooku episodes will feature a young Qui-Gon Jinn, voiced by Liam Neeson’s son. The Ahsoka episodes will show Ahsoka’s mother, voiced by Janina Gavankar (Iden Versio). They showed an entire Ahsoka-centric episode at the panel, as well as a full trailer. It streams this Fall. 

If you want to read about every little detail from the panel, Youtini has a live tweet thread!

‍Marvel Comics Panel

The all-star panel of comics authors gave us many a sneak peak at some upcoming issues. But the big news came in announcements and hints at where series are going. Obi-Wan has four issues remaining, and author Christopher Cantwell broke down their themes: issue two is a haunted house story, issue three is a war story, issue four is a story about the costs of war, and issue five is a western story.

A new series was also announced! Star Wars: Yoda will start in October 2022. It will consist of a trilogy of trilogies (three sets of three issues) written and drawn by the following teams: Cavan Scott and Nico Leon, Jody Houser and Luke Ross, and Marc Guggenheim and Alessandro Miracolo.

The last announcement was of a Visions related project. No other specifics were given other than that it will be an original story and not an adaptation.

The Bad Batch Season 2 Panel

This panel had many great reveals about the upcoming season of The Bad Batch! New art was shown that gave us a look at the Batch’s new look. A poster was revealed for the season as well! The panel audience got to watch a clip from season two, which suggests some time has passed since the last episode. We also got a trailer that had some exciting teases! The second season of The Bad Batch streams Fall 2022.

We hosted our very own panel as well. It was called “Exploring the Universe: The Books and Comics of Star Wars”, all about the history of Star Wars books and comics, where to start if you haven’t already, and some themes underlying many titles as well.