Ahsoka’s Untold Tales
Dave Filoni and Ashley Eckstein talked about the story arc that was to be told in the Clone Wars series. But, the biggest news spinning out of it was that the character will be back in Star Wars Rebels’ third season. At the end of the second season, a battle with Darth Vader left Ahsoka’s fate undetermined. It was not said if she will be alive or not in the third season, but she will be appearing in some way.
Rogue One
The main panel of the day was of Rogue One – the upcoming stand alone film that has been highly anticipated. Before the panel began, a moment of silence was taken for the attacks in Nice, France. Several French citizens in the audience broke out into the national French anthem to applause from the rest of the audience. It was a nice heart felt nod to recognizing the support that Star Wars fans have for each other.
When the presentation, hosted by Gwendoline Christie, truly began, the famous Episode IV text crawl was shown. When it got to the part that mentions a group that has stolen the death star fans, the crawl begins to have static. Radio messages play over each other at this point. And, that infamous siren begins to sound off. Then, Gareth Edwards, Kathleen Kennedy and others took to the stage.
Rogue One spun out of developing a live action television series. But, the concept of the Death Star plans being stolen didn’t fit with the era of tales being told. So, a movie was pitched.
Concept art included early illustrations of the team, which at one point featured a green and red alien, a protocol droid, and the rest humanoids.
Gareth Edwards springs a couple surprises which include the new poster. Later, a special clip with a montage of behind the scenes and film scenes was shown. The impression? There’s going to be a lot of action in the film. The last words spoken by Jyn Erso is “May the force be with us.” This is definitely a Star Wars film.
After the clip, the first toy reveal from the film was in the form of giving the Jyn Erso action figure to Felicity Jones. Jones explained that Erso is a different hero than the other main heroes in the past Star Wars films. Luke and Rey have not known who they are at the beginning of their films, and Jyn Erso knows who she is and what she wants.
Diego Luna explained that his character, Captain Andor, has a best friend in the form of a droid named K-2SO, played by Alan Tudyk. He’s a former Imperial droid that had his data wiped and reprogrammed, so he’s “not all there.” Tudyk says upon meeting Anthony Daniels, Daniels was a bit jealous that Tudyk didn’t have to have a suit to play a droid (also meaning that K-2SO is cgi).
Jedha, a crucial planet, is shown. It’s where a few members of the team are recruited. It’s said that Baze Malbus and Chirrut Imwe have possible ties to the force – at least believing in it. Then it was onto Forrest Whitaker, and it was confirmed that his character was first seen in the Clone Wars television series. His character, Saw Gerrera, leads a guerrilla rebel group that takes things to the extreme. Galen Erso, played by Mads Mikkelsen, is confirmed to be Jyn’s father. Ben Mendelsohn, who 
plays Director Orson Krennic, joined the cast on stage. He talks about how his character is unlike other villains and is a bit smarter than other typical director-type villains. Then, a great confirmation in that Darth Vader will be in Rogue One! James Earl Jones has even recorded the dialogue for the iconic character.
Director Gareth Edwards talked a lot about making the film. He talked about filming in a “tube stop” in London where they had to do it in secret and when no one else was there. They were able to set dress and film in 4 hours. Edwards kept talking about how much he loves Star wars and wanted to make a film. He geeked out over meeting Mark Hamill on the set of Force Awakens.
At the end of the panel, Christie took a selfie with the cast and crew on the stage, and Kennedy fired up the sizzle reel again.
