Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2020: Five early panel predictions
Now that Star Wars Celebration 2019 is wrapped up, and we’ve had time to digest everything that came from those four glorious days, our collective attentions can turn to the future.
Time waits for no man, and nor should our focus. Amidst the slew of new announcements, such as learning the true title of Star Wars: Episode IX, the final day revealed the next Celebration weekend would take place a lot closer than you might expect.
Anaheim will play host to the 2020 edition of Star Wars Celebration, some five years after it held the pre-The Force Awakens event. While the motivations for doing such are clear (Galaxy’s Edge will be in full flow come 2020, and where do you think Disneyland is based?), the notion of holding one in a traditional off-year isn’t such.
More from Star Wars Celebration
- Diary of a first-time Star Wars Celebration attendee
- Every Star Wars project still in development
- The opening crawl is coming back to Star Wars movies
- Dave Filoni consulted Heir To The Empire author about Thrawn
- New Ahsoka trailer reveals live-action Thrawn
So, it does get you thinking, what secrets and surprises are in store for Celebration goers in 2020? Allow me to take it upon myself to recklessly speculate.
Future Filmmakers Panel
At Celebration Europe in 2016, the London audience had their experience rounded off with a panel detailing tidbits from the major players involved in The Last Jedi and Solo. Prior to Celebration Chicago, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated, while Star Wars films are in production, they have nothing to formally announce at this time. What a perfect time, then, to formally unveil the future cinematic Star Wars projects for 2021 and beyond.
We already know that Game of Thrones showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, are slated to a series of films, allegedly set in the Old Republic-era of the timeline. We’ve also had several re-confirmations from Rian Johnson that he is set to return to the series once his time with Knives Out is up. Expect all three directors, Kathleen Kennedy, and a handful of, by then, announced cast members on stage to discuss what the future holds for the series.
The Mandalorian. Photo credit: Lucasfilm
The Mandalorian
One of the highlights of SWCC, for a lot of people, was The Mandalorian panel. Unlike other panels, which acted in an Q& A manner, The Mandalorian had co-creator Jon Favreau, executive producer Dave Filoni, actors Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, and Carl Weathers, sit behind a table, just chatting. Every now and then, Favreau would pull up some concept art, or some footage of the Razor Crest being made as a model, but the laid back nature of the panel just felt different to the others.
I imagine that magic will want to be recaptured. The Mandalorian is expected to be renewed for a second season, which makes sense given its prominence in the early promotion for Disney+. Expect updates, trailers, clips, the works.
Cassian Andor
We’re aware that, as part of the Disney+ push, a second live-action series in the Star Wars universe has been commissioned. The extent of our knowledge of the currently untitled series is that it will be based on the life of Rogue One’s Cassian Andor and K-2SO will be in it. We don’t even know how far along the production line the series is.
I suspect Celebration 2020 is where we’ll see the Cassian adventures formally unveiled. In a similar manner to The Mandalorian’s 2019 panel, expect the main cast to give context to the series, and maybe even a trailer to build the hype for the show, heading into its likely 2020 release.
Star Wars EA
The panel for Respawn Entertainment’s Jedi: Fallen Order was incredibly well received. Confirming the game would be exclusively single player, and would not include any micro-transactions whatsoever, was something a lot of Star Wars fans greatly appreciated following the Battlefront 2 debacle in 2017.
EA will likely want to ride on the wave of goodwill the titles November 2019 release will bring by showing off some further titles. An EA Vancouver open world title was cancelled in January 2019, which, itself, was being made from the assets of a cancelled open world game by Visceral Games. Eurogamer reported EA had opted to have their studios work on smaller titles, with a view to release in 2020.
A new generation of consoles rumored to be released in the back end of 2020. This, as well as the continued success of the current generation systems, would suggest EA is finally ready to maximize the output of the Star Wars license.
Image via Lucasfilm
Rebels
The Rebels Remembered panel was a particular treat for fans, in that it gave those who had grown attached to the second Disney animated series an additional bout of joy. The hour long panel was an outpouring of love and appreciation for a series that stepped into the void once left by The Clone Wars. Its finale in 2018 offered an sense of ending for many of the shows characters, yet questions remain unanswered over a year later.
I suspect that’s about to change. I predict, once the final season of The Clone Wars is wrapped, Filoni and his team will set about one final run with Rebels, with a full announcement at Celebration 2020.
The Ghost crew were left enough ends untied to flesh out at least a season. A definitive look at Ezra and Thrawn’s fate, Ahsoka and Sabine’s search for the pair, and Hera’s journey through motherhood, would offer a sense of closure the finale couldn’t.
dark. Next. The Mandalorian: 4 things we learned from the preview clip
What do you hope for Celebration 2020 in Anaheim? Are you planning on heading down? Let us know in the comments!