Star Wars Celebration Japan is just weeks away, and we finally have the full schedule. We speculated before what we might see when we only knew about the four big panels. Now, let's dive into what to look out for at Star Wars' biggest party of the year, which is on April 18-20.
Let's break down Star Wars Celebration Japan's schedule.
Friday April 18
The big panel this day is The Mandalorian & Grogu panel which will feature Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni. On StarWars.com, they specifically say there will be a sneak peek, so that's exciting to speculate on what it might be!
The other big one is the Lucasfilm Animation’s 20th Anniversary, which Filoni will sit with Vice President of Animation Production Athena Portillo to look back on two decades of Lucasfilm Animation. Most notable, StarWars.com specifically says they will be teasing what's coming in the future. I hope we get to see what the next animated series will be.
Other highlights from Friday include the Hasbro panel where the latest announcements for The Black Series and other action figures will be featured. A deep dive into the documentary Light & Magic will be the focus of a panel in the lead up to Season 2. Star Wars: Visions Season 1 and 2 will have a special screening with surprises teased.
There will be multiple Lucasfilm Publishing panels. The first is Manga Mania! We recently heard of a sequel trilogy era manga called Star Wars: Path of the Lightsaber announced back in January, where they specifically said we would get more details about this title at Celebration. The other publishing panel will focus on The High Republic grand finale as well as new titles from the prequels, sequels, and more from across all of Star Wars.
Saturday April 19
Andor and Ahsoka have their panels on Saturday. For the first, Tony Gilroy, Diego Luna, and the cast will give a sneak peek of Season 2, which will premiere days later. The Ahsoka panel will be interesting since filming for Season 2 hasn't begun yet. I suspect this may be Rory McCann's formal introduction as Baylan Skoll, stepping into the role after the passing of Ray Stevenson.
Another to look out for is A Conversation with Oscar Isaac, where the actor will look back on The Force Awakens for the 10 year anniversary. There is speculation that he might announce that he's joining the upcoming Rey Skywalker movie, but I suspect is will just be focused on the anniversary. Regardless, Oscar Isaac is always a delight and sometimes we just need to scream about him.
The other is the Bit Reactor Developer Panel featuring Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games, where they will dive into an upcoming new turn-base tactics game that will be announced.
Sunday April 20
Star Wars: Visions Season 3 is the big panel for Sunday. With the third season returning to Japan with several of the Season 1 studios making a comeback, the sneak peek for this outing is going to be a lot of fun. Perhaps we'll see fan favorite stories continued?
The Japan Closing Ceremony will also be interesting to watch. It's here where they will announce the location of the next Celebration, which will more than likely be for the 50th anniversary of A New Hope. It's going to be a big deal (I bet it will be back in California but that's my guess). Sometimes a few extra surprises are slid into the closing ceremony as well, so we'll keep an eye out.
These are the big takeaways from the Celebration schedule, but we'll keep you up to date on breaking news here at Dork Side of the Force! Star Wars Celebration Japan is April 18-20.