It’s been so long since we’ve last seen Luke Skywalker. Sure we saw a bit of him at the end of The Force Awakens but that brief encounter doesn’t really tell us anything. A new cover for a magazine featuring Mark Hamill as the iconic Skywalker gives us a glimpse of a changed man. Luke in an all-black ensemble with red light shining on him has people talking about the lengths the Jedi Knight has changed.
Just in time for Force Friday II, when merch for the upcoming Star Wars film comes out, Disney together with Sphero unveiled new droids we’ve definitely been looking for. One is a tiny incarnation of R2-D2 (at least that’s what it looks like to us based on the video) and another is what Hollywood Reportercalls the evil twin trope incarnation of Star Wars: The Force Awakens’s BB-8. Called BB-9E (or if Star Wars:The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson had his way, BB-H8), the new droid will be debuting in the Dec. 15 film as part of the Astromech unit of the First Order. BB-9E helps keep the starships and machinery running. The toy itself is being called a “rolling menace” and you see it toppling a Jenga tower in the video above.
The BB-9E is almost identical to BB-8, down to the markings on the body, but this time it comes in black and gray and has a more angular head and a red-eye, making it look similar to Darth Vader with his helmet on. The BB-9E will be available for US$149.99 (around CA$190), while if you’re more interested in R2-D2, the iconic droid goes for US$179.99 (around CA$220).
It’s not exactly a new rumour, but with the untitled Han Solo film now in its final stages, it seems the fixation is moving towards the other possible standalone movies from the Star Wars universe. And the rumour mill this time is saying a solo Obi-Wan Kenobi movie might be in the works, or at least in its very early stages. The Hollywood Reporter claims Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry might be taking the helm for this project. The director behind Billy Elliot and The Hours is reportedly in early talks with Lucasfilm to have him oversee the development and writing of the film.
Lucasfilm has been planning to release more standalone films and it isn’t an unusual thought that we’d get an Obi-Wan film, especially with Alec Guinness even getting an Oscar nomination for taking on the role in the original trilogy. Ewan McGregor took on the role in the prequels. But if they want to take a look at a younger Obi-Wan, he might not be able to reprise the role. We’d just have to wait and see. The wait might be a while, though.
It’s not unusual for a film this early in its pre-production to get some additional help. For the 2019 release of Star Wars: Episode 9, the film’s script is getting a rewrite. The first draft of the film was co-written by the film’s director Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly. Lucasfilm seems to have been happy with the progress made so far ahead of the May 2019 release. But with Trevorrow hoping to start filming in January 2018, it gives themaround five months to get all the pre-prod stuff done. Apparently, one of the things they want to do is give the script a once-over. Screenwriter Jack Thorne is supposedly coming on board to work on the script. He’s worked on things like Skins, National Treasure, and BBC’s His Dark Materials adaptation, among others.
It isn’t known how much Thorne has to do on the screenplay but with production schedule seemingly still the same, it might just mean that Thorne is coming on as a script doctor and reading over what’s been done and making edits where needed.
Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 10:03PM 
