star wars

The news that Ron Howard would take the directorial reins on Han Solo from Chris Miller and Phil Lord was met with a mixed reception by the ardent Star Wars fanbase. Some remembered Howard as the director behind Apollo 13, a movie partially set in outer space (the same location as much of Han Solo, presumably!), and figured he’d be right for the job. Others had fresher recollections of Ron Howard’s Inferno, a.k.a. Bad Tom Hanks Hairpiece 3, and expressed some misgivings. But today, one ardent supporter of Howard‘s has made a statement from the shadows on why he’s a perfect fit for the franchise, though he may have some rubbery, alien skin in the game.

When you’re part of a giant franchise, there are going to be toys of you. That’s just how these things tend to work. Star Wars is in a realm all of its own, with toys ranging from giant Star Destroyer LEGO sets to Elan Sleazebaggano action figures, and, naturally, the stars of the franchise have their favorites and least-favorites. Mark Hamill recently shared his opinion on what he thinks is the worst Luke Skywalker toy, and it’s quite a doozy.

Earlier this week, we learned that Colin Trevorrow had asked for a small favor from Rian Johnson, director of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. While the exact nature of the thing remains a mystery, we do know that it’s a small moment in a scene that will probably make sense once Trevorrow’s Episode IX comes out.

It wouldn’t be a Star Wars movie without a few bizarre looking space creatures to remind us all that humans aren’t the only people running around in this faraway galaxy. And as we journey to a new planet, Ahch-to (bless you), we’re sure to meet at least one mysterious beastie lumbering around the planet’s surface. Today brings an image — an artist’s rendering, not a photo from the actual movie — of one of these new creatures Rey and Luke might meet during their journey.

The owner of the largest privately-owned Star Wars memorabilia collection in the world, known as Rancho Obi-Wan, has announced today that it has been systematically robbed over a period of many months from 2015 to 2016. Steve Sansweet, who offers tours of the ranch and its many pieces of Star Wars history, says that not only do the items taken make up about $200,000, it appears to be an inside job.

The Star Wars saga might end with Episode IX, coming out in 2019, but Lucasfilm has already been hard at work expanding the universe and planning for more Star Wars and Star Wars-adjacent movies far, far into the future. We’ve already gotten Rogue One, which occurred, chronologically, somewhere between the prequels and the original trilogy, and focused on a group of small characters who turned the tide of the war whose names we might never had known. Then, we’ll get the Han Solo spinoff, something of a prequel in its own right, in summer 2018. But what’s next after that? Kathleen Kennedy says we’ll know in about a month.

For those who engage in it, speculating on the significance of obscure clues in the Star Wars universe has gone beyond a hobby and grown into a way of life. Even something as simple as a three-word phrase — one word of which is “the” — can spark months of obsessive investigation. And while George Lucas’ disciples will have to wait until December to finally learn the identity of The Last Jedi’s title figure, that has not stopped the dogged gumshoes of Vanity Fair from pumping key figures for information.

When Lucasfilm initially announced Star Wars: Episode IX, the tentative plan was to release it in theaters on May 23, 2019 — that date was never confirmed, however, and when the studio shifted their releases to December (with the exception of the young Han Solo spinoff), everyone just assumed that it was only a matter of time before Episode IX’s release date was changed, too. That’s definitely not the case, as Disney and Lucasfilm have announced a metric Jabba-ton of new release dates, officially confirming the final film in their Star Wars trilogy for May 24, 2019.

For a franchise about slightly sketchy space crooks and intergalactic military types, the Star Wars films are almost conspicuously free of profanity. It makes sense from a business perspective — keeping the series PG-13 ensures that it’ll be open to a wider array of viewers — and yet the absence of cussing feels especially noticeable in a movie starring the famously coarse-tongued Carrie Fisher. The closest the series came to a four-letter word was Han Solo getting dissed as a “scruffy nerf-herder,” but a recently discovered cache of lost footage from the original 1977 Star Wars is going to change all that in short order.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars, Lucasfilm’s Force for Change has partnered with Omaze for a huge charity drive commemorating the past, present and future of the franchise. That future includes Phil Lord and Chris Miller’s (still untitled) young Han Solo spinoff, which is still lightyears (OK, months) away from release, so it’ll quite a while before we see a teaser. But with Force for Change heading into hyper-drive, we can expect more videos like the one above, in which Star Wars vet Warwick Davis drops in on Lord and Miller’s set and gives us a special sneak peek at a new alien character.

Walt Disney World and Disneyland already have a few Star Wars-based attractions, including the Star Wars Launch Bay, where you can interact with characters from the movies like BB-8, and Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, a simulator ride that brings guests on a journey at lightspeed through various corners of the galaxy far, far away. But that’s nothing compared to what’s coming: A full “Star Wars Land” coming to theme parks on both coasts, which will boast some of the most advanced theme-park technology to date.

Who among us hasn't dreamed of flying the Millennium Falcon or a TIE Fighter high in the sky above the rest of the walking world? While that's not technically possible (yet), that hasn't stopped a devoted bunch of Star Wars car junkies from doing everything they can to get as close to that fantasy as possible. Dubbed the Road Squadron at Star Wars Celebration, these custom cars and motorcycles will make you wish you had one of these sweet rides to call your own.