May 7, 2025 • 36 mins
Hello there, Star Wars fans, and welcome back for Episode 243!
In this episode, we're breaking down all the major headlines from Star Wars Celebration 2025 in Japan.
- The Mandalorian & Grogu movie hits cinemas May 22, 2026
- New animated series, Maul: Shadow Lord, coming in 2026
- Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, is set for May 2027
- Star Wars: Visions Season 3 drops October 29, 2025
- No date yet for Ahsoka Season 2, but Rory McCann takes over as Baylan Skoll and Hayden Christensen returns
- Films from Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, James Mangold, Taika Waititi, and a Simon Kinberg trilogy are still apparently in development
- Smugglers Run at Disney parks gets new Mando and Grogu mission
- Star Wars: Outlaws DLC A Pirate’s Fortune lands May 15, featuring Hondo Ohnaka
- Hasbro reveals new figures: Dash Rendar, Cal Kestis, Moff Gideon, Cobb Vanth
- Celebration returns to Anaheim in 2027 for the 50th anniversary of A New Hope
About Spark of Rebellion:
This is Spark of Rebellion, the weekly Star Wars podcast for casual fans and veterans alike.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:14):
Hello there and welcome toSpark of Rebellion. We are back for
episode 243 and our recap ofStar Wars Celebration Japan 2025.
Hope you're keeping safe andwell. Hope you've done something
Star Warsy for the time thatwe've been away. Feels like a long
(00:38):
time. You've not have tolisten to our waffle. Same time feels
like yesterday. Maybe you'vegone through the back catalog, maybe
you've checked out some SoRcontent. If so, then welcome aboard
and those of you that havelistened to us for years, then welcome
back as well. Now we're goingto be running through the key headlines
of Celebration, about half adozen things to go through and we'll
just give you our thoughts ondid we think, did we have massive
(01:01):
FOMO not being there or did wethink it's a bit meh this one compared
to London we went to a coupleyears ago. And then a bit of a look
forward to Star warscelebration returning in 2027 because
that'll be a very big year forStar wars with the old 50th of a
new hope and all that stuff.So a big one. And before we get on
(01:21):
to all that stuff, as I said,thank you very much. Make sure you
are following or subscribingto this podcast so you don't miss
an episode announcement. Aswe're seasonal now, we're not going
to be doing every week but wewill be back in chunks to give you
our thoughts on Disney plus TVseries. When that lands we've got
andor coming up soon ourreview of that when Ahsoka lands
we'll do that and then thefilms etc. So you can do that in
(01:44):
your favor. Just do a searchfor Spark of Rebellion or head over
to sparkofrebellion.com listenyou can find all the links there.
We're also on the socials samewebsite, head over to there. We chat
Star wars, we post little cooltidbits every every few days about
Star Wars. So hop in there andchat with us on that and and if you've
got a second to leave us areview. If you like the podcast you
(02:06):
can do that on Apple Podcastspodchaser.com goodpods all that stuff.
Come and get involved overthere and if you want to lobber some
beer money you can do thatover@sparkofrebellion.com support
and thank you very much tothose of you that subscribe to the
podcast and have given us aFair few pints over the years. Thank
you very much for that. Myname's Garry. As I said, I'm one
(02:28):
of your co hosts. And let'sbring on my other co host. It's.
It's Palpatine's favoritechambermaid. It's Mark Asquith. How
you doing, dude?
I am good, mate. And to quoteTony Stark, oh, it's good to be back.
I've missed doing it. I'vemissed doing this. But then I like
(02:50):
that it's seasonal because shesort of got this fire for it, haven't
you? You've got this kind of.This kind of vibe for it. So. Yeah,
man. No, I'm all right, I'mall right. I'm golden. Like C3 pure.
Apart from that leg.
Weird that in it. Yeah, yeah,I'm good, man. I'm good. It's exactly
the same as you. I think it'sgood to have a bit of a break, a
(03:10):
bit of a breather on the oldStar wars stuff because we were getting
to the point where it waslike, what the are we going to talk
about?
This was the same old stuff,wasn't it? Was like, there may be
a movie, there may not be amovie. Guess what? There's movement
on this movie. And themovement is that there's movement
until next week. We'll sit there.
(03:31):
Exactly that. Yeah. So it wasgood to take a wee break, watch some.
Some Star wars in your owntime, play a game, all that stuff,
and reconvene on Spark Off.
Reconvene. Have you done anyStar wars bits?
I've played a little bit moreStar Wars Outlaws. There was the
first. The first DLC pack forthat was out at the same time as
(03:56):
the. Sorry. Just after thegame had sort of wrapped up all of
its main content stuff andthat was with. With Lando Calrissian's
character and that stuff, andthen wanted to get that done and
out the. Because shortly we'vegot the second DLC that's going to
land, which we'll come on toin a second. So, yeah, a bit of that
and not much else, to behonest with you. I've plowed through
(04:19):
a ton of books that were inthe backlog while I was reading Star
wars books like a few monthsago when we did our last episode.
So, yeah, just. Actually, no,I've watched a bit of. A bit of the
Clone wars as well. Justdipped into that one. I've had like
a spare hour or so. So, yeah,little bit. Not too much about you,
dude.
(04:40):
Not too Dissimilar. Actually.I had a bit of a break from it. Got
like, you obviously inevitablyget constant book deliveries and
stuff. Like I'm that guy. I'lljust pre order books because I like
them. But I've actually nottouched that many. I've only just
started Mask of Fear, which isReign of the Empire. You know, the
Reign of the Empire. I thinkit's a trilogy and our friend Kev.
Hello to Kev. Said. Said it's.It's really good. Ties into Andor
(05:04):
and such. But I've just, I'vejust stayed off it, same as you.
Like gone through some stuffthat I wanted to read that wasn't
Star Wars. The only thing thatI have done is a little girl's now
getting into Star Wars. She'salways sort of known R2D2 and stuff
from just having, you know,seen the Lego that I've got on stuff.
But she's. I got a littlePrincess Leia early years reading
(05:25):
book and she's loving thatone. And then she sort of. We watch
bits of the films and themovies and, and stuff and then the
Young Jedi Adventures I thinkit is on Disney plus. So it's sort
of just getting her into that.And so that's. That's been kind of
nice, man. Like, oh, andobviously you've been through that,
so it's. Yeah, it's beenreally cool. But yeah, I've enjoyed
the break. I'm enjoying seeingthe news from Celebration and you
(05:50):
know, getting used to like.I've not watched Andor yet. I know
you've probably not yeteither. So I'm gonna batch that up.
I'm gonna watch it all at theend because it's only a four week
run with three episodes aweek. So it's actually, I'm excited
to get into it, but be able tobinge it. It's not like the burnout
was before.
So.
Yeah, man, it's been nice.It's been nice to, to spread the
wings a little bit and. And todip back in now.
Yeah, same. Yeah. Good. Yeah.And I'm the same with you with Andor.
(06:14):
It's. I'm gonna wait and justbinge the. Binge the whole lot. I'm
also one of these people thatjust naturally doesn't follow the
crowd with that stuff. Youknow, I've always been that since
high school there's been likea popular TV show or something like
Gaz, what do you reckon? I'mlike not seen it and then I'll wait
like a year and Binge, watchthe lot.
Yeah, I didn't do Game ofThrones. Same took me like 10 years.
(06:36):
Yeah. Not the bad crowd to bein because you let the dust settle
a little bit. Fresh eyes.Yeah. All right, let's rattle through
some of these announcementsdue to. For Star wars celebration
this year. And you said you'vebeen enjoying the news and stuff
like that. There's been loadsof, like, little bits that have come
out in and around some ofthese bigger announcements. So we'll
(06:59):
just. We won't go into toomuch detail with all. All the periphery
stuff, but the headlines willbe. First up, Mando and Grogu movie
got their announcement datefor that now, next year, 22nd of
May. So they're targeting thatusual Star wars cinema thing, aren't
they, where it's either May orChristmas, usually with Star wars
(07:20):
stuff. And we got a decentpanel for that. We got a clip. We
had Filoni out. We had someother people, and then they brought
out Sigourney Weaver, whichwas pretty sweet. She was. She looks
really cool. I don't know howold she is. I don't ask her age.
Don't want to be rude, butshe's looking pretty good. She's
looking pretty good for herage. And she seems well up for her
role in Star wars and saw acouple of screenshots and things
(07:43):
like that. So you're up forthis Mando and Grogu film that was
meant to be out. I don't knowwhen it was this year. I think so.
Yeah. Another year to wait,dude. But looks pretty good.
It does, actually. And I'msort of interested in a couple of
things.
The.
The. We know that this sort ofties into the big picture of, like,
the Feloni verse, if you likethe Disney plus universe. And there's.
(08:04):
There's more to come for thecharacters, you would think, because
of. Because of what goes onwith, you know, the throne stuff.
Ahsoka Season 2. And thenFiloni was sort of asked, is this
the end of. Or was it five?One of them was, I think it was.
Filoni was asked, like, what'snext for Mando? And they're like,
well, you know, we'll see. I'msort of. I'm engrossed in the universe
(08:28):
stuff. And Filoni gave alittle tidbit which was like, you
know, he works on these bigpicture things. You know, everything
to him is a big picture. Andhe has these ideas for things and,
you know, sequences or ideasfor story points and plot points.
And story beats and where thehas to work out where they fit in.
So I, I don't think this willbe the end of, of the Mando and Grogu
story. I'd be very shocked ifthat. That was the case. They're
(08:49):
just too bankable and PedroPascal is obviously the, the, the,
the, the man in Hollywoodright now even though he's probably
not in this that much. So I'mexcited for it. As for Sigourney
Weaver. Yeah, it's sort of aweird one for me. You know the whole
why did they make it into amovie? Why, why bother putting it
into a movie? I don't know whythey turned it into a movie but I
(09:10):
think, you know, you've gotSaganu Weave, you've got that level
of person in there is quiteinteresting. I didn't know she was
playing someone that wouldwear an X Wing flight suit. I didn't
know that until I saw thepictures and Kev mentioned it and
Kev said do you think she'sgoing to be playing Nora Wexler?
And I think that's a prettygood shout given. Snap was in the
(09:31):
Snap Wexler was in the oldsequel trilogy. And then we know
that, you know, she's in theaftermath books and cracks on with
Wedge, you know, settles downwith Wedge. So I think she could
be playing Nora Exley which Ithink would be really cool. I think
she'd be a great fit for that.So yeah. Interested me interested?
Yeah. It has certainly broughtthe hype level up a little bit more
(09:55):
because the only thing we hadto go on was did we have a trailer?
Do we have a trailer?
I don't know. Was it some stills?
Yeah, I can't remember. Yeah,so there wasn't much to go on really.
So this is a good opportunityto bring out the peeps involved.
Like you said Filoni, asksome, some good questions and stuff
like that. And the thingaround why is it a movie? I think
(10:16):
that's money and fan service.I think fan service in the way because
they've cancelled so manythings. I think this was just the
right. We've got to putsomething out in cinemas. We've got
nothing coming out in the nextfive years or so. Even though this
next announcement is a thing.Yeah, they just needed something
(10:37):
out in cinemas to satisfy theStar wars fandom and secondly they
probably had a bunch of budgetbudgeted for something one of these
films or whatever. And it'slike the age old thing, isn't it?
You know, if you don't useyour budget, you don't get it next
year. So.
Yeah, so they're just doingroadworks, basically.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So May22nd next year, Mando and Grogu.
(10:59):
That lands. We've got anannouncement for a brand new film.
So sod, sod all the other onesthat are in development and have
been in development for Godknows how many years. Nope, we're
going to do a new one. We kindof knew this was going to happen,
didn't we? You and I spoke onthis probably this time last year
where we heard rumblings thatShawn Levy was working on a film
and we said he's probably theguy that of all of them that will
(11:23):
probably get his film over theline because he's just so popular
at the moment with the wholeWolverine, Deadpool thing, the Stranger
Things stuff, all of that.He's just the guy at the moment bringing
out all the cool popcornstuff. And lo and behold, announcement,
Ryan Gosling to start. And themovie is called Starfighter. And
now this one's announced forpretty quick, if I'm being honest,
(11:45):
2027, which sounds far away,but in the world of filmmaking I
don't think that's that long.So I don't know how far they are
in production with thisalready or if they've literally just
started it. I don't know. ButI don't know. Ryan Gosling, dude
in a Star wars film. Doesthis, does this land?
Yeah, I'm all right with that.I think Sean Levy's a really, you
(12:09):
know, like you said, he's ontrend at the minute with the Deadpool
stuff. He, he clearly knowshow to direct fast paced action and
doesn't seem to make his filmstoo long. You know, some of the movies
aren't great, but then someare. So I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm
(12:31):
interested to see what willcome of this one. As for Ryan Gosling
and the fact it's a whole setof new characters and all that kind
of stuff, I think I'm allright with it. I quite like Ryan
Gosling. I think he's justeasy. He's an easy, he's a good actor.
We've seen him in BladeRunner, we've seen him in, you know,
La La Land. Plus he's doneeverything from, you know, Barbie
to, to, to, to like Drive andmore serious movies. So I actually
(12:55):
like Ryan Gosling. And what Ithink, what I quite like about this
is he, he can easily carrythe, the Han Solo swagger. Like I
feel like poor Dameron wassort of intended to have that swagger
and whilst he does have thebrazenness and confidence, I don't
think he's necessarily got theswagger that Harrison Ford had in
(13:18):
A New Hope. And I thinksomeone like Ryan Gosling can pull
that off because he's the kindof guy and nostrilize. It's a fantastic
looking guy, he's a greatlooking guy. But when Harrison Ford
walked into a room in his 30s,just like Ryan Gosling when he walks
into a room even I'm stoppingto have a look because they are good
looking at. They are goodlooking lads.
(13:38):
Yeah, yeah.
But I think he's so. I thinkhe's got. I think he could have that
Tom Cruise maverick style swagger.
Yeah.
So I like it. Yeah, I like it,man. I like it. I think this could
be very interesting. I will.I'm interested to see what the storyline
is and I would be veryinterested to see if it's a standalone
(14:00):
as they're making out becauseI think that could be really cool,
you know, it could just bereally cool. And I sort of wonder,
has this taken the RogueSquadron? Is it Rogue Squad or whatever
the Patty Jenkins one was. Isit. Is it taken that slot as the,
you know. Yeah, we're doingspace Top Gun.
That was my initial thoughtwhen I saw the title, especially
(14:21):
Starfighter, I thought, yeah,that looks like Patty Jenkins. That
stuff's never going to figureitself out. Not anytime soon anyway.
So it's probably slots inthere quite nicely. And yeah. Oh
no, I agree on. On RyanGosling as well. I think he's like.
He reminds me of like PeakBrendan Fraser back in there.
Yeah, he had some swagger in it.
(14:41):
Do you know what I mean? Like,you know, when he was in the Mummy
and stuff like that, he was abit of a. An action dude as well
as a comedy dude as well as astraight dude. And you know, he kind
of did it also. Yeah, shouldbe good.
He was done dirty, that lad,wasn't he? Now he's.
Yeah, a couple of pounds butyou'll lose that. And just to mention
(15:03):
a couple of other films thatapparently they mentioned at Celebration
are still in development.Apparently Shamina Boy, Chinoy, James
Mangold, Waititi and thetrilogy from Simon Kinberg. They
are confirmed to still be inactive development. Any news on that?
Get out of here.
(15:25):
They've just been around forsuch a long time, those movies now,
haven't there?
Yeah, I think the only onethat we know of that's kind of I
don't know. Would. Could be.Next up after Starfighter is probably
the James Mangold one. Right.Which is the. Because we've heard
the most about that, I think.Which is the.
(15:45):
Is that the rare one or likethe early ass Jedi stuff?
Yeah, that's the early originof the Force and. Or origin of the
Jedi, one of the two. Way backwhen. Yeah. I don't know what the
Ray one is because they keepfiring the bloody writers and everything,
so.
Yeah, they do.
Don't know.
It's a funny one, isn't it?Because just like those two movies,
(16:07):
we didn't really get manymovie things, did we? Apart from.
Oh, we've got these two. Butall the rest are still. Like you
said, the rest is still indevelopment, we promise. Like, do
you think that. Do you thinkthat is them finally learning the
lesson?
Yeah.
Do you think.
It has to be.
It has to be, mate, becauseLevy and Ryan gosling and a 27 release
date, like, that feels like.You said it feels like it's gonna
(16:30):
happen. That.
Yeah. Especially when youbring them out on stage.
Yeah.
With the logo, witheverything. That feels like it's.
Yeah, that's a good point.
You know, even though thetrailer. It wasn't a trailer, it
was just a logo reveal, wasn'tit? And they reuse some music from
Rise of Skywalker and stuff.Even though it's a bit rough and
ready, it still feels likeit's leagues ahead of these other
(16:54):
projects that are stillapparently coming. So. Yeah. All
right.
But it was like, it wasdefinitely light on movie stuff,
wasn't it?
Oh, dude, the whole. The wholeevent was light.
Yeah, I agree. And we'll getto that in a bit, but I agree.
Yeah, sure. Some Disney plusstuff. Let's recap that. So we had,
we had a bunch of AhsokaSeason 2 information, but we sadly
(17:18):
didn't get an announced date,an announcement for the release date
for that. So we got a bunch ofinterviews, a bunch of people talking
about how great it was workingwith Rosario Dawson and developing
that character. And, you know,Filoni was out again and talking
about that stuff. We did get amini announcement that Hayden's back
for season two, which is very cool.
(17:40):
Which we knew anyway we could,we could infer that, couldn't we?
But yeah, like he's. He's nowthe Mark Hamill cash in the bank
star in a. If you. To bringLuke Skywalker back. Money in the
bank, put Hayden there. Moneyin the bank.
Defo, mate. Yeah.
Which sort of, you know, thisis a slight digression. Like when
they said, oh, we're done withthe Skywalker Saga. That's like D.C.
(18:02):
going, you know what? Wecannot be asked with Batman. Him.
Do you know what I mean? OrSuperman. And like, no, no, clearly,
like, you're clearly not.Like, you crack on, then go and try
some stuff. Yeah, you do you.Yeah. We'll see you when you get
back. We'll see you when youget back.
(18:22):
Yeah. Until they do one hugesort of sign off film or sign off
TV thing for the foreseeable.I think just all roads lead back
to Skywalker.
Well, I think to it and it is,you know, it is, it is. Why, why
not mine? Those stories, like,just recast Luke. Just recast him.
(18:45):
Like. And if you want to.We've said it before, if you want
to bring Hamill in, let him doOld man Luke, you know, here I am
on actor now. Let me tell youthese stories. Shagga, you know,
I've got nothing else to dohere. Like the diaries of Luke Skywalker.
Like, just make that and takethe money.
Yeah. Like he's reminiscing to some.
Yeah.
(19:06):
Beat up droid in the corner ofa cantina. Yeah.
Or he's like, he's chroniclingeverything to R2. Like just use the
Lucas idea of R2 being thechronicler and just say, right. He's.
He's gonna. He knows he'sgonna piss off to actor cuz he's
had enough of all this crap.But he doesn't want his knowledge
to go, yeah, all appear in it.So he's chronicling it to R2. And
that's the. Just make it acool 1970s inspired, you know, David
(19:31):
Banner, Luther, Ignore Hulk.Like, you're never going to believe
what's happening today. Oh,and then off we go. Here, here's
me in the past. So good itwould fly off the shelves.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.I think, I don't know, it's difficult
because I think you've got somany fans who are like, if you touch
(19:54):
Mark Hamill, if you disrupthim, you know, so you could recast
him and play. Yeah. Althoughthe flashback thing would be pretty
cool. You could have a youngerLuke even if it didn't look exactly
the same as Mark Hamill backin his 20s, whatever it was, it's
not the end of the world.
No, just you can't. You're notgoing to get it. Like, Bail Organa
(20:15):
has been recast in Ando,hasn't it? A Benjamin Brat. Looks
nothing like Jimmy Smith.
Nothing. Just GPT it.
Yeah.
There's your prompt. Make thisactor look like a young Mark Hamill.
Yeah, done. Might bloody haveto. And we all know Sebastian Stan
would do it. Like, I knowwe've said this for years now, but
(20:36):
just put him in it. I saw theThunderbolts movie with when that
came out last week and I waslike, oh, this is actually pretty
good. Sebastian Stan's cool.
Still no spoilers. I'm seeingthat on Saturday.
It's got one of the coolestever scenes and it's got a clear
homage to a very popular filmfrom 1991, which you will instantly
(20:58):
get. And I don't think thatanyone has ever looked cooler.
Right.
Like possibly the coolest thatI. Not, not just on film, but in
life, that anyone's everlooked brilliant.
Okay. Okay.
Let me know what you think ofit. You know the scene that I'm talking
about.
Cool. Okay, cool. And justlastly, it's not me.
(21:21):
Spoilers just. I know becausewhat you're thinking to yourself,
Marco, you already look cool.You are that cool. But it's not me.
We all thought it.
I know. Well, that's what I'msaying. Get it in the show notes.
Lastly, we had, talking ofrecasting, we had a picture. We had
a picture of Roy McCann, RoryMcCann, who has been recast as Balin
Skull. We had a picture ofhim. So that doesn't look too bad.
(21:46):
That'll be all right. Mythoughts on it, really.
All right, Leave it out. Yeah,don't want to say anything on that.
I don't, I don't know theactor of what I haven't seen in or
anything prior.
What? Have you watched Game of Thrones?
Well, yeah, but he's not. WhatI mean is I've not seen a Rory McCann
(22:07):
leading starring thing before.
He's the friggin hound.
I know, but he's like one of.
The main actual characters inGame of Thrones. The very famous
ensemble cast based dramafantasy thingy.
Okay.
By George Rura Martin.
What's the other thing hestarred in then that I should go
(22:27):
and watch?
I don't know, do I?
Oh, you don't know all of asudden. But he's this big guy. Is
he?
Yeah, because Bing's down,otherwise I wouldn't know.
Yeah. Other than Game ofThrones in which he plays a very,
very specific stylizedcharacter, I haven't seen in him
anything else to make a propercall on it.
(22:47):
Well, I mean, they've cast himas a very unstylized non sci Fi.
Fantasy based char in a dramaabout a hospital. No, no, he's freaking
Jedi.
He's just got a beard. Likethat's, that's it. Like where's,
where you're pissed off you.
Didn'T get the job. Just sayso, man. You have to go through.
(23:07):
I'm not pissed off at all.
I just never rang.
I just don't have a thought onit, mate. Just don't have a strong.
Yeah, I'm looking forward toit. Or no, I'm not thing. I'm just
indifferent.
Yeah. All right. I thinkyou'll be good. So eat.
You think you'll be good?Cool. The Hound.
The picture looks good though.I mean it's tough to recap. Ray Stevenson's
got such a presence. Dude, youknow, he did what a. What a. What
(23:32):
a. What a difficult recast.But I think it's a nice choice. We'll
see.
Anyway, some other TV stuff.You know the anime style, Star Wars
Visions Volume 3 of that isout. That drops on. I think it's
(23:52):
like this year. I think it'slike October, November. So that was
pretty cool. October 29th.Yeah, that wasn't too bad. I'm not
really sure on the whole animething. They did it with a series
of Batman stories a few yearsago they brought a collection of
mini stories or anime basedand they're kind of cool. They're
(24:15):
okay. But I'll take or leavethis one.
Yeah. Visions was not a thingfor me. I tried, I tried and I get
it, I get like, I get why it'sgood and I get the animation styles
are cool and I, I do, I getit. I understand like why people
like it and I'm not poo pooand it just wasn't really for me.
(24:36):
And I think it, I think it wasbecause it was like I put that much
time into Star wars that you,you sort of don't, you don't really
have time because there's thatmuch other stuff that you want to
do or you want to watch or youwant to consume or play or whatever
that when there's somethingthat doesn't for me certainly like
(24:58):
contribute to the mainmythology and move any wider act
forward or you know, a selfcontained story, but that tells us
a story within the universe,you know, like I just choose something
else because there's that muchother stuff that I want to get through.
So, you know, I, I, I find itdifficult to not do anything that's
really in the, in the mainuniverse or you know, whatever, you
(25:21):
know what.
I Mean, yeah, no R. But thatis landing this year though, which
is kind of cool. Very rare. Doyou get something at Celebration?
It's like, oh, this is a coolthing. Oh, and it's this year or
it's.
Yeah.
So that's, that's pretty cool.So that visions that's out October.
A couple of really quickthings before we move on to our sort
of overall thoughts on OnCelebration. First of all, as I mentioned,
(25:43):
Star Wars Outlaws, the secondDLC that drops next week actually
that's called A Pirate'sFortune. That's the DLC where you've
got Hondo Anaka back from theClone Wars, Clone Wars Rebels 1 or
2. So he's in that DLC. And wehad some Hasbro releases for new
figures for the Black seriesand the vintage line. So those of
(26:06):
you that are fans of the oldvideo game Star Wars Shadows the
Empire, you've got the maincharacter, Dash Rendar. He's very
cool. I love it when they dothese sort of legends stuff. They
also announced a bunch offigures from the second Jedi game,
Jedi Survivor. So Cal Kestisand a bunch of other people. And
then coming up the rear, we'vegot Moff Gideon from the Mandoverse
(26:29):
in his proper outfit and alsoCobb Vanth, which is the, the dude
from season two, I believe,where they had the whole western
vibe and that stuff. So abunch of new toys, new stuff for
video games Smugglers Run,which is the, the mission based thing
at the Disney World andDisneyland parks that's getting a
(26:54):
new Mando and Grogo GroguFiend sort of mission added to it.
So a bit of an update for theparks there. And lastly, we had the
announcement that Star WarsCelebration is returning back to
Anaheim, which is in LA.
Yeah, it's in. Yeah, justoutside LA. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's 2027 and the50th anniversary of a New Hope. So
(27:17):
that should, fingers crossed,be a really big celebration. That
one has some cool stuff there.So a few other bits there.
Dude, it's in the same place.Certain trip, man. We've got a bit
of like, I think the, I thinkit's in the same place as where we
had the Podcast MovementConference years ago. It's a big,
big conference center justoutside of like Disney and all that
stuff.
(27:38):
That is correct. Yeah, yeah,we're very cool that 2027. Yep. Podcast
movement. I think that's 2021.
Oh no, it was web for that 20.I want to say 2018, 2017.
Right, right. Yeah, yeah, niceIt's a good venue, though. Huge.
It is, yeah.
(27:59):
Right, so that's all the news,the headline stuff from. From Celebration
Japan, as we did, just lookingfrom afar, but just picking up all
the announcements and justlooking at people's Instagrams and,
and, and TikToks and all thatstuff. What were your thoughts on.
On the event as a whole? Doyou. Were you like, oh, nips, I really
(28:21):
would wish I was there? Oryou're like, yeah, I'm just happy
to view it online.
Yeah, sort of the latter. Iwas away as well. I was on holiday
and didn't. Didn't like.Didn't even catch up with the news
that much on it. I'm in theStar Wars Celebration group from
when we went in London backcouple of years ago in 23. And it
(28:41):
was originally I was like, oh,it'd be cool to go to Japan. And
then it seemed like a bit of afaff. And even in London it was a
bit of a faff, like getting tothe event. And I'm never a big fan
of, like, trying to get out ofevents when it's the end of the day
and I just. It just annoys me.So, like, logistically, I was sort
of maybe a little bit of FOMOto start with, but as time progressed,
(29:05):
I was all right with it. Andthen just seeing some of the stuff
at the Facebook group and thereviews online and how few genuine
announcements were. Therewere. And coupled with the fact that
it seemed like, logisticallyit was terrible. From what I could
see, it appeared that therewas just a. A, just myriad issues
(29:28):
with, like, people like AaronChristensen's signings getting canceled
and people getting refundedand that, like, for many people,
they've spent their savingsfor that signature. You know, it's.
And it's not about the refundon the signature, it's about the
fact that they've spent ontravel and accommodation, time off
work. And so I didn't reallylike that. And I also. I also just
(29:51):
didn't like that. It. Itappeared that, like, the panel ballots
that we had the issue withback in 23, there were the same problems.
And then it seemed we werelucky. We were very lucky because
we didn't queue for any of themerch. We didn't queue to get into
the shop or any of that stuff,but it looked as if the lines for
that were just terrible andthere were people unable to get in.
(30:11):
So honestly, it's not thatI'm. There was. No, it's not what
I'm Trying to say it's gonefurther than, you know. Am I a bit
miffed that I didn't go? No,it's. I'm actively glad that I didn't
go. You know, I'm activelyglad that I didn't go, so. Because
it would, it would have cost afortune. We went because it was in
London. It's a train ride forus. It's a couple of hours. It's
(30:33):
easy and it's cheap to stayfor us. But if I'd have gone to Japan
and spent all that money, Iwould have been pissed, man. And
I. I'm guessing you wereexactly the same.
Yeah, exactly the same. Yeah.A lot of money to get over there.
And don't get wrong, I thinkit's cool that they host it in other
places. It's not just in theUS all the time. But yeah, for folks
(30:55):
in the US and here in Europe,to get to Japan in the first place
is not cheap. And then you addon all the stuff to get to the venue
and tickets and like you said,all that stuff. Yeah, I would have
been pissed as well. So happyto view this one. Just, I think,
I think they had an officialYouTube streaming channel you can
see, you know, all that andthe recap. I do want to say a shout
(31:16):
out to Matt at Star warssessions. Those guys, they do their
own podcast and YouTube andeverything. They flew out there from
the UK. They covered it all indepth, like a big billion tick tick
tock and Instagram stories andeverything. So. And I think he listens
to our show, which is prettysweet. So thank you very much for
(31:37):
keeping us in the loop on allthe behind the scenes stuff and travel
and getting around the venueand stuff. So that was cool. But
not gonna lie, dude, I'm upfor Anaheim though. Might have to
try and swing that one.
Well, different because it's,you know, there's. And I know Tokyo
is the same as this, but youknow, you can go to la, you can do
(31:58):
other stuff in la and theparks are right there so you can
make a family trip out of it.And it is like it's a drive from
la, you know, even lax, it'sfine. I've driven it before. It's
easy and there's a lot ofoptions there. And I think, you know,
with it been 50 of, of a newHope, you know, you, you probably
are going to get a MarkHamill, you probably are going to
get Harrison Ford. You know,some of them are gonna, you might
(32:20):
even get a George Lucas, youknow, because it Only happens once,
doesn't it? And they're notgoing to be there for the hundredth
so or 75 maybe. So I thinkthere'll be some big stuff. But that
just for me then just likethat goes against everything that
I enjoy, which is too manypeople paying expensive things for
things that shouldn't be thatexpensive for that reason. So I,
(32:42):
I don't know. I'm. I love la,but I would like to go to Anaheim
again. But I don't know, man.It just, it's got all the hallmarks
of a show already. Justbecause it will. There'll be that
many people wanting to do thesame thing. Especially if Hamill
and. And Harrison Ford orwhoever there and even George Lucas.
I just feel like it might notbe very good.
(33:07):
True. That is true. It's justthe. Yeah, it's that initial. Is
that an initial thought oflike oh my God. Shoulder to shoulder
with like thousands of otherpeople and that social battery draining
pretty quick.
Yeah.
Throughout the year. I knowwhat you mean, dude. But we'll see.
(33:29):
You never know. Strangerthings have happened, you know. And
let's wrap it there, mate.Let's wrap it. On a positive note,
we had some good things comeout of of this celebration. New film
looks to be getting over theline, which is a good thing. Mando
and Grugu Grogu movieconfirmed for next year. Starfighter
(33:51):
2027 visions out this year.Ahsoka season two looks wicked. When
that finally drops, we've gotandor season two to look forward
to. We'll be back for thatnext month. I think the end of June.
I think we said we were goingto come back and review that and
a bunch of cool little bits.Gaming, toy news, all that stuff.
So yeah, it's been prettysweet. And on that note, we will
(34:13):
wrap it there for episode 243.Thank you guys for checking out another
episode of Spark of Rebellion.If you've come back before and listened
(34:35):
to us for many years, thankyou very much. And if you're new
here, this was the recap ofStar Wars Celebration Japan 2025.
And we will report fromAnaheim 2027. Mark says no. Who knows
he said no before said no tostarting the podcast. So here we
are.
Look where that got us.
Look where that is. Yeah. Froma sins make sure you're following
(34:57):
and subscribing to thepodcast. Just search for Spark Rebellion
on all apps. You'll find usthere. That way you won't miss announcements
when new episode drops. Lobbus some beer money at forward slash
support or listen at forwardslash listen. And we'll be back for
andor season two pretty soon,dude. It's been good to be back chatting
Star Wars.
Yes, always good, mate. We'llprobably do an Ahsoka Season 2 episode
(35:18):
of the next season, I wouldhave thought. It seems a logical
thing to discuss, so I'm keenfor that. And yeah, looking forward
to it. Trying to get someguests on there as well, which would
be fantastic. So lookingforward to the seasonal approach,
but been great to chat, dude.Much love to Kevin, Pascal, Denise,
everyone that supports us. Andyeah, excited for the next season,
man.
Indeed. What he said. Andwe're back soon, so until then, take
(35:41):
care of yourselves and may theForce be with you always.
Hello there and welcome toSpark of Rebellion. We are back for
episode 243 and our recap ofStar Wars Celebration Japan 2025.
Hope you're keeping safe andwell. Hope you've done something
Star Warsy for the time thatwe've been away. Feels like a long
(00:38):
time. You've not have tolisten to our waffle. Same time feels
like yesterday. Maybe you'vegone through the back catalog, maybe
you've checked out some SoRcontent. If so, then welcome aboard
and those of you that havelistened to us for years, then welcome
back as well. Now we're goingto be running through the key headlines
of Celebration, about half adozen things to go through and we'll
just give you our thoughts ondid we think, did we have massive
(01:01):
FOMO not being there or did wethink it's a bit meh this one compared
to London we went to a coupleyears ago. And then a bit of a look
forward to Star warscelebration returning in 2027 because
that'll be a very big year forStar wars with the old 50th of a
new hope and all that stuff.So a big one. And before we get on
(01:21):
to all that stuff, as I said,thank you very much. Make sure you
are following or subscribingto this podcast so you don't miss
an episode announcement. Aswe're seasonal now, we're not going
to be doing every week but wewill be back in chunks to give you
our thoughts on Disney plus TVseries. When that lands we've got
andor coming up soon ourreview of that when Ahsoka lands
we'll do that and then thefilms etc. So you can do that in
(01:44):
your favor. Just do a searchfor Spark of Rebellion or head over
to sparkofrebellion.com listenyou can find all the links there.
We're also on the socials samewebsite, head over to there. We chat
Star wars, we post little cooltidbits every every few days about
Star Wars. So hop in there andchat with us on that and and if you've
got a second to leave us areview. If you like the podcast you
(02:06):
can do that on Apple Podcastspodchaser.com goodpods all that stuff.
Come and get involved overthere and if you want to lobber some
beer money you can do thatover@sparkofrebellion.com support
and thank you very much tothose of you that subscribe to the
podcast and have given us aFair few pints over the years. Thank
you very much for that. Myname's Garry. As I said, I'm one
(02:28):
of your co hosts. And let'sbring on my other co host. It's.
It's Palpatine's favoritechambermaid. It's Mark Asquith. How
you doing, dude?
I am good, mate. And to quoteTony Stark, oh, it's good to be back.
I've missed doing it. I'vemissed doing this. But then I like
(02:50):
that it's seasonal because shesort of got this fire for it, haven't
you? You've got this kind of.This kind of vibe for it. So. Yeah,
man. No, I'm all right, I'mall right. I'm golden. Like C3 pure.
Apart from that leg.
Weird that in it. Yeah, yeah,I'm good, man. I'm good. It's exactly
the same as you. I think it'sgood to have a bit of a break, a
(03:10):
bit of a breather on the oldStar wars stuff because we were getting
to the point where it waslike, what the are we going to talk
about?
This was the same old stuff,wasn't it? Was like, there may be
a movie, there may not be amovie. Guess what? There's movement
on this movie. And themovement is that there's movement
until next week. We'll sit there.
(03:31):
Exactly that. Yeah. So it wasgood to take a wee break, watch some.
Some Star wars in your owntime, play a game, all that stuff,
and reconvene on Spark Off.
Reconvene. Have you done anyStar wars bits?
I've played a little bit moreStar Wars Outlaws. There was the
first. The first DLC pack forthat was out at the same time as
(03:56):
the. Sorry. Just after thegame had sort of wrapped up all of
its main content stuff andthat was with. With Lando Calrissian's
character and that stuff, andthen wanted to get that done and
out the. Because shortly we'vegot the second DLC that's going to
land, which we'll come on toin a second. So, yeah, a bit of that
and not much else, to behonest with you. I've plowed through
(04:19):
a ton of books that were inthe backlog while I was reading Star
wars books like a few monthsago when we did our last episode.
So, yeah, just. Actually, no,I've watched a bit of. A bit of the
Clone wars as well. Justdipped into that one. I've had like
a spare hour or so. So, yeah,little bit. Not too much about you,
dude.
(04:40):
Not too Dissimilar. Actually.I had a bit of a break from it. Got
like, you obviously inevitablyget constant book deliveries and
stuff. Like I'm that guy. I'lljust pre order books because I like
them. But I've actually nottouched that many. I've only just
started Mask of Fear, which isReign of the Empire. You know, the
Reign of the Empire. I thinkit's a trilogy and our friend Kev.
Hello to Kev. Said. Said it's.It's really good. Ties into Andor
(05:04):
and such. But I've just, I'vejust stayed off it, same as you.
Like gone through some stuffthat I wanted to read that wasn't
Star Wars. The only thing thatI have done is a little girl's now
getting into Star Wars. She'salways sort of known R2D2 and stuff
from just having, you know,seen the Lego that I've got on stuff.
But she's. I got a littlePrincess Leia early years reading
(05:25):
book and she's loving thatone. And then she sort of. We watch
bits of the films and themovies and, and stuff and then the
Young Jedi Adventures I thinkit is on Disney plus. So it's sort
of just getting her into that.And so that's. That's been kind of
nice, man. Like, oh, andobviously you've been through that,
so it's. Yeah, it's beenreally cool. But yeah, I've enjoyed
the break. I'm enjoying seeingthe news from Celebration and you
(05:50):
know, getting used to like.I've not watched Andor yet. I know
you've probably not yeteither. So I'm gonna batch that up.
I'm gonna watch it all at theend because it's only a four week
run with three episodes aweek. So it's actually, I'm excited
to get into it, but be able tobinge it. It's not like the burnout
was before.
So.
Yeah, man, it's been nice.It's been nice to, to spread the
wings a little bit and. And todip back in now.
Yeah, same. Yeah. Good. Yeah.And I'm the same with you with Andor.
(06:14):
It's. I'm gonna wait and justbinge the. Binge the whole lot. I'm
also one of these people thatjust naturally doesn't follow the
crowd with that stuff. Youknow, I've always been that since
high school there's been likea popular TV show or something like
Gaz, what do you reckon? I'mlike not seen it and then I'll wait
like a year and Binge, watchthe lot.
Yeah, I didn't do Game ofThrones. Same took me like 10 years.
(06:36):
Yeah. Not the bad crowd to bein because you let the dust settle
a little bit. Fresh eyes.Yeah. All right, let's rattle through
some of these announcementsdue to. For Star wars celebration
this year. And you said you'vebeen enjoying the news and stuff
like that. There's been loadsof, like, little bits that have come
out in and around some ofthese bigger announcements. So we'll
(06:59):
just. We won't go into toomuch detail with all. All the periphery
stuff, but the headlines willbe. First up, Mando and Grogu movie
got their announcement datefor that now, next year, 22nd of
May. So they're targeting thatusual Star wars cinema thing, aren't
they, where it's either May orChristmas, usually with Star wars
(07:20):
stuff. And we got a decentpanel for that. We got a clip. We
had Filoni out. We had someother people, and then they brought
out Sigourney Weaver, whichwas pretty sweet. She was. She looks
really cool. I don't know howold she is. I don't ask her age.
Don't want to be rude, butshe's looking pretty good. She's
looking pretty good for herage. And she seems well up for her
role in Star wars and saw acouple of screenshots and things
(07:43):
like that. So you're up forthis Mando and Grogu film that was
meant to be out. I don't knowwhen it was this year. I think so.
Yeah. Another year to wait,dude. But looks pretty good.
It does, actually. And I'msort of interested in a couple of
things.
The.
The. We know that this sort ofties into the big picture of, like,
the Feloni verse, if you likethe Disney plus universe. And there's.
(08:04):
There's more to come for thecharacters, you would think, because
of. Because of what goes onwith, you know, the throne stuff.
Ahsoka Season 2. And thenFiloni was sort of asked, is this
the end of. Or was it five?One of them was, I think it was.
Filoni was asked, like, what'snext for Mando? And they're like,
well, you know, we'll see. I'msort of. I'm engrossed in the universe
(08:28):
stuff. And Filoni gave alittle tidbit which was like, you
know, he works on these bigpicture things. You know, everything
to him is a big picture. Andhe has these ideas for things and,
you know, sequences or ideasfor story points and plot points.
And story beats and where thehas to work out where they fit in.
So I, I don't think this willbe the end of, of the Mando and Grogu
story. I'd be very shocked ifthat. That was the case. They're
(08:49):
just too bankable and PedroPascal is obviously the, the, the,
the, the man in Hollywoodright now even though he's probably
not in this that much. So I'mexcited for it. As for Sigourney
Weaver. Yeah, it's sort of aweird one for me. You know the whole
why did they make it into amovie? Why, why bother putting it
into a movie? I don't know whythey turned it into a movie but I
(09:10):
think, you know, you've gotSaganu Weave, you've got that level
of person in there is quiteinteresting. I didn't know she was
playing someone that wouldwear an X Wing flight suit. I didn't
know that until I saw thepictures and Kev mentioned it and
Kev said do you think she'sgoing to be playing Nora Wexler?
And I think that's a prettygood shout given. Snap was in the
(09:31):
Snap Wexler was in the oldsequel trilogy. And then we know
that, you know, she's in theaftermath books and cracks on with
Wedge, you know, settles downwith Wedge. So I think she could
be playing Nora Exley which Ithink would be really cool. I think
she'd be a great fit for that.So yeah. Interested me interested?
Yeah. It has certainly broughtthe hype level up a little bit more
(09:55):
because the only thing we hadto go on was did we have a trailer?
Do we have a trailer?
I don't know. Was it some stills?
Yeah, I can't remember. Yeah,so there wasn't much to go on really.
So this is a good opportunityto bring out the peeps involved.
Like you said Filoni, asksome, some good questions and stuff
like that. And the thingaround why is it a movie? I think
(10:16):
that's money and fan service.I think fan service in the way because
they've cancelled so manythings. I think this was just the
right. We've got to putsomething out in cinemas. We've got
nothing coming out in the nextfive years or so. Even though this
next announcement is a thing.Yeah, they just needed something
(10:37):
out in cinemas to satisfy theStar wars fandom and secondly they
probably had a bunch of budgetbudgeted for something one of these
films or whatever. And it'slike the age old thing, isn't it?
You know, if you don't useyour budget, you don't get it next
year. So.
Yeah, so they're just doingroadworks, basically.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So May22nd next year, Mando and Grogu.
(10:59):
That lands. We've got anannouncement for a brand new film.
So sod, sod all the other onesthat are in development and have
been in development for Godknows how many years. Nope, we're
going to do a new one. We kindof knew this was going to happen,
didn't we? You and I spoke onthis probably this time last year
where we heard rumblings thatShawn Levy was working on a film
and we said he's probably theguy that of all of them that will
(11:23):
probably get his film over theline because he's just so popular
at the moment with the wholeWolverine, Deadpool thing, the Stranger
Things stuff, all of that.He's just the guy at the moment bringing
out all the cool popcornstuff. And lo and behold, announcement,
Ryan Gosling to start. And themovie is called Starfighter. And
now this one's announced forpretty quick, if I'm being honest,
(11:45):
2027, which sounds far away,but in the world of filmmaking I
don't think that's that long.So I don't know how far they are
in production with thisalready or if they've literally just
started it. I don't know. ButI don't know. Ryan Gosling, dude
in a Star wars film. Doesthis, does this land?
Yeah, I'm all right with that.I think Sean Levy's a really, you
(12:09):
know, like you said, he's ontrend at the minute with the Deadpool
stuff. He, he clearly knowshow to direct fast paced action and
doesn't seem to make his filmstoo long. You know, some of the movies
aren't great, but then someare. So I, I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm
(12:31):
interested to see what willcome of this one. As for Ryan Gosling
and the fact it's a whole setof new characters and all that kind
of stuff, I think I'm allright with it. I quite like Ryan
Gosling. I think he's justeasy. He's an easy, he's a good actor.
We've seen him in BladeRunner, we've seen him in, you know,
La La Land. Plus he's doneeverything from, you know, Barbie
to, to, to, to like Drive andmore serious movies. So I actually
(12:55):
like Ryan Gosling. And what Ithink, what I quite like about this
is he, he can easily carrythe, the Han Solo swagger. Like I
feel like poor Dameron wassort of intended to have that swagger
and whilst he does have thebrazenness and confidence, I don't
think he's necessarily got theswagger that Harrison Ford had in
(13:18):
A New Hope. And I thinksomeone like Ryan Gosling can pull
that off because he's the kindof guy and nostrilize. It's a fantastic
looking guy, he's a greatlooking guy. But when Harrison Ford
walked into a room in his 30s,just like Ryan Gosling when he walks
into a room even I'm stoppingto have a look because they are good
looking at. They are goodlooking lads.
(13:38):
Yeah, yeah.
But I think he's so. I thinkhe's got. I think he could have that
Tom Cruise maverick style swagger.
Yeah.
So I like it. Yeah, I like it,man. I like it. I think this could
be very interesting. I will.I'm interested to see what the storyline
is and I would be veryinterested to see if it's a standalone
(14:00):
as they're making out becauseI think that could be really cool,
you know, it could just bereally cool. And I sort of wonder,
has this taken the RogueSquadron? Is it Rogue Squad or whatever
the Patty Jenkins one was. Isit. Is it taken that slot as the,
you know. Yeah, we're doingspace Top Gun.
That was my initial thoughtwhen I saw the title, especially
(14:21):
Starfighter, I thought, yeah,that looks like Patty Jenkins. That
stuff's never going to figureitself out. Not anytime soon anyway.
So it's probably slots inthere quite nicely. And yeah. Oh
no, I agree on. On RyanGosling as well. I think he's like.
He reminds me of like PeakBrendan Fraser back in there.
Yeah, he had some swagger in it.
(14:41):
Do you know what I mean? Like,you know, when he was in the Mummy
and stuff like that, he was abit of a. An action dude as well
as a comedy dude as well as astraight dude. And you know, he kind
of did it also. Yeah, shouldbe good.
He was done dirty, that lad,wasn't he? Now he's.
Yeah, a couple of pounds butyou'll lose that. And just to mention
(15:03):
a couple of other films thatapparently they mentioned at Celebration
are still in development.Apparently Shamina Boy, Chinoy, James
Mangold, Waititi and thetrilogy from Simon Kinberg. They
are confirmed to still be inactive development. Any news on that?
Get out of here.
(15:25):
They've just been around forsuch a long time, those movies now,
haven't there?
Yeah, I think the only onethat we know of that's kind of I
don't know. Would. Could be.Next up after Starfighter is probably
the James Mangold one. Right.Which is the. Because we've heard
the most about that, I think.Which is the.
(15:45):
Is that the rare one or likethe early ass Jedi stuff?
Yeah, that's the early originof the Force and. Or origin of the
Jedi, one of the two. Way backwhen. Yeah. I don't know what the
Ray one is because they keepfiring the bloody writers and everything,
so.
Yeah, they do.
Don't know.
It's a funny one, isn't it?Because just like those two movies,
(16:07):
we didn't really get manymovie things, did we? Apart from.
Oh, we've got these two. Butall the rest are still. Like you
said, the rest is still indevelopment, we promise. Like, do
you think that. Do you thinkthat is them finally learning the
lesson?
Yeah.
Do you think.
It has to be.
It has to be, mate, becauseLevy and Ryan gosling and a 27 release
date, like, that feels like.You said it feels like it's gonna
(16:30):
happen. That.
Yeah. Especially when youbring them out on stage.
Yeah.
With the logo, witheverything. That feels like it's.
Yeah, that's a good point.
You know, even though thetrailer. It wasn't a trailer, it
was just a logo reveal, wasn'tit? And they reuse some music from
Rise of Skywalker and stuff.Even though it's a bit rough and
ready, it still feels likeit's leagues ahead of these other
(16:54):
projects that are stillapparently coming. So. Yeah. All
right.
But it was like, it wasdefinitely light on movie stuff,
wasn't it?
Oh, dude, the whole. The wholeevent was light.
Yeah, I agree. And we'll getto that in a bit, but I agree.
Yeah, sure. Some Disney plusstuff. Let's recap that. So we had,
we had a bunch of AhsokaSeason 2 information, but we sadly
(17:18):
didn't get an announced date,an announcement for the release date
for that. So we got a bunch ofinterviews, a bunch of people talking
about how great it was workingwith Rosario Dawson and developing
that character. And, you know,Filoni was out again and talking
about that stuff. We did get amini announcement that Hayden's back
for season two, which is very cool.
(17:40):
Which we knew anyway we could,we could infer that, couldn't we?
But yeah, like he's. He's nowthe Mark Hamill cash in the bank
star in a. If you. To bringLuke Skywalker back. Money in the
bank, put Hayden there. Moneyin the bank.
Defo, mate. Yeah.
Which sort of, you know, thisis a slight digression. Like when
they said, oh, we're done withthe Skywalker Saga. That's like D.C.
(18:02):
going, you know what? Wecannot be asked with Batman. Him.
Do you know what I mean? OrSuperman. And like, no, no, clearly,
like, you're clearly not.Like, you crack on, then go and try
some stuff. Yeah, you do you.Yeah. We'll see you when you get
back. We'll see you when youget back.
(18:22):
Yeah. Until they do one hugesort of sign off film or sign off
TV thing for the foreseeable.I think just all roads lead back
to Skywalker.
Well, I think to it and it is,you know, it is, it is. Why, why
not mine? Those stories, like,just recast Luke. Just recast him.
(18:45):
Like. And if you want to.We've said it before, if you want
to bring Hamill in, let him doOld man Luke, you know, here I am
on actor now. Let me tell youthese stories. Shagga, you know,
I've got nothing else to dohere. Like the diaries of Luke Skywalker.
Like, just make that and takethe money.
Yeah. Like he's reminiscing to some.
Yeah.
(19:06):
Beat up droid in the corner ofa cantina. Yeah.
Or he's like, he's chroniclingeverything to R2. Like just use the
Lucas idea of R2 being thechronicler and just say, right. He's.
He's gonna. He knows he'sgonna piss off to actor cuz he's
had enough of all this crap.But he doesn't want his knowledge
to go, yeah, all appear in it.So he's chronicling it to R2. And
that's the. Just make it acool 1970s inspired, you know, David
(19:31):
Banner, Luther, Ignore Hulk.Like, you're never going to believe
what's happening today. Oh,and then off we go. Here, here's
me in the past. So good itwould fly off the shelves.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.I think, I don't know, it's difficult
because I think you've got somany fans who are like, if you touch
(19:54):
Mark Hamill, if you disrupthim, you know, so you could recast
him and play. Yeah. Althoughthe flashback thing would be pretty
cool. You could have a youngerLuke even if it didn't look exactly
the same as Mark Hamill backin his 20s, whatever it was, it's
not the end of the world.
No, just you can't. You're notgoing to get it. Like, Bail Organa
(20:15):
has been recast in Ando,hasn't it? A Benjamin Brat. Looks
nothing like Jimmy Smith.
Nothing. Just GPT it.
Yeah.
There's your prompt. Make thisactor look like a young Mark Hamill.
Yeah, done. Might bloody haveto. And we all know Sebastian Stan
would do it. Like, I knowwe've said this for years now, but
(20:36):
just put him in it. I saw theThunderbolts movie with when that
came out last week and I waslike, oh, this is actually pretty
good. Sebastian Stan's cool.
Still no spoilers. I'm seeingthat on Saturday.
It's got one of the coolestever scenes and it's got a clear
homage to a very popular filmfrom 1991, which you will instantly
(20:58):
get. And I don't think thatanyone has ever looked cooler.
Right.
Like possibly the coolest thatI. Not, not just on film, but in
life, that anyone's everlooked brilliant.
Okay. Okay.
Let me know what you think ofit. You know the scene that I'm talking
about.
Cool. Okay, cool. And justlastly, it's not me.
(21:21):
Spoilers just. I know becausewhat you're thinking to yourself,
Marco, you already look cool.You are that cool. But it's not me.
We all thought it.
I know. Well, that's what I'msaying. Get it in the show notes.
Lastly, we had, talking ofrecasting, we had a picture. We had
a picture of Roy McCann, RoryMcCann, who has been recast as Balin
Skull. We had a picture ofhim. So that doesn't look too bad.
(21:46):
That'll be all right. Mythoughts on it, really.
All right, Leave it out. Yeah,don't want to say anything on that.
I don't, I don't know theactor of what I haven't seen in or
anything prior.
What? Have you watched Game of Thrones?
Well, yeah, but he's not. WhatI mean is I've not seen a Rory McCann
(22:07):
leading starring thing before.
He's the friggin hound.
I know, but he's like one of.
The main actual characters inGame of Thrones. The very famous
ensemble cast based dramafantasy thingy.
Okay.
By George Rura Martin.
What's the other thing hestarred in then that I should go
(22:27):
and watch?
I don't know, do I?
Oh, you don't know all of asudden. But he's this big guy. Is
he?
Yeah, because Bing's down,otherwise I wouldn't know.
Yeah. Other than Game ofThrones in which he plays a very,
very specific stylizedcharacter, I haven't seen in him
anything else to make a propercall on it.
(22:47):
Well, I mean, they've cast himas a very unstylized non sci Fi.
Fantasy based char in a dramaabout a hospital. No, no, he's freaking
Jedi.
He's just got a beard. Likethat's, that's it. Like where's,
where you're pissed off you.
Didn'T get the job. Just sayso, man. You have to go through.
(23:07):
I'm not pissed off at all.
I just never rang.
I just don't have a thought onit, mate. Just don't have a strong.
Yeah, I'm looking forward toit. Or no, I'm not thing. I'm just
indifferent.
Yeah. All right. I thinkyou'll be good. So eat.
You think you'll be good?Cool. The Hound.
The picture looks good though.I mean it's tough to recap. Ray Stevenson's
got such a presence. Dude, youknow, he did what a. What a. What
(23:32):
a. What a difficult recast.But I think it's a nice choice. We'll
see.
Anyway, some other TV stuff.You know the anime style, Star Wars
Visions Volume 3 of that isout. That drops on. I think it's
(23:52):
like this year. I think it'slike October, November. So that was
pretty cool. October 29th.Yeah, that wasn't too bad. I'm not
really sure on the whole animething. They did it with a series
of Batman stories a few yearsago they brought a collection of
mini stories or anime basedand they're kind of cool. They're
(24:15):
okay. But I'll take or leavethis one.
Yeah. Visions was not a thingfor me. I tried, I tried and I get
it, I get like, I get why it'sgood and I get the animation styles
are cool and I, I do, I getit. I understand like why people
like it and I'm not poo pooand it just wasn't really for me.
(24:36):
And I think it, I think it wasbecause it was like I put that much
time into Star wars that you,you sort of don't, you don't really
have time because there's thatmuch other stuff that you want to
do or you want to watch or youwant to consume or play or whatever
that when there's somethingthat doesn't for me certainly like
(24:58):
contribute to the mainmythology and move any wider act
forward or you know, a selfcontained story, but that tells us
a story within the universe,you know, like I just choose something
else because there's that muchother stuff that I want to get through.
So, you know, I, I, I find itdifficult to not do anything that's
really in the, in the mainuniverse or you know, whatever, you
(25:21):
know what.
I Mean, yeah, no R. But thatis landing this year though, which
is kind of cool. Very rare. Doyou get something at Celebration?
It's like, oh, this is a coolthing. Oh, and it's this year or
it's.
Yeah.
So that's, that's pretty cool.So that visions that's out October.
A couple of really quickthings before we move on to our sort
of overall thoughts on OnCelebration. First of all, as I mentioned,
(25:43):
Star Wars Outlaws, the secondDLC that drops next week actually
that's called A Pirate'sFortune. That's the DLC where you've
got Hondo Anaka back from theClone Wars, Clone Wars Rebels 1 or
2. So he's in that DLC. And wehad some Hasbro releases for new
figures for the Black seriesand the vintage line. So those of
(26:06):
you that are fans of the oldvideo game Star Wars Shadows the
Empire, you've got the maincharacter, Dash Rendar. He's very
cool. I love it when they dothese sort of legends stuff. They
also announced a bunch offigures from the second Jedi game,
Jedi Survivor. So Cal Kestisand a bunch of other people. And
then coming up the rear, we'vegot Moff Gideon from the Mandoverse
(26:29):
in his proper outfit and alsoCobb Vanth, which is the, the dude
from season two, I believe,where they had the whole western
vibe and that stuff. So abunch of new toys, new stuff for
video games Smugglers Run,which is the, the mission based thing
at the Disney World andDisneyland parks that's getting a
(26:54):
new Mando and Grogo GroguFiend sort of mission added to it.
So a bit of an update for theparks there. And lastly, we had the
announcement that Star WarsCelebration is returning back to
Anaheim, which is in LA.
Yeah, it's in. Yeah, justoutside LA. Yeah.
Yeah. So that's 2027 and the50th anniversary of a New Hope. So
(27:17):
that should, fingers crossed,be a really big celebration. That
one has some cool stuff there.So a few other bits there.
Dude, it's in the same place.Certain trip, man. We've got a bit
of like, I think the, I thinkit's in the same place as where we
had the Podcast MovementConference years ago. It's a big,
big conference center justoutside of like Disney and all that
stuff.
(27:38):
That is correct. Yeah, yeah,we're very cool that 2027. Yep. Podcast
movement. I think that's 2021.
Oh no, it was web for that 20.I want to say 2018, 2017.
Right, right. Yeah, yeah, niceIt's a good venue, though. Huge.
It is, yeah.
(27:59):
Right, so that's all the news,the headline stuff from. From Celebration
Japan, as we did, just lookingfrom afar, but just picking up all
the announcements and justlooking at people's Instagrams and,
and, and TikToks and all thatstuff. What were your thoughts on.
On the event as a whole? Doyou. Were you like, oh, nips, I really
(28:21):
would wish I was there? Oryou're like, yeah, I'm just happy
to view it online.
Yeah, sort of the latter. Iwas away as well. I was on holiday
and didn't. Didn't like.Didn't even catch up with the news
that much on it. I'm in theStar Wars Celebration group from
when we went in London backcouple of years ago in 23. And it
(28:41):
was originally I was like, oh,it'd be cool to go to Japan. And
then it seemed like a bit of afaff. And even in London it was a
bit of a faff, like getting tothe event. And I'm never a big fan
of, like, trying to get out ofevents when it's the end of the day
and I just. It just annoys me.So, like, logistically, I was sort
of maybe a little bit of FOMOto start with, but as time progressed,
(29:05):
I was all right with it. Andthen just seeing some of the stuff
at the Facebook group and thereviews online and how few genuine
announcements were. Therewere. And coupled with the fact that
it seemed like, logisticallyit was terrible. From what I could
see, it appeared that therewas just a. A, just myriad issues
(29:28):
with, like, people like AaronChristensen's signings getting canceled
and people getting refundedand that, like, for many people,
they've spent their savingsfor that signature. You know, it's.
And it's not about the refundon the signature, it's about the
fact that they've spent ontravel and accommodation, time off
work. And so I didn't reallylike that. And I also. I also just
(29:51):
didn't like that. It. Itappeared that, like, the panel ballots
that we had the issue withback in 23, there were the same problems.
And then it seemed we werelucky. We were very lucky because
we didn't queue for any of themerch. We didn't queue to get into
the shop or any of that stuff,but it looked as if the lines for
that were just terrible andthere were people unable to get in.
(30:11):
So honestly, it's not thatI'm. There was. No, it's not what
I'm Trying to say it's gonefurther than, you know. Am I a bit
miffed that I didn't go? No,it's. I'm actively glad that I didn't
go. You know, I'm activelyglad that I didn't go, so. Because
it would, it would have cost afortune. We went because it was in
London. It's a train ride forus. It's a couple of hours. It's
(30:33):
easy and it's cheap to stayfor us. But if I'd have gone to Japan
and spent all that money, Iwould have been pissed, man. And
I. I'm guessing you wereexactly the same.
Yeah, exactly the same. Yeah.A lot of money to get over there.
And don't get wrong, I thinkit's cool that they host it in other
places. It's not just in theUS all the time. But yeah, for folks
(30:55):
in the US and here in Europe,to get to Japan in the first place
is not cheap. And then you addon all the stuff to get to the venue
and tickets and like you said,all that stuff. Yeah, I would have
been pissed as well. So happyto view this one. Just, I think,
I think they had an officialYouTube streaming channel you can
see, you know, all that andthe recap. I do want to say a shout
(31:16):
out to Matt at Star warssessions. Those guys, they do their
own podcast and YouTube andeverything. They flew out there from
the UK. They covered it all indepth, like a big billion tick tick
tock and Instagram stories andeverything. So. And I think he listens
to our show, which is prettysweet. So thank you very much for
(31:37):
keeping us in the loop on allthe behind the scenes stuff and travel
and getting around the venueand stuff. So that was cool. But
not gonna lie, dude, I'm upfor Anaheim though. Might have to
try and swing that one.
Well, different because it's,you know, there's. And I know Tokyo
is the same as this, but youknow, you can go to la, you can do
(31:58):
other stuff in la and theparks are right there so you can
make a family trip out of it.And it is like it's a drive from
la, you know, even lax, it'sfine. I've driven it before. It's
easy and there's a lot ofoptions there. And I think, you know,
with it been 50 of, of a newHope, you know, you, you probably
are going to get a MarkHamill, you probably are going to
get Harrison Ford. You know,some of them are gonna, you might
(32:20):
even get a George Lucas, youknow, because it Only happens once,
doesn't it? And they're notgoing to be there for the hundredth
so or 75 maybe. So I thinkthere'll be some big stuff. But that
just for me then just likethat goes against everything that
I enjoy, which is too manypeople paying expensive things for
things that shouldn't be thatexpensive for that reason. So I,
(32:42):
I don't know. I'm. I love la,but I would like to go to Anaheim
again. But I don't know, man.It just, it's got all the hallmarks
of a show already. Justbecause it will. There'll be that
many people wanting to do thesame thing. Especially if Hamill
and. And Harrison Ford orwhoever there and even George Lucas.
I just feel like it might notbe very good.
(33:07):
True. That is true. It's justthe. Yeah, it's that initial. Is
that an initial thought oflike oh my God. Shoulder to shoulder
with like thousands of otherpeople and that social battery draining
pretty quick.
Yeah.
Throughout the year. I knowwhat you mean, dude. But we'll see.
(33:29):
You never know. Strangerthings have happened, you know. And
let's wrap it there, mate.Let's wrap it. On a positive note,
we had some good things comeout of of this celebration. New film
looks to be getting over theline, which is a good thing. Mando
and Grugu Grogu movieconfirmed for next year. Starfighter
(33:51):
2027 visions out this year.Ahsoka season two looks wicked. When
that finally drops, we've gotandor season two to look forward
to. We'll be back for thatnext month. I think the end of June.
I think we said we were goingto come back and review that and
a bunch of cool little bits.Gaming, toy news, all that stuff.
So yeah, it's been prettysweet. And on that note, we will
(34:13):
wrap it there for episode 243.Thank you guys for checking out another
episode of Spark of Rebellion.If you've come back before and listened
(34:35):
to us for many years, thankyou very much. And if you're new
here, this was the recap ofStar Wars Celebration Japan 2025.
And we will report fromAnaheim 2027. Mark says no. Who knows
he said no before said no tostarting the podcast. So here we
are.
Look where that got us.
Look where that is. Yeah. Froma sins make sure you're following
(34:57):
and subscribing to thepodcast. Just search for Spark Rebellion
on all apps. You'll find usthere. That way you won't miss announcements
when new episode drops. Lobbus some beer money at forward slash
support or listen at forwardslash listen. And we'll be back for
andor season two pretty soon,dude. It's been good to be back chatting
Star Wars.
Yes, always good, mate. We'llprobably do an Ahsoka Season 2 episode
(35:18):
of the next season, I wouldhave thought. It seems a logical
thing to discuss, so I'm keenfor that. And yeah, looking forward
to it. Trying to get someguests on there as well, which would
be fantastic. So lookingforward to the seasonal approach,
but been great to chat, dude.Much love to Kevin, Pascal, Denise,
everyone that supports us. Andyeah, excited for the next season,
man.
Indeed. What he said. Andwe're back soon, so until then, take
(35:41):
care of yourselves and may theForce be with you always.
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