Star Wars Celebration - live updates: The Phantom Menace 20th anniversary panel
All the action from the convention floor, including first looks at The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian, and Galaxy’s Edge
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Your support makes all the difference.Get ready, Chicago! This weekend sees all manner of creatures, droids, and jedi masters descend upon the city for Star Wars Celebration 2019. It’s the ultimate convention for fans of the franchise: not only can they gather together, revel in the geekery, and flaunt their very best cosplay outfits, but the event will feature a host of special panels – with some teasing major revelations for Star Wars’ future.
Saturday will see two major panels. The Galaxy’s Edge presentation will hopefully offer some initial ride footage from the brand new lands at Disneyland and Disney World. Meanwhile, we’ll get our first details of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a brand new EA game set after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
We’ll be covering all this live from the convention centre itself, so follow the liveblog below to find out the latest news coming out of Star Wars Celebration 2019.
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There have been some incredible crossover cosplays on the exhibit floor, including this reminder that Avengers: Endgame is mere weeks away
The hero of Star Wars Celebration so far, however, has to be the person who came as the entire island of Ahch-To
Before we launch into today's events (including a sneak peek of Galaxy's Edge and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order), here's a recap of yesterday's epic The Rise of Skywalker panel.
Today starts off with the panel for Galaxy's Edge, the new lands that will open in both Disneyland and Disney World. It's one of the biggest ever expansions to the parks and it's been teased as the most immersive experience yet. Hopefully we'll get some ride footage, too!
Galaxy's Edge is set in the Black Spire Outpost, a place that, by the time you visit, is largely inhabited by smugglers and rogue traders. Imagineering's Scott Trowbridge described some of the shopping and dining options, including a fun section where an old pod race engine has been upturned and transformed into an oven for meat roasting. On Smuggler's Run, you'll become the flight crew of the Millennium Falcon itself. On Rise of the Resistance, you'll become captives on a Star Destroyer, featuring fan favourites Kylo Ren, Rey, Poe, and BB-8.
Here's a shot of that pod racing engine turned cooking appliance
One of the characters you'll meet at Galaxy's Edge is Doc Ondar, the head of the local black market. His shop will be filled with Easter eggs from the entire franchise, with Ondar himself actually first introduced to us (very briefly) in Solo.
You'll also get the chance to build your own lightsaber, with a type that'll be different from anything else on the market. And then there's the chance to taste blue milk! All the drinks options will also be themed to Star Wars, with the Coca-Cola bottles all labelled in Aurebesh.
The cantina's DJ is Rex, your pilot in the original version of Star Tours, the ride that already exists in the Disney Parks. He crash-landed on Batuu, the planet where Black Spire Outpost is located, and was rescued, taking on a slightly different career. The music won't be that one song you know from Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes (i.e. the Cantina band), but it will feature some of their other hits.
Smuggler's Run will really give you control of the Falcon, meaning you can actually smash into things and cause damage to the ship, causing alarms to go off and sparks to fly. That will impact how you leave the Falcon itself, walking through the ship's hallway that will be changed according to how well you flew the ship. If you did a good job, everything will be fine. If you didn't, then lights be will be broken and there might be some furious comms chatter.
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