Top 5 ‘New Hopes’ For Star Wars Celebration 2016

2015 Star Wars Celebration Anaheim gave fans “Chewie…we’re home.” That trailer nearly shattered the Internet. Star Wars Celebration is an experience unlike any other if you are a fan of this ever expanding galaxy far far away. This is the event that allows you to show off your Star Wars pride, all while learning new information that will become a critical part of Star Wars canon. 

This year, Star Wars Celebration is taking over London. The event is going to feature a variety of panels including conversations with the cast, interactive features and with any luck some brand new trailers that might leave fans once again overcome with tears of joy.

We’re highlighting our top five hopes for what will come out of 2016 Star Wars Celebration. Here, we discuss everything from Rogue One to the possibilities of news surrounding Star Wars: Episode VIII.

Luke Skywalker

The hype around Star Wars: The Force Awakens reached new levels of critical mass for fans but one key piece was missing…Luke Skywalker. Our first hope is that Celebration puts Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) front and center. Could we get some details about his role in Episode VIII? What was he thinking at the end of The Force Awakens? Any details from Hamill himself would be a huge win for fans and footage of him in Episode VIII would set the Internet ablaze.

Star Wars Rebels Season Three

The season two finale of Star Wars Rebels featured a showdown that many fans had been waiting a long time to see. The end of season two featured a major confrontation between Darth Vader and his former Padawan Ahsoka Tano. This left audiences wondering what had happened to Ahsoka? What will the future hold for our favorite Rebels characters as they get closer to the Rogue One/A New Hope timeline? Dave Filoni is being featured on a panel focusing on all things Rebels and is likely to give us a lot more information regarding the third season and possibly another astonishing trailer.

Darth Vader

Rogue One has recently been making headlines because of reshoots but it appears that everything is moving forward as planned and with confidence. Disney is hyping up the Rogue One anticipation. For newer fans, Rogue One is the first movie within the Star Wars “spin-off” series, which are now known as a “Star Wars Story.”

According to Making Star Wars, we will be getting our next glimpse at the Gareth Edwards-directed film next Friday on July 15 – the day in which a panel on the film will be held at Star Wars Celebration Europe, where Edwards and LucasFilm head Kathleen Kennedy will discuss the upcoming film, along with some special guests (expect much of the film’s ensemble to make an appearance).

While this is fantastic news, one key piece is needed in order to really help drive excitement towards Rogue One…Darth Vader. If the trailer ends with Darth Vader actually appearing or simply his signature breathing, it will easily be one of the most talked about moments from Celebration and will out Rogue One front and center in the minds of Star Wars fans.

Spin-off News

When Disney purchased LucasFilm back in 2012 for $4.06 Billion, it was clear that they wanted to re-energize the franchise and create movies outside of the traditional episodes. Rogue One will be the first one released and currently the young Han Solo project is in development, which is being directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Both Lord and Miller will be attending Celebration and hopefully providing more information about this story, which features Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo.

While Han Solo news would be fantastic, fans have also been wondering what happened to Josh Trank’s (Fantastic Four, Chronicle) Star Wars spin-off project. It was unclear what this spin-off movie would have been and if plans are being put in place to move forward with it. Announcing a new spin-off project at Celebration would not only take over the news cycle but create a whole new thread for Star Wars fans to speculate on.

Star Wars: Episode 8 Title…even footage?! 

The Force Awakens reminded audiences just how much excitement could build before a movie’s release. The moment the credits rolled for The Force Awakens audiences have been searching for any details around the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VIII, being directed by Rian Johnson. What will happen with Luke Skywalker? Who are Rey’s parents?

Production on Star Wars: Episode VIII has finally wrapped so it is highly possible that we could be getting a sneak peak at some footage or even a title for the project. It will be an incredibly hard task trying top to the emotional knockout that “Chewie…we’re home” delivered but any news surrounding Episode VIII would win 2106’s Celebration.

Chelsea Lewis

Chelsea Lewis

Chelsea Lewis, TV division, joined Heroic Hollywood in 2016. Prior to joining the team at Heroic, she worked for TheCelebrityCafe.com covering everything from music to...