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Star Wars News & Features

News and information from a Galaxy Far Far Away, and sometimes a little closer to home.

    Disney star Zac Efron has confirmed meeting with Star Wars Episode VII director JJ Abrams.

    The 26 year old actor was asked by MTV about his rumoured link with the latest instalment in the Star Wars saga and responded by confirming that he had met with JJ Abrams and that he loves Star Wars "but who knows?"

    Abrams recently confirmed that he has also spoken to Breaking Bad star Jesse Plemons about Episode VII.

    The new movie is due to start filming later this year, and is slated for cinema release on 18 December 2015.

    Leaked plot details from the upcoming final episodes of The Clone Wars television series appear to introduce the Sith homeworld... but not as we know it.

    Korriban has been enshrined in the Star Wars expanded universe as the homeworld of the Sith race and littered with ancient temples dedicated to the Dark Lords of the Sith, but The Clone Wars seems set to establish the Sith homeworld as "Moriband".


    Originally the Sith homeworld was said to be Ziost, but this was later clarified (or maybe retconned) to be a later capital world of the Sith Empire, with Korriban being their planet of origin. Dromund Kaas has also the distinction of being a Sith capital world.

    Could Moriband simply be another of several major worlds in the long history of the Sith? Or is this a sign of things to come, as major alterations to Star Wars canon creep their way into the mainstream media.

    Disney have remained tight-lipped on the changes to the expanded universe so far, but there are whispers that almost everything past Return of the Jedi is to be wiped clean, with major characters being used as templates for characters in the new sequel trilogy and all-encompassing continuity.

    Several rumours have surfaced recently that suggest that Mara Jade Skywalker is set to make her movie debut in Star Wars Episode VII, after receiving an on-screen introduction in upcoming television series Star Wars Rebels.

    This news comes after hearing about the great expanded universe shuffle for which Disney have convened the Lucasfilm Story Group to create a single version of Star Wars canon that encapsulates the expanded universe as well as the movies and new TV shows.

    Including a hugely popular EU figure like Mara Jade could have far reaching implications on the expanded universe. As the wife of Luke Skywalker and mother of their son Ben, Mara features heavily in the New Jedi Order and Legacy eras, and has an extensive backstory as a highly skilled Force-sensitive Imperial operative, an Emperor's Hand.

    JJ Abrams has recently told press that all Star Wars Episode VII rumours so far have been false, but he said similar things about rumours for Star Trek: Into Darkness which later turned out to be true.

    If true, it will be interesting to find out whether EU elements have been incorporated into the latest movie, or whether the timeline as we know it is to be totally overwritten with a brand new continuity, which has been suggested might happen.

    Sone Online Entertainment has announced that the Clone Wars Adventures MMO is to close on 31st March 2014.

    SOE's Director of Global Communications, Michele Cagle issued this statement:


    This leaves BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic as the last Star Wars MMO standing, and ties in with the conclusion of The Clone Wars television series and comics.

    Meanwhile, SOE President John Smedley told fans of the defunct Star Wars Galaxies MMO on Reddit that their new game in development would enable SWG fans to "come home". Intriguing!

    Author Christie Golden has confirmed that her upcoming trilogy Sword of the Jedi is on hold.

    Sword of the Jedi was to be set after the events of Fate of the Jedi and Troy Denning's stand alone novel Crucible, and follow Jaina Solo. But the series is now on hold while the newly formed Lucasfilm Story Group reviews the Star Wars canon.

    The Legacy era has been the main focus of a lot of expanded universe novels in recent years, with Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi proving popular with fans, so it would be a shame if it were to suffer casualties as canon is redefined.

    Sword of the Jedi promised to be a welcome change with less involvement from the old heroes and more focus on the new generations of Jedi Knights in the aftermath of recent events.

    Pixar + Star Wars = Awesome?

    By Andy, in The Movies,

    The latest rumour to come out of Latino Review is that Pixar have been given the go ahead to plan for a Star Wars film of their own.

    It is likely that this would happen sooner or later, with Star Wars and Pixar both in the hands of Disney, but it looks like the signal has been given for Pixar to get to work on their take on an animated Star Wars movie.

    Pixar's release schedule is packed at the moment, with Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, and Finding Dory already in the works, so it's unlikely that we'll see this any time before 2017, but if rumours are true then this would be Pixar's first movie based on an existing franchise. Hopefully Pixar still get to have their take on it, and we don't just end up with a standard animated film that could have been done by anybody.

    To be a true to Pixar's spirit in an existing property may prove difficult, but I'm sure there are a lot of fans who can't wait to see what this combination would turn out like. With Disney planning to release a Star Wars movie every year, it's inevitable that they will have to use all of their assets to keep the ball rolling.

    Of course, rumours are rumours and until official word is released by Disney or Pixar, it is anybody's guess what will happen in the future.

    Script ready: Full steam ahead!

    By Andy, in The Movies,

    Director JJ Abrams has revealed that the Star Wars Episode VII script has been finished after it was delayed last year.

    Abrams was asked at the Television Critics Association press tour while promoting his new series Believe, where he stated that the script is complete and they were now in "deep prep" for filming.

    He spoke about Imax, too, and said that he would use Imax if the situation was right for it. "The problem with IMAX is that it’s a very loud camera. It’s a very unreliable camera. Only so much film can be in the camera. You can’t really do intimate scenes with it. It’s slow. They break down often."

    There has also been more recent casting rumours, such as Breaking Bad star Jesse Plemons, who although earlier in the week denied his involvement with Star Wars Episode VII, Abrams has since confirmed that he has been in talks with Plemons. Dame Judy Dench has also been tipped for the role of Mon Mothma, but this is more likely to be purely wishful thinking.

    In related news, Carrie Fisher has told reporters that she, along with Mark Hamil and Harrison Ford are due to start filming in March or April. Fisher can also be seen with James Earl Jones in an upcoming episode of The Big Bang Theory later this month.

    1313 trademark dropped by Disney

    By Andy, in Gaming,

    In case you were still clinging to the tattered remains of your hopes for Star Wars 1313, once one of LucasArts' most anticipated games, allow me to dash those hopes.

    According to the US Patent and Trademark Office website, the trademark for Star Wars 1313 has now lapsed after Disney failed to renew the mark. Allowing trademarks to expire is highly uncharacteristic of the Disney empire, and thus we can only assume the worst.

    Even after Disney took control of LucasArts and laid waste to the staff roster we held on to hope that development would be resumed once restructuring was complete. And when Electronic Arts was granted the licence to develop games for the franchise, did we falter? No! Well, some of us sure did, but there was still a glimmer of hope that all the effort that had already gone in to 1313 would not be left to rot.


    Now it seems the final nail has been driven into 1313's coffin.

    RIP Star Wars 1313; gone but not forgotten.


    Recent reports have shed some light into the departure of Michael Arndt from the Episode VII script team last year. Arndt's plan was to focus on the offspring of the original heroes, whereas Abrams wants to focus on the big three one last time before handing over the reigns to the next generation.

    Originally, the plan seemed to involve Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford returning in a supporting capacity for Star Wars Episode VII with the newer recruits taking the lead, but now it seems that the fan favourites will be getting one last outing as the main stars.

    It is still rumoured that the new characters are the offspring of Luke, Leia, and Han, and it makes sense that one last outing for the stars of the classic trilogy, while taking the opportunity to introduce the next generation of Star Wars stars.

    It has recently emerged that production of Star Wars comics will move to Disney-owned Marvel Comics from 2015, after an almost 25-year run with Dark Horse.

    In what is perhaps not the most totally unexpected move Disney is to bring Star Wars comics in-house to Marvel, bringing an end to a licencing deal that first started with 1989's Dark Empire.

    Dark Horse have been given until 2015 to wrap up their current productions before Marvel take control. Marvel themselves are no stranger to Star Wars, having published the first comics for the franchise from 1977 until 1986. Mark Richardson of Dark Horse remains upbeat despite the obvious disappointment of losing the Star Wars comics licence, and stated that they have many other exciting projects in the works.

    With the reorganisation of the Star Wars expanded universe, and the release of Episode VII and the other sequels in the next few years it is sure to be an interesting time for Marvel's new foray into a galaxy far far away.

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