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Star Wars Celebration

Highlights From The Star Wars: The Last Jedi Livestream

by Andrew Reiner on Apr 14, 2017 at 11:16 AM

Day two of Star Wars Celebration kicked off with actor Josh Gad taking the stage to greet an enthusiastic crowd of fans. Gad made a name for himself in the Star Wars world for his hilarious videos in which he prods actress Daisy Ridley for Star Wars spoilers.

Gad spent a few seconds proving himself worthy of the room with stories and images from Star Wars premieres, and then turned the floor over to Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson.

Johnson received a huge standing ovation, not from being the director for the next Star Wars movie, but because he spent four hours talking to Star Wars fans last night. Yes, people lined up overnight for this panel, and Johnson was there in the early hours of the morning to geek out with them.

Johnson began by saying The Last Jedi is in post-production editing. Kennedy added that he wrote “amazingly fierce and independent women” in this sequel.

In another moment of remembering Carrie Fisher, Gad asked Johnson what it was like to work with her. “I love her so much. I just adore her. I connected with her first and foremost as a writer," he said. "She’s a brilliant writer with an incredible mind.”



After seeing several shots of Fisher working with Johnson, Daisy Ridley took the stage to a roaring crowd. Gad once again bombarded her with questions. “Is your name Rey Skywalker? Is it Rey Kenobi?”

Ridley deflected the questions and said The Last Jedi goes deeper into Rey’s story. She then shocked the crowd by saying meeting heroes might not be what you expect. This is obviously in reference to Rey meeting Luke Skywalker. What could that mean? Uh oh.

“I think we’re all excited for Luke’s first words,” Ridley said with a smile.



Johnson said that The First Order are aggressive at the beginning of The Last Jedi. The destruction of Starkiller base was a big loss for The First Order, but they also dealt the Republic a blow by destroying several key planets. In talking about The First Order, he then said Kelly Marie Tran, a newcomer to Star Wars, is one of the biggest players in this next chapter.



Tran’s character is named Rose. She’s part of the Resistance who works in maintenance. “She’s not a soldier. She’s not a hero,” Johnson said.

The last guest introduced was no surprise. Mark Hamill entered wearing a shiny black shirt, almost looking like Luke from Return of the Jedi. When reflecting on working with the people on stage, Hamill accidentally (or jokingly) called Ridley his daughter before catching himself and calling Boyega his son.



At the one hour mark, the interviews ended, and Johnson revealed the first teaser poster for The Last Jedi, which prominently features Luke, Rey, and Kylo Ren.

The entire crew then left the stage to watch the trailer, which you can see below. Johnson came back out to watch it a second time with the crowd.