What’s New With TV?

 Live Action, Star Wars Resistance, Forces of Destiny

Jon Favreau’s Live Action TV

 The first live action Star Wars TV series is expected to release in the fall of 2019, with the launch of Disney’s streaming service. This week it was announced that the series would take place 7 years after Return of the Jedi (which is 11 years after The Battle of Yavin, 2 years after the Battle of Jakku, and 23 years before the Battle of Starkiller Base). The question now is what can be inferred about the show based on its timeframe (if anything)?

First of all, we know that The Empire will most likely not be involved in this series. The “Aftermath Novels” tell us that the Empire fled into the unknown regions after the Battle of Jakku and didn’t return until shortly before "The Force Awakens". We can also guess that this series will focus on a new cast instead of previously established characters. Luke & Leia would be in their 40s in this series and Han would be in his 50s. It wouldn’t make sense to recast these characters, so we’ll assume they aren’t the leads.

Could we see legacy characters as cameos? This is certainly possible and probably inevitable. The possibility of 3-PO or R2 popping up seems likely. An appearance by Chewbacca would also be a good bet. Beyond that? I suppose we could see Admiral Akbar, Nien Nunb, Maz Kanata, or even Boba Fett.

There is an outside chance that we could see Mark Hamill return as Luke Skywalker. Disney, after all, gave us a young Robert Downy Jr. in “Civil War” and a young Kurt Russel in “Guardians 2”. It would be pretty amazing to see Hamill reprise Luke or Ford reprise Han Solo. I know that we saw both of these characters in the sequel films, but imagine seeing them looking 20 years younger. Even if it was only for a few minutes, it would be worth it. After all, fans wanted to see Han and Luke together one last time, maybe this TV show is the answer. 

Star Wars Resistance

Star Wars Resistance is expected to launch in the fall of 2018. It is said to take place 2 years before “The Force Awakens” and is said to follow a character named Kazuda Xiono who spies on the Resistance for General Leia Organa. Included in the cast is Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron, Gwendoline Christie as Captain Phasma, and BB-8 as himself.

Though “Star Wars: Resistance” follows “Rebels” and “Clone Wars” as Lucasfilm’s flagship animated series, the series itself is said to have an anime inspired feel and therefore the animation style may differ dramatically from the two previous series. Are we looking at a 3D look, a 2D look, or some kind of hybrid? We won’t know until we get some kind of trailer. 

Forces of Destiny Season 2

The second season of “Forces of Destiny” concluded last week with the release of 7 episodes on May 4^th. Along with these episodes came some surprising additions to the series' already rich casts of characters.

The episode “Traps and Tribulations” was the second episode this season to feature Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. In the episode Luke & Leia work with Wicket and Kneesaa to defeat a Gorax. If that description did not make sense to you, let me unpack it. Princess Kneesaa was a major character in the 1985 TV series “Ewoks”. She was the daughter of Chief Chirpa and Wicket’s best friend. She made a return to canon in Season 2 of “Forces of Destiny” appearing in two of the most recent episodes.

Also returning to canon in this episode is the Gorax. The Gorax were a gigantic Ewok-eating species native to Endor first featured in the film “Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure”. One Gorax was featured at the end of the film having captured Mace and Cindel’s parents.

 Another episode of note is “A Disarming Lesson”, which features Taylor Grey returning to voice Ezra Bridger for the first time since the "Rebels" series finale. The episode focusses on Ahsoka Tano teaching Ezra a lesson during a lightsaber spar. Pretty cool stuff.

My favorite Season 2 episode of FOD released in March of this year. “Bounty Hunted” features Chewie and Leia running into Maz Kanata on the planet of Ord Mantell. They are attacked by a bounty hunter called Boushh (yes, that Boushh) and Maz helps Leia bring down the bounty hunter. At the conclusion of the episode Maz notes that Boushh’s armor is just the right size for Leia.

Forces of Destiny episodes are only 2 minutes long and can land the viewer in any point in the Star Wars timeline. Most the episodes feature female leads (such as Rey, Leia, Ahsoka, Hera, Padme, Jyn, Sabine, or Hera) but there are a couple season 2 episodes that feature only males (such as Luke, Yoda, or Chewie). If you haven’t seen this series yet… get watching!