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Star Wars fans had been hoping that Ewan McGregor would make a return as Obi-Wan for years, as his take on the part was one of the few unambiguously good things about the Prequel Trilogy. Plus, given the quality of his acting in other projects, with the right script he could make something truly special.
The leaked stills of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker posted yesterday may have spoiled quite a big plot point in the movie. Not only do they give us our first full look at the resurrected Emperor Palpatine, but they appear to show Kylo Ren and Rey standing side by side wielding blue lightsabers, which would strongly indicate that Kylo Ren has a redemptive arc in the movie. Though they looked genuine, some rightly suspected they were fake. However, Disney have now inadvertently all-but-confirmed that they're real, as they've launched a copyright strike on a YouTuber who featured them in a video.
I've been a big fan of John Rhys-Davies ever since I listened to the cast commentaries on The Lord of the Rings Extended Cut DVDs. He's absolutely hilarious on them, the epitome of the classically trained luvvie. He's had landmark roles as Sallah in the Indiana Jones franchise, played Gimli and Treebeard in the aforementioned Lord of the Rings and General Leonard Pushkin in James Bond movie The Living Daylights.
It's being reported (and our sources have confirmed) that JK Simmons will be reprising his MCU role as J. Jonah Jameson in Morbius. This comes hot on the heels of his cameo appearance in the closing scenes of Spider-Man: Far From Home and will have big implications for both the MCU and Sony's Spider-verse. In the wake of the recent Disney v Sony Spider-Man drama, we've heard repeated indications that Sony's new superhero universe (thus far limited to Venom) will be more intertwined with the MCU than previously planned.
Prior to the release of Avengers: Endgame, the smart money was on Bucky Barnes becoming the next Captain America. He's Steve Rogers' oldest friend, has received the super-soldier treatment and was on a big redemptive arc. But then Steve made the decision to go with Sam Wilson (aka Falcon) as his successor. Bucky appeared to be cool with it at the time, but being passed over like that must have stung. Ever since then, fans have been debating Steve's choice, but now there's a theory that might provide some justification.
Being praised for a performance is one thing. But being praised for your performance in a horror film by the Master of Horror, Stephen King, is quite another. That's why Mark Hamill is so obviously pleased at yesterday's news that King chose Child's Play as his Halloween movie pick of 2019.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is being released to impossibly high expectations. It’s not just the conclusion of Disney’s Sequel Trilogy, but bills itself as the final conclusion to the Skywalker saga that began back in 1977. As such, audiences expect the film to provide some serious closure to the whole franchise, not just the last two movies, and there's long been talk that we'd see the return of classic characters from the series' history. But now, we've gotten authoritative word that someone rumored to appear in the movie for years will indeed be showing up.
Fans of The Last Jedi rejoice! Rian Johnson today confirmed that his planned Star Wars trilogy is very much still a going concern. The project was originally announced in the run-up to The Last Jedi's release, when Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm were so convinced that Johnson had struck gold that they granted him his own trilogy. Then the film came out and was met by a fan reception that was... let's go with 'mixed'. Many (myself among them) thought it was brilliant and a necessary course correction after the shallow nostalgia-fest of The Force Awakens. Others decided there were too many women in space, that they ruined Luke, etc etc etc.