Most Star Wars fans are busily processing the incredible ninth episode of Andor. ‘Nobody’s Listening!’ shows a galaxy far, far away at its darkest, including a horrifying torture sequence and the dark secret at the heart of the Imperial prison on Narkina 5.
With just three episodes to go, Andor is now in sight of the finish line. After this wraps there’s going be a little break before The Bad Batch season two on Jan. 4, 2023, which will kick off a huge year that’ll include The Mandalorian, Ahsoka. and Skeleton Crew.
As such, promotion on The Mandalorian is slowly restarting and it now appears that may bear some fruit as early as next week.
Surprise new The Mandalorian short may be coming next week
Next week will be the third anniversary of The Mandalorian‘s 2019 debut (and also the beginning of Disney Plus) and it seems that Lucasfilm is set to mark the occasion with some kind of new short featuring Grogu. The news came via eagle-eyed fans spotting the monthly release schedule from Disney Plus Italy. This lists ‘Star Wars Zen: Grogu and Dust Bunnies’, a “corto originale” (original short) arriving Saturday, November 12.
We don’t know what “Star Wars Zen” is either, though it may be some kind of unannounced series of shorts that’ll act as promotions for upcoming shows. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait too long to find out, as the release of this short is now just over a month away. Watch this space for an official confirmation.
Andor prop designer talks retro 70s analog tech
As Andor is set just before the original trilogy it features a lot of tech similar to what we see in A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Over the course of the show, we’ve seen some very cool makeshift Rebel gadgets, a miserable Imperial cubicle office, and the more high-tech computers used by the ISB. All those monochrome screens and satisfyingly clicky buttons are courtesy of Andor‘s excellent prop department.
Now the Wall Street Journal has an illuminating interview with those designers. One thing they’ve maintained is that there is no touch-screen tech in Star Wars. Prop designer Martyn Doust says:
“There’s no touching the screen. Everything is controlled by a big, chunky button or a dial.”
Another fun element is that they’ve restricted themselves by only creating props from objects that would have been available to the original A New Hope designers in the mid-70s. One notable example is the navigation device made from a collapsable Polaroid camera in episode four, with Doust explaining that:
“They were using real world stuff, taking it apart, and adding elements to make something look more technologically advanced than it actually was,”
Doust also mentioned that they don’t try to completely hide what the raw materials are as he gets a kick out of the idea of fans recreating these props for themselves at home.
The Acolyte is now filming in the U.K.
And finally, we can confirm that a full two years after it was first unveiled, The Acolyte is now before the cameras in the U.K. This live-action Disney Plus show represents a change in gears from Lucasfilm as it’s set at the tail end of the ‘High Republic’ era seen in comics and books. This setting is a few hundred years before The Phantom Menace and will follow a young woman (Amandla Stenberg) who begins exploring Dark Side powers and Sith philosophy.
Sets have been under construction at Shinfield Studios, Berkshire and, like Andor, it appears the show is trying to build as much of its scenery as possible. There will apparently be some use of The Mandalorian‘s groundbreaking ‘The Volume’ in this show, though after Andor we’d like to see as many physical sets as possible.
This shoot has been somewhat delayed due to production issues, with a previous report stating it’s been pushed back from its original ‘late 2023’ release date to sometime in 2024. If it’s beginning its shoot now that makes sense, but let’s hope for some pictures from the shoot soon so we can get a better of idea what this most mysterious show is about.
The weekend is right around the corner, but let’s hope for a couple of fun pieces of Star Wars news to enjoy tomorrow.
Published: Nov 3, 2022 10:00 pm