@TravMoody
JOURNEY TO STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (Saturday, Javits Center) – It’s never too late to make your dreams come true, especially in a galaxy far, far away. For Marvel writer Ethan Sacks, those goals became reality a few years ago when he got the call from The House That Stan Built to pen a few one-shots and provide new tunes for Old Man Quill. This next career followed many years as an entertainment journalist, as Sacks covered big movie premieres and an assortment of popular “geek” culture for the New York Daily News. You just know never when you’ll get that holographic buzz from a Jedi Master…
At New York Comic-Con this past weekend, Sacks detailed what was next for the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge scribe– who admitted to watching A New Hope around sixty or seventy times. That said, it’s no surprise that his Allegiance mini-series will focus heavily on “Princess” Leia (who he quickly corrected to “General”) and her team heading to Mon Cala. Sacks especially enjoyed writing scenes between Rey and Rose, which offered a unique dynamic and Rose “a little bit of an action beat.”
Having met Carrie Fisher as a critic, Ethan’s chance to pen Leia in Allegiance was a special treat. Seeing an independent figure like Leia gather allies definitely sounds like an interesting new angle for the General in Star Wars lore, and we can never get enough of Finn and Poe, together or alone, which Sacks notes the Resistance players will initially roam Mon Cala for supplies on separate missions. The writer also promises that a Kylo Ren-led First Order will be especially ruthless to open the Allegiance saga (oh, hell yeah.)
Sacks was joined in the panel by a powerhouse squadron of Lucasfilm authors. Ahsoka Tano herself — Ashley Eckstein — led the charge as host, saber-slicing Q&A’s to Lando’s Luck‘s Justina Ireland, Resistance Reborn‘s Rebecca Roanhorse, Phasma‘s Delilah S. Dawson, and Spidey writer, animation creator and all-around funny AF dude Kevin Shnick on the journey to the ninth Star Wars film.
Jedis and Siths alike will be no doubt gassed to learn that a Bantha-sized load of prologue content is coming between now and five days before Christmas. Having had to miss both the Lucasfilm Publishing and Hasbro Star Wars panels this weekend, I was pleased they gave the Resistance another charge.
Here are just a few highlights from the fun panel:
- Roanhorse charmed the audience with details on her charming ace in the hole’s hair that wound up in her forthcoming novel Resistance Reborn, the horrible mistakes Poe Dameron made in The Last Jedi and that road to mental recovery a leader of his stature must go through after “royally [messing] stuff up.” The author also joked about her panel notes that explicitly told her what not to say, and enjoying the freedom Lucasfilm gave her in writing Resistance. Expect characters and “old faces” from all Star Wars mediums that “maybe you haven’t seen for a while”, including video games.
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Schnick was force-choked into rewriting a great deal of his upcoming Force Collector, because he basically — and unknowingly — scripted a plot from Episode IX. Call his “journey” to The Rise of Skywalker a near “Clone War”! Schnick details his YA novel as “a standalone story with original characters that flashes back to [stuff] from the films, comics and novels.” The writer/producer/voice actor also promised that FC is “a story for people who know everything about Star Wars, and a story for people who know nothing about Star Wars.” I don’t know about you, but that just sounds awesome.
Panel = 3.75/5 Porgs.
Marvel/Disney/Lucasfilm’s Journey to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Allegiance #1 drops tomorrow.