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Don’t Expect Another Trailer for The Last Jedi Until October

Rogue One spoiled everyone. With two teaser trailers, a BTS reel, and then a full trailer; we got a lot of footage from the movie last year. As the marketing for The Last Jedi was matching the schedule of Rogue One so far, many (including me) expect a new trailer in August. But it doesn’t sound like that will happen.

It sounds now like The Last Jedi is following the same trailer schedule as The Force Awakens, Revenge of the Sith, Attack of the Clones, and The Phantom Menace. Meaning one real teaser and then a full trailer.

“But they did a teaser for The Force Awakens in November of 2014!”

That little announcement teaser was an anomaly. It was something Disney CEO Bob Iger wanted to release in order to show off his $4.2 billion toy to fans and investors.

Traditionally, under George, Lucasfilm would do two trailers for each Prequel. A short teaser (such as the famous TPM one or the “breathing” AOTC one) and then a full trailer months later.

It seems like that’s how Lucasfilm is handling the “Saga” episodes of Star Wars now. It’s back to two trailers. Rogue One was a special case as they were really afraid how a standalone Star Wars movie would be accepted, so they did a lot of footage through 2016.

So we have Force Friday II coming up in a couple of weeks, and then in mid-October we’ll get the final theatrical poster and trailer for The Last Jedi. We’re almost there.

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GMA Is Not Teasing Something for Star Wars This Week

UPDATE!

GMA Tweeted me to let me know nothing is being hinted at with the Tweet.

Following the Entertainment Weekly reveals last week, many Star Wars fans are getting antsy for a new trailer for The Last Jedi. As Lucasfilm has (in the past) revealed or announced new trailers on Good Morning America, a Tweet by the show this morning has Star Wars fans wondering:

Of course it could just be GMA’s social media person not realizing what fans are expecting and unwisely using a Star Wars GIF in their Tweet. However, The Last Jedi is following Rogue One’s trailer schedule 100% so far:

Rogue One’s first teaser came in April 2016, right after The Force Awakens hit home video.
The Last Jedi’s first teaser arrived in April 2017 at Star Wars Celebration Orlando.

Rogue One’s BTS reel was shown at Star Wars Celebration London in July 2016.
The Last Jedi’s BTS reel was shown at D23 Expo in July 2017.

Following the teaser and BTS reel, a second Rogue One teaser hit August 11th during the Olympics coverage on NBC. A final trailer arrived in October.

Based on the timing and how The Last Jedi has been matching Rogue One so far, we’re almost overdue for a second teaser. So something this week would not be outside the realm of possibility.

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How the Rey/Jedha Theory Fits the Canon Timeline

I’ve heard some complaints about how the theory that Rey was from Jedha (as was Luke’s Academy) doesn’t fit with the established canon timeline from books such as Bloodline. But it can actually fit.

It’s entirely logical to believe that Rey’s people were the Clan of Toribota, and they were wiped out at some time on Jedha before the slaughter of Luke’s Academy on the same planet. That’s the connection she and Luke share. It’s not a blood relation. Her people and his people were both wiped out on the same planet.

Rey’s parents, fleeing the slaughter on Jedha, dropped her off on Jakku to save her from the people who killed the clan. It’s believable that they then were caught and killed (“Whomever you’re waiting for on Jakku, they’re never coming back.”), and the whereabouts of Rey weren’t known. Would explain Kylo’s “WHAT GIRL?” line in TFA especially if he knew a girl escaped the clan slaughter.

We also know that Han and Leia knew Ben had darkness in him. Han said, “There was too much Vader in him.” Like his grandfather before him, who slaughtered an entire village on Tatooine long before he became Vader, it’s possible that Snoke’s seduction of Ben began when he lured him with leadership power and made him the “Master of the Knights of Ren”. Snoke would use a teenaged (16-19 year old) Ben to do raids on people he wanted dead (like the Clan of Toribota).

Leia sees this happening with their son. Sees him hanging out with a bad biker gang, but not entirely aware of how evil they are. She decides to send him to Luke, “That’s why I wanted him to train with Luke. I just never should have sent him away.” So Ben spends his early to mid twenties with Uncle Luke, only to betray him and the Jedi around age 24 or 25, as he’s supposed to be around 29 in The Force Awakens. Bloodline is set about four or five years before the events of TFA and Ben is with Luke at that time.

With the Knights of Ren slaughter of the Clan taking place behind Han & Leia’s back (especially since Han was off being a racer at the time) when Ben was in his mid-to-late teens, it can fit in the timeline where Rey’s Clan is killed when she is a child and then Luke’s Academy is wiped out just a few years before The Force Awakens.

It all fits.

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Theory: Rey is the Chosen One (but NOT a Skywalker)

This morning I was going to write up a thing about a how my theory about Rey and Jedha does fit in with the canon timeline as we know it right now, but then I had a brainstorm. What if Rey, not Anakin, Luke, or Kylo, was the “Chosen One” who the Prophecy spoke about. And then I thought about it. And it all clicked.

The recent Entertainment Weekly piece said that Luke thought that Kylo could’ve been the Chosen One, but was obviously wrong. We’ve also heard how Luke will explain to Rey how she fits into everything and her importance to the Force.

In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon believes he’s found the prophesied chosen one in Anakin. Years later, Luke believes he found it in Ben Solo. What’s the commonality there? They’re human.

In The Force Awakens, the Skywalker lightsaber calls to Rey. People have used this as an excuse to claim she was a Skywalker. It wasn’t the Skywalker bloodline calling to her. It was the Force. That’s why she hears Yoda and Obi-Wan in the “Force Back”. Not because she’s some descendant to Yoda or Obi-Wan, but as they’re now one with the Force they can call to her and through the Force push her into her destiny of fulfilling the prophecy.

A human cannot dictate the will of the Force. Only the Force can do that, and it did so with Rey.

But how does this fit into the timeline of the Sequel Trilogy and Rey’s origin?

Again, it clicks.

In The Force Awakens both Kylo and Snoke are aware of a girl. Kylo because he knows she got away from his slaughter, and Snoke because he likely still senses the convergence in the Force.

At some point during Snoke’s seduction of Kylo Ren, Snoke detects a convergence in the Force on Jedha with the nomadic Clan of Toribota. Fearing this to be the Chosen One to bring balance to the Force, Snoke sends young Kylo and his secret biker gang of Knights of Ren to wipe out the clan and kill the child. But as we know the child escaped.

Rey’s parents were members of the Clan of Toribota on Jedha. They dropped Rey off on nearby Jakku to hide her from the growing First Order and they then fled. It’s possible Kylo caught up with them after they hid Rey and killed them, never knowing where the girl was hidden until the time of The Force Awakens.

In Revenge of the Sith Yoda admits that the Jedi could have misread the prophecy. It never was up to a Jedi to find the Chosen One, and it wasn’t part of the Skywalker bloodline. It was for the Force to decide, and I believe that’s exactly what the tile of “The Force Awakens” is referring to and what the movie showed when the lightsaber called to Rey.

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EW’s The Last Jedi Coverage Adds More to the Rey/Jedha Theory

As every Star Wars fan knows, Entertainment Weekly produced some awesome new images from The Last Jedi today along with articles revealing some new stuff about the movie.

While the “Rey Skywalker” people are taking the Rey & Luke article as more confirmation that he’s her daddy, if you read into it things start to line up with the theory surrounding Jedha.

Specifically, this:

“As she tries to pick up her own pieces, she may find they fit together well with the remnants of Luke Skywalker. Working together, they may become whole again.”

Think about it. If Luke placed his Jedi academy on Jedha and it was wiped out by Kylo and the Knights of Ren, and if Rey is from the same planet and her “clan” was also wiped out by Kylo; that gives the two of them common ground to build upon and what could be the “MARTHA!” moment to finally have them join up to go after the First Order.

Luke would realize his evil nephew who wiped out his Jedi was also the same person responsible for Rey being in the situation she is. That also would explain how Kylo is curious about a “girl” on Jakku in The Force Awakens.

The person who killed Rey’s people is the same one who killed Luke’s Jedi.

No need for Rey to be Luke’s kid. That right there is enough to link the two in an adoptive style relationship.

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Battlefront II’s ‘Clone Officer’ Is For Prequel Maps, Not the Empire

This weekend EA Star Wars sent out a Tweet that included an image that caused people to speculate that the Empire was still using Clones as officers. The Tweet was to reveal the Officer class in the game, and it included an image of a Battle Droid Officer and a Clone Officer:

If people went to the official Battlefront II website for the Officer class, they’d see a picture of what the Imperial officer looks like in the game, and he’s not a clone:

As the game has maps across all eras of Star Wars, the classes change appearance based on what map you’re playing. If you’re the Republic on a Prequel era map, then your Officer class will look like the clone. If you’re the Empire on a Galactic Civil War map, then it’ll look like the guy above. We haven’t yet seen the First Order officer, but it’s likely the same uniform as above only black instead of gray.

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Finally a Snoke Theory That Doesn’t Suck

Perhaps one of the more annoying things to come out of JJ Abrams’ Force Awakens Mystery Box was the rampant and insane Snoke theories. Despite Andy Serkis saying in one of his first interviews that Snoke is a newly introduced character, the crazy theories ranged from him being Plagueis, Leia, the murdered Youngling in Revenge of the Sith, to Boba Fett. But going off Serkis’ statement that he is a new character, one theory was that he was someone the remnants of the Empire encountered when they fled to the Unknown Regions as shown in the Aftermath books (and likely Battlefront II).

But today the newsfromjakku instagram leaker posted something that opens a whole new can of worms for a Snoke theory that actually works.

They posted a picture of a Diathim, otherwise known as one of the “angels” that Anakin confused Padme for in The Phantom Menace.

And. Wow. This makes a ton of sense and fits the puzzle almost perfectly. The Diathim are being used in the canon quite extensively, from The Clone Wars to the Aftermath trilogy and most recently in Inferno Squad. They’re keeping them pretty active in Star Wars for some reason.

An even bigger thing is their appearance. They look a lot like the leaked color image of Snoke, blue eyes and everything, but even more important is their size. MakingStarWars has talked about the puppet for Snoke being huge, as he’s supposed to be something like seven feet tall. Well, the Diathim are apparently anywhere from seven to nine feet tall.

Their appearance, body shape (especially the long gangly arms like Snoke), and height all line up with what we now know about Snoke. This actually makes a lot of sense and is finally a Snoke theory that isn’t completely insane. Snoke could literally be a “fallen angel” who seizes command of the First Order as they fled the known regions of the galaxy…

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Theory: Luke’s Academy, Jedha, and Rey’s Parentage. It’s All Connected

Yesterday I wrote how there’s growing evidence that Luke’s Jedi Academy could very well have been located on Jedha. And now more evidence has come out and putting the pieces together could spell out a big solution to the Rey’s parentage puzzle as well.

There’s an Instagram leaker who recently has been posting a lot of legitimate stuff from The Last Jedi, and today he posted an image of the Clan of Toribota. The recent Guardians of the Whills novels talked about this clan, which was located on Jedha:

If they look familiar, it’s because this is the “Clan Leader” that Kylo Ren kills in the “Force Back” in The Force Awakens:

So how does this apply to Rey’s parentage? This is the theory as it stands right now:

Luke travels to Jedha at some time before ESB in the Star Wars comic. Discovers it is a good remote location with a strong connection to the Force and Jedi.

The Clan of Toribota was still on Jedha even after the “mining accident”.

When Luke decides to train new Jedi he decides to place his academy on Jedha, with the Clan of Toribota there as protectors if anyone were to come and cause trouble.

When Ben Solo goes bad and decides to wipe out Luke’s academy, they also take out the Clan of Toribota.

Rey and her parents were part of this Clan, which could also have a connection to the “Church of the Force”. Seeing Kylo and the Knights of Ren purging the Force users on Jedha and their clan, her parents flee to hide her from Kylo. That’s why Kylo knows about a girl, he knows that two clan members escaped his purge with a young girl.

And it’s very possible the slaughter of the Clan of Toribota on Jedha is long before the Academy is wiped out. Think of Ben Solo joining a biker gang, they go off and do something really bad (kill a clan), Leia then sends him off to boarding school with Uncle Luke to straighten him out yet he still goes bad and kills everyone.

Like I said, it’s just a theory but as more and more evidence comes out to connect the dots with Jedha and Luke it starts to make a shocking amount of sense. A lot more than they Rey Skywalker/Kenobi/Palpatine craziness.

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RIP Furious Fanboys 2010-2017

Seven years ago, my friend Jason asked me if I wanted to work on a new sci-fi/comics/movies site he was launching. With my history on IGN and general blogging, I said I would and then Furious Fanboys was launched. The early days of the site were slow, but then in late 2010 it really started to pick up and it would often be front-paged on Digg.

The site grew pretty quickly those first two years. We’d post four articles a day and then a big list every week, and traffic was pretty solid. Then Digg was ruined and traffic to the site was a challenge. But it survived and did even better than ever before in 2013, with the launch of the new consoles giving it the highest traffic day in its history in November of 2013.

Back in 2014 the site suffered a catastrophic hosting failure. Two of the four drives the site was stored on failed, and the web host wasn’t doing the backups they were being paid to do. Eventually they found a backup from November of 2011, but that meant more than two years of content was lost. The downtime from the failure coupled with the loss of two years of content really hurt it.

In 2015 Jason sold the site, and the others he started, to an investment firm. They took it over in November of 2015, although I didn’t know they did until December of that year. With the redesign that they did a lot of things broke, and again traffic suffered for the rest of 2016 into 2017. We tried our best to keep it going, and a short-lived EIC did bring some new writers on the site who did good things.

On Thursday 7/20/17 the site went offline. The first day of the 2017 San Diego Comic Con. I emailed my contact with the company that now owns the site and he said he’d get back to me ASAP. That was two weeks ago. The site going down for a few hours is bad enough, a day is terrible, but for weeks as well as over the biggest convention of the year? That’s a death kneel for it.

While attempting to get an answer as to what was going on with the site I received contradicting stories. First they said they’d get back to me, then they decided to set up a free WordPress.com blog named after the site as a “fix” for it being down, and then they claimed the company taking over the sites (that I never heard about) messed up on the hosting and would be fixing it. The funny thing is the other sites (which fit the college co-ed demographic better than Fanboys does) never went down and are still running. That made me believe they decided to shut it down without warning.

Running the site was a labor of love for seven years. It wasn’t about the money as honestly it never really made much from advertising. In fact there were times I didn’t get anything for running it. The loss of those seven years of content is the most heartbreaking part of the site going offline without warning. If there was advanced notice, an export of the WordPress posts could’ve been done and all of that work would’ve at least been preserved. With the site taken offline the way it was, seven years of content is gone.

It’s entirely possible this new company that is taking over the operation of Jason’s old sites will at some point resurrect Furious Fanboys as they still own the brand, but it won’t be the same and they’ll basically be starting over from scratch. And I won’t be involved in any way after this disaster over the last two weeks. It’s hard to trust a company who owns the site, but won’t communicate with those running it and would shut it down with absolute zero advanced notice. They ran Furious Fanboys into the ground, and I really believe the site should’ve never been sold.

That’s the thing hat makes me the most mad about this. If they had decided to shut it down, and at least told us that, it would’ve been an easier pill to swallow. But for it to mysteriously shut down (while the other sites remained online) and stay offline for two weeks without any clear word as to what was going on? That’s just a scummy thing to do and it sucks that seven years of work was erased in that way.

The site had its highs and lows, and there were really stressful moments over the years, but it was fun to run it and see it grow. Too bad it got flushed down the toilet in the end. Goodbye Furious Fanboys, it was…fun.

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What if Luke’s Jedi Academy Was on Jedha?

With their new unified canon for Star Wars, there’s nothing that Lucasfilm does or introduces that should be dismissed or ignored. Too many fans dismissed the “filler” episodes of Rebels, such as the one with the Hammerhead Corvettes, only to see those elements pop up in the movies. They’re building out a big universe, and the Jedi mecca of Jedha introduced in Rogue One could have a bigger purpose.

What if that’s where Luke’s Jedi Academy was?

It does match the terrain seen in the “Force Back” during The Force Awakens, which is a rocky desert environment:

And most importantly, they’re going to be revisiting Jedha post-“mining accident” in the Star Wars comic. Luke will be visiting the planet that was once a Jedi mecca when the new creative team takes over the book:

If you think about it, there’s a lot of reasons why Luke would pick the planet as his location to train the next generation of Jedi Knights. It has a history with the Jedi, while at the same time it being partially destroyed by the Empire would make it less attractive to noisy people who may be snooping around. It’s a perfect place to hide out and the perfect location for him to set up his new Academy.

Lucasfilm exploring the location in the post-Rogue One timeline, especially with Luke himself traveling there, could be a signal that they’re not done with the planet yet and that’s where Luke goes with his new Jedi.

We’ll have to wait and see if this theory plays out…