Star Wars

The owner of the largest privately-owned Star Wars memorabilia collection in the world, known as Rancho Obi-Wan, has announced today that it has been systematically robbed over a period of many months from 2015 to 2016. Steve Sansweet, who offers tours of the ranch and its many pieces of Star Wars history, says that not only do the items taken make up about $200,000, it appears to be an inside job.

With all the new pieces in play in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it sure seems like Lucasfilm is setting the Star Wars universe up to go somewhere special. Once Kathleen Kennedy and company made the decision to blow up the preexisting Star Wars canon, we watched firsthand as they began the process of stitching together a new continuity. There were Star Wars books explaining the events that followed Return of the Jedi, new television shows that wove together the old and new trilogies, and even video games fleshing out some of the new planets and species we’d seen in The Force Awakens.

We hit up Steve Evans, director of design and development for Hasbro's Star Wars series, to talk about Hasbro's 40th Anniversary figures, the return of the Vintage Collection, and what lies ahead for the Star Wars Black Series.

When it comes to the movies, these are lucky times we’re living in. A new Star Wars movie opens this December with the return of new favorite – Rey, Finn, and Poe – and old favorites – Luke and Leia. But even for those who aren’t deeply professed fans of the galaxy far far away, Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi has a little something for you too; Laura Dern with purple hair, and Benicio Del Toro, looking as cool as ever.

It is one of the most indelible images in all of Star Wars. After an entire movie of searching, Daisy Ridley’s Rey finally finds him: The missing Jedi, Luke Skywalker. At the top of a mountain in Ireland (or outer space or whatever), Rey confronts Luke, played by Mark Hamill. She presents him with his old lightsaber. He stares her down. And then ... the movie ends.

I have interviewed a lot of actors and directors. When I tell people I interviewed someone famous, their first question is always the same: “Were they nice?” It’s usually hard to say; you don’t get much time with these filmmakers and they’re typically on their best behavior because they want you to write nice things about them. Interviewing a director is like being on a reality show: I’m not there to make friends.

For a guy whose entire acting career has been overshadowed by one role he played decades ago, Mark Hamill’s got a pretty good attitude. He loves Star Wars, and what’s more, he loves how much the people who love Star Wars love Star Wars. A regular fixture at conventions and other fan events, Hamill regularly gets in on the fun and mingles with his adoring public. And in a new video from Lucasfilms’ charity arm Force for Change, he gives a handful of diehard devotees the surprise of their lives.

When Lucasfilm initially announced Star Wars: Episode IX, the tentative plan was to release it in theaters on May 23, 2019 — that date was never confirmed, however, and when the studio shifted their releases to December (with the exception of the young Han Solo spinoff), everyone just assumed that it was only a matter of time before Episode IX’s release date was changed, too. That’s definitely not the case, as Disney and Lucasfilm have announced a metric Jabba-ton of new release dates, officially confirming the final film in their Star Wars trilogy for May 24, 2019.

Unlike the previous Obi-Wan Kenobi  —  sorry, Alec Guinness  —  Ewan McGregor has long been excited about the prospect of returning for more Star Wars movies, telling Empire Magazine last October that he was the “right age” to make two more movies as the beloved character. While fans were sometimes unimpressed by the prequels, McGregor’s winning performance as the young Jedi was one of the highlights of the film, leading fans to clamor for a standalone Kenobi movie while McGregor was still the right age.

A couple weeks ago, when Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the Han Solo spinoff was going to be about “How Han got his name,” the internet, understandably, went a little wobbly. Is Han Solo not Han Solo’s name?? What was his name before he was Han Solo?? What does it all MEAN??? Well, we can all relax now, because what looked like a mysterious plot detail was actually just a poorly-chosen turn of phrase.

Walt Disney World and Disneyland already have a few Star Wars-based attractions, including the Star Wars Launch Bay, where you can interact with characters from the movies like BB-8, and Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, a simulator ride that brings guests on a journey at lightspeed through various corners of the galaxy far, far away. But that’s nothing compared to what’s coming: A full “Star Wars Land” coming to theme parks on both coasts, which will boast some of the most advanced theme-park technology to date.

For as long as Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels have been considered canon, fans have an unease with prequel-era characters that don’t show up in the original films. Rogue One at least gave us a hint at which Rebels characters endure, though the new Forces of Destiny shorts may have revealed one character who lives to fly another day.