Greetings, fans! Seeing as this will likely be the last Cantina Talk news roundup before the new year, it seems only right that we end 2018 the same way it began: Feeling sorry for the people involved with Solo: A Star Wars Story, which was disqualified from the Oscar race for original score because the submission missed the deadline. It almost feels like a strange meta commentary on how unlucky that movie ended up being in the end, but at least we'll always have the stand-out performances of Donald Glover (Lando Calrissian) and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (L3-37) to remember fondly. (Get those two in a rom-com now, dammit.) Oh, you were hoping for more Star Wars news? Fine, if we must.
The Source: Lucasfilm, finally admitting what people have been gossiping about for a while
Probability of Accuracy: It's an official announcement; it's 100 percent legit.
The Real Deal: After months of rumors, Lucasfilm has finally confirmed a good portion of the case for Jon Favreau's show for the streaming service Disney+. Alongside Pedro Pascal in the title role, the series will feature Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, and a trinity of names no one ever thought would be involved in a Star Wars project: Nick Nolte, Carl Weathers, and Werner Herzog. In a statement accompanying the official announcement, Favreau—who is working as writer and executive producer on the show, with a list of directors that includes Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, and Taika Waititi—said, "We're having a great time working with this incredibly talented group and excited for everyone to see what we're up to." We'll all have to wait, though; the earliest the show can debut is late 2019, when Disney+ is scheduled to launch.
The Source: A random, anonymous source on Reddit, of all places
Probability of Accuracy: It's too vague to be able to tell one way or another, to be honest. Let's go with 50/50.
The Real Deal: If you're wondering just what The Mandalorian is going to be about, the answer might have arrived via Reddit, with someone who claimed to have attended a Disney marketing presentation offering the following: "The main thing I remember here is that the central plot revolves around the main character and a baby. I guess the Mandalorian encounters a baby on one of his missions that he is supposed to kill, but instead of that, he ends up saving it and a lot of the rest of the story revolves around their growing relationship and his efforts to keep the child safe and protected." It probably didn't escape many people's notice that this sounds not unlike acclaimed manga series Lone Wolf and Cub, but whether or not that makes it more or less likely to be true is entirely open to question. Admittedly, we smell a rat, but, hey, we've been wrong before.
The Source: The same Redditor as above, actually
Probability of Accuracy: If only for the fact that this feels like a dangling thread that will be pulled sooner rather than later, let's go with "probably pretty accurate."
The Real Deal: Elsewhere on Reddit, the same user commented in another thread, again referring to the marketing meeting they were apparently present for, and suggested that the Knights of Ren—the villainous order somehow connected to Kylo Ren—will be finally properly seen in Star Wars: Episode IX. "They did show numerous pictures/artwork of them," they wrote. "I wish I had more details but at the very least it seems like they will play a bigger role than previous films. While I'm a Star Wars fan, I'm not a superfan like many of you so a lot of names/details/places probably were wasted on someone like me." Previously, the Knights appeared in one scene of 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with their costumes based on previously rejected designs for Kylo Ren's costume; the director of that movie, J.J. Abrams, is also responsible for the upcoming Episode IX, so it's not the strangest rumor to have out there.
The Source: Marvel's comic book arm
Probability of Accuracy: This is also an official announcement, so it's pretty much entirely accurate.
The Real Deal: Those worried that the recent cancellation of the Star Wars: Shadow of Vader comic book series would mean less Darth Vader in their lives can now rest easy. Marvel has announced a replacement series called Star Wars: Vader—Dark Visions to launch in March. Sounding not unlike the cancelled Shadow of Vader series, Dark Visions will also be a five-issue series showing different sides of the villain. So different, in fact, that Marvel's PR for the series actually calls Darth Vader "the mysterious antihero," because apparently "antihero" means something else these days. The series will be written by Dennis Hopeless, with artists including Paolo Villanelli and Brian Level.
The Source: Luke Skywalker himself
Probability of Accuracy: This is pretty much a slam dunk in terms of accuracy, but also absolutely no surprise. It's not as if Lucasfilm would suddenly become far less concerned with keeping secrets when it comes to the final movie in a massively successful trilogy.
The Real Deal: With the next movie still a year away, apparently we're back to the point where almost anything even quasi-related to the production of a Star Wars fiilm is considered news. How else to explain Mark Hamill repeating how secretive scripts are making the rounds last week. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said, "I remember back when I read the first Star Wars [script], I was like, 'Wow, that's the goofiest thing I've ever read.' I gave it to my best friend to read, and I said, 'What do you think of it?' He said, 'It's really wild, it's crazy, can I give it to Meredith?' 'Sure, go ahead.' It went around to all my friends. Of course back then nobody cared. Nowadays it's like working for some secret deep state government organization, like being in the CIA. They're going to send rewrites over to Prague on this dark red paper that gives you a headache to read." Headaches, huh? Wonder what that could mean...
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