We’re just over a month away from Star Wars Celebration Japan, and the list of panels has now been announced, giving us an idea of what to expect.
Friday, April 18, will be headlined by The Mandalorian & Grogu panel, where Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni will be joined by other guests to discuss the next Star Wars movie. Later in the day, Filoni will join Athena Portillo for a Lucasfilm Animation 20th Anniversary panel, which promises to not only look back but give a sneak peak at what is to come.
The highlights for Saturday include a panel for Andor, with Tony Gilroy, Diego Luna, and the cast on hand to celebrate the critically acclaimed Star Wars series – which will be premiering season two just days later on Disney+. Later in the day there will be an Ahsoka panel with Dave Filoni, though the panel description mentions it will look back at season one (not season two).
Sunday, then, will highlight Star Wars Visions Volume 3 with a panel dedicated to the upcoming season. The day will close with the closing ceremonies.
In addition to these headliner panels, there will be a lot of the panels that fans are used to at Celebration including cast members and creatives, publishing, toys games, and more.
There are certainly some very strong projects and panels on tap for Celebration this year, but honestly, the full list actually seems pretty underwhelming. There’s no panel that (on the surface) looks to be giving a future roadmap, like there was last time. That’s ok, since that was a relatively new thing, and this time Star Wars is back in action with a movie to center on… except for the fact that The Mandalorian & Grogu is still over a year away and Favreau is notorious for not wanting any footage screened at these conventions to be posted online. So I’m doubtful we’ll actually get much of a look at this, especially for those not in attendance.
Andor will be a major focus, and deservedly so, but the panel also takes place just days before the series premieres, so that’s a little different. Ahsoka is the only other live-action series to be highlighted, but the description of the panel says nothing about it being a preview of season two. There will probably be hints, but it sounds like it’s designed as a look back. That will be interesting, certainly, but that loses a bit of the appeal as a headlining panel.
So it could be that our best bet for significant developments at Celebration could come from the animation side of things. Visions season three being promoted makes a lot of sense and will be exciting, but I think most exciting of all is the promise that they will be giving a sneak peak at what is to come from Lucasfilm Animation. Some of the very best Star Wars stories ever told have been through the animation, and I am extremely excited to find out what’s coming next from them. Depending on what it is, the announcement of a new animated series could be the biggest takeaway from this Celebration, and generate a lot of excitement.
Maybe especially curious, though, is the glaring omission of any kind of panel celebrating the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith or the 10th anniversary of The Force Awakens. These type of anniversary panels have been staples of past Celebrations, and always a great time. Why are they not included? My guess is probably the logistics of getting enough cast members all the way to Japan was too challenging to pull off. Which would be a shame, since it’s such a missed opportunity to do these kind of look-backs.
In short, Star Wars Celebration is always a fun time, but this year’s Celebration just feels a little light. It’s odd. But it will still be a great time filled with lots of focus on Star Wars, which is always a good thing.
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