Galactic Empire

Image: Apple TV+In the interest, again, of avoiding spoilers, we’ll use Apple TV+’s official character descriptions for these new faces that’ll be important in season two:Brother Constant (Isabella Laughland): “A cheerfully confident cleric whose job is to evangelize the Church of the Galactic Spirit across the Outer Reach. Constant is a true believer, whose courage and passion make her hard not to love.”Poly Verisof (Kulvinger Ghir): “High Claric of the Church of the Galactic Spirit. Whip-smart and sardonic, he’s also a…

One of the best things about Star Wars can, on occasion, also be one of the worst things. It’s the canon. The fact that all Star Wars stories released these days are happening in the same universe. So whatever happens in one story could, and should, impact the others. ‘I Started a Yoda Fan Club’This can be incredibly cool, leading to fun, emotional payoffs, but it can also create all kinds of questions. Not exactly “plot holes,” but questions. Questions like, “If there are dozens of Jedi still alive in the universe around…

Screenshot: LucasfilmBut is anything ever really gone in Star Wars? It’s telling that the Darksaber was simply grievously damaged rather than completely destroyed—and even when the galaxy far, far away has seemingly gone out of its way to show a legendary weapon like a lightsaber being lost, it can still find its way into the hands of a new hero. While it seems like The Mandalorian and Star Wars at large are currently ready to move on from the rebuilding of Mandalore as a focal storyline, there are potential seeds in…

“Thrawn’s return... as Heir to the Empire.” In just seven words, Ahsoka’s first trailer made clear the desires fans have yearned for since a blue-skinned man in a white admiral’s uniform first stepped out of the shadows six years prior: Thrawn is here, and Heir to the Empire, the novel that started it all decades before, is coming with him in some manner.Spoilers of the Week: July 1stIt’s impossible for a million reasons for the current iteration of Star Wars canon to remake Timothy Zahn’s classic trilogy of books—Heir,…

Image: Lucasfilm/EAOrchestrated by the Emperor’s counsel and Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax, the first Shadow Council was, as the name implied, meant to manage the Imperial Remnant’s counteroffensive against the New Republic from the shadows, with only Sloane, now a Grand Admiral, as its public figurehead. But although not as short-lived as the IFC, the first Shadow Council was doomed from the beginning, intentionally.Rax, operating on direct orders from Palpatine posthumously released as part of Operation Cinder—Palpatine’s…

This week’s episode of The Mandalorian was all about setting the stage, and the stakes, for an explosive end to a very mixed season three. But it also looked to Star Wars’ future with the presence of a face very familiar to fans of the old Expanded Universe.Spoilers of the Week: July 1stThe opening of “The Spies” sees a returned Moff Gideon, freed from New Republic custody, address his fellow Imperial Remnant commanders as part of the Shadow Council, the mishmash of Imperial officers, warlords, and spymasters that tries…

Image: Respawn/EA/LucasfilmThis weekend is Star Wars Celebration 2023, and even Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is getting a little bit of love. Respawn’s sequel to its 2019 breakout releases at the end of the month, and while it doesn’t have a panel to itself, the game got a new trailer during the annual event.Spoilers of the Week Feb.11thJedi Survivor picks up five years after the end of Fallen Order (and not long after the recent Battle Scars novel from Sam Maggs), with an older Cal Kestis on the run and still fighting the…

Image: Respawn/EA/LucasfilmDuring the late 2010s, when it seemed like Star Wars video games would become more notable for their controversies rather than the games themselves, Respawn Entertainment released Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. That game resonated with audiences that it both let EA create more Star Wars games (and other studios take a stab at the property), and guaranteed a sequel in the form of Jedi Survivor.Ahead of its gameplay trailer at the Game Awards earlier in the week, actor Cameron Monaghan (who plays…

Screenshot: LucasfilmOne thing that always confused me about Andor was why Fiona Shaw—a Shakespearean actor extraordinaire and multiple award-winning star of stage, screen, and TV—would have accepted the small, muted role of Maarva Andor, Cassian’s adoptive mother. That is, until I saw the series finale, where Shaw’s massive talents were put to perfect use—well, almost perfect, if Disney’s censors hadn’t gotten in the way.According to Denise Gough, who plays dedicated Imperial Security bureaucrat Dedra Meero in the TV…

Image: LucasfilmAndor is so refreshing in part because it does not feel like the kind of Star Wars show that is going to drop everything, point at a familiar character arriving onto the scene, and go “look! Star War!” And yet, out of nowhere, this week’s thrilling episode dropped maybe one of the most absurdly deep-cut canonizations this era of Star Wars has ever seen.“Aldhani” picks up quickly where Andor’s three-part premiere left off, as Cassian and Luthen race away from the planet Ferrix, and the latter just as…