Movie and TV News

Get ready for The Bad Batch! Set to debut on Star Wars Day!

Gina Carano is no longer employed by Lucasfilm. Late Wednesday night the news broke that following a controversial post by Carano on her Instagram Lucasfilm decided to cut all ties with the actress. I will show a screenshot of Gina Carano’s (deleted) controversial Instagram post after the jump and provide some commentary. Before you click through to read the full story I want to remind everyone to be polite and civil in the comments!

We will most likely not see Cara Dune ever again

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The Mandalorian received a nomination as “Best Television Series (Drama)” for the upcoming Golden Globes earlier today! The other nominees in the category are “The Crown”, “Ozark”, “Ratched” and “Lovecraft Country”.
Last year The Mandalorian was completely overlooked by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that awards the Golden Globes. The HFPA is an organization of ca. 90 foreign journalists who report on US entertainment news for foreign media.
Do you still care about these award shows? The Golden Globes have somewhat of a shifty reputation in entertainment circles, because a club of fewer than 100 journalists from countries like Russia, India, South Korea, Bangladesh, Austria or Germany decide on who wins what and earning a membership in the organization is somewhat of an intransparent process. But a Golden Globe win is still coveted by most in Hollywood. However, the only memorable thing about last year’s Golden Globes was certainly Ricky Gervais’ roast of Hollywood actors and few probably remember any of the winners. Unfortunately Gervais won’t host the show this year, instead Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will co-host. The Golden Globes will be awarded on February 28th. Will you watch the show to see if The Mandalorian can win?

Golden Globe Award

Lucasfilm is busy constructing a huge outdoor set near Little Marlow, which is a small village in the UK. A British tabloid (The Sun) got hold of photos made by a drone flying over the set and the photo reveals the scope, it’s quite large and massive. So if you want to see the photo, then please click through. If you consider a photo of an outdoor set a spoiler, well, then just don’t click, it’s easy!

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I talked about the Nielsen streaming ratings for the USA before. The Mandalorian season 2 fares really well and has been in the top 10 throughout its second season, rising as high as number 3 on the list, behind two Netflix shows. The season 2 finale which featured the return of Luke Skywalker however improves on the already good ratings by becoming the first non Netflix show ever to top Nielsen’s streaming charts. Beating “The Office” in the number 2 spot, which is still the best rated show available on Netflix.

Of course Nielsen only measures ratings in the US, so we don’t know exactly how things are worldwide. Netflix has a lot more subscribers and is available in more countries. However, it is impressive that a Disney+ show can beat any of the shows on Netflix in the US, since Netflix has more subscribers. This is yet another testament to the huge success of The Mandalorian and of course the immense popularity of Luke Skywalker. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni really are Lucasfilm’s MVPs. Now if only Hasbro capitalized on the success of the show and announced a ton of Mandalorian action figures very soon…

You can find the full list of the top streaming shows on the Hollywood Reporter website.

Today I want to talk about the upcoming Rogue Squadron movie. Scheduled for release in 2023 and helmed by Patty Jenkins. Patty Jenkins made herself a name with Wonder Woman in 2017, which was her first big budget movie (she only had a couple of TV credits before). The sequel to that movie, Wonder Woman 1984, was released a short while ago and let’s say the reception to the movie is very, very mixed. So some people may wonder if Star Wars fans need to be worried about Rogue Squadron. Click through for a discussion!

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We’ve waited to post this until the official announcement to avoid spoilers this weekend, but it looks like we have another Disney+ series set in the timeline of The Mandalorian to look forward to next December: Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett. The finale of The Mandalorian revealed this in the most awesome way, and since then it’s been speculation on whether this would be the subject matter of The Mandalorian season 3, or an all-new series, and now we have our answer. There’s going to be a lot of Star Wars to look forward to next Christmas!

I guess there is a lot to talk about after the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. And when I say “a lot” I am still understating things. The review for the episode will follow later, but for now let’s talk about the Mandalorian season 2 finale. So click through if you need to get things off your chest or want to share your impressions!

The pentultimate season 2 episode of The Mandalorian may be more pivotal than previous episodes, even if it may not be as epic or as action focused. There is so much to talk about! So click on the banner below or here to read my spoiler review of “The Believer”!

Click through to get the spoiler talk going on the latest episode of The Mandalorian: “The Believer”. 

And finally, we have our next official feature film announcement: Rogue Squadron. Coming to theaters in December 2023, and directed by Patty Jenkins.

Unfortunately, this won’t be the Rogue Squadron from the Original Trilogy but will be set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. 

Rogue Squadron will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill-ride, and move the saga into the future era of the galaxy.

Also announced today is a new animated Disney+ adventure film: Star Wars: A Droid Story. 

This epic journey will introduce us to a new hero guided by R2-D2 and C-3PO.

Probably one of the more intriguing new show announcements is The Acolyte. Not much is known other than this quote:

The Acolyte is a mystery-thriller that will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era.

It looks like the direction they are taking for the pseudo-Solo sequel will be a Lando event series titled, you guessed it…. Lando. 

This will be created by Justin Simien, but there was no word on whether or not we will see any of the stars from Solo reprising their respective roles.

The Cassian Andor series has an official title now: Andor. Andor will start streaming in 2022. And, it looks like the Obi-Wan Kenobi officially takes place 10 years after the events in Revenge of the Sith, and Hayden Christensen will be back to reprise his role as Darth Vader! Production begins in March 2021 on Obi-Wan Kenobi

The first two new upcoming live-action series have just been revealed, both taking place during The Mandalorian timeline: Rangers of the New Republic and Ahsoka. 

Both series will be helmed once again by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, and at least 1 of these will drop on Christmas 2021!

Are you following along? Click here for the live stream. They’ve already teased 10 new Star Wars series over the next few years. More detailed information to come towards the end of the live stream.

NRG, a global “insight company”, has conducted more than 350,000 interviews to find out which entertainment franchise is considered to be the most bold, thought-provoking and inclusive. And the top rated franchise is: The Mandalorian! Click through for the full list of the top 20 rated franchises!

The Mandalorian is popular

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There is certainly a lot to discuss after the most recent episode of The Mandalorian, titled “The Tragedy”. Many things happened in an explosive and action filled episode. Click here or on the banner below to read the spoiler review and to leave your thoughts about the episode in the comments.

According to Nielsen, who release a list of the top 10 most watched streaming content in the US, The Mandalorian made it into the top 3 in the final week of October, when season 2 premiered. Nielsen base their numbers on estimates of course, since streaming services don’t release any detailed information. According to Nielsen the 9 available Mandalorian episodes in the time between October 26th – November 1st accumulated 1.032 billion minutes of viewing time, only trailing The Office and The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. Netflix has more subscribers of course. According to Brian Fuhrer of Nielsen the numbers for the Mandalorian are quite extraordinary, given the lower subscriber count for Disney+. Actually, The Mandalorian is the only non Netflix content on the list. Nothing from Amazon Prime or Hulu made the top 10.
Incidentally, these Nielsen numbers also refute any reports on YouTube about the Mandalorian season 2 opener only being watched by 40-50,000 people or so.

Successful launch of season 2

An episode of Star Wars Detours has leaked on Reddit. Star Wars Detours was one of the last projects by Lucasfilm before the acquisition by Disney. Two full seasons, 39 episodes, were produced and are fully finished. However, after the acquisition the project was canned and no episode was ever released. Star Wars Detours was a project by the Robot Chicken creators and is a full on Star Wars parody set in the time between the prequels and the original trilogy.

But a few hours ago a full episode was leaked on the Star Wars Leaks Reddit. The episode is about wannabe bounty hunters 4-LOM and Zuckuss trying to rob Dex’s diner on Coruscant. Runtime is  less than 7 minutes. Voice actors, among others, are Billy Dee Williams (in a cameo as Lando), Ahmed Best (as Jar Jar, of course) and Breckin Meyer as Boba Fett (also a cameo). And before you wonder, of course the show is not canon.
Check out the video soon, before it gets taken down by Lucasfilm. And then leave your thoughts about Detours in the comments! In my opinion it’s probably best the show was canned at the time, while it’s not “bad” it feels somewhat out of place. However, maybe Disney can finally release the episodes on Disney+ or their Star Wars Kids YouTube channel. It could be fun for the kids. There are a few good chuckles in the episode, but watch for yourself! Click here or on the screenshot below to go to the Reddit thread with the video!

Toddlers 4-LOM and Zuckuss rob a diner

Wow! The Mandalorian Chapter 13, “The Jedi”, was a milestone for the series. We not only get to see a Ahsoka Tano for the first time in live action, there are also major revelations that will shape the further path of the show. And it’s not even the season 2 finale! There’s a lot to talk about and discuss! So click through for my spoiler review of “The Jedi” by clicking here or on the banner below and leave your comments and feedback!

Rumors about several Disney+ Star Wars series are making the rounds. And while one of the rumors, a potential Bo-Katan/Cara Dune Mandalorian spin-off series is very likely not true, rumors about the upcoming Kenobi miniseries and a Boba Fett series seem to have more substance. So click through for a brief summary of the recent rumors!

Getting his own show?

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Chapter 12 “The Siege” is yet another highlight in a season with lots of highlights already. And even the fans who maybe complained a bit about the “filler” nature of some earlier episodes will probably be happy to know that Chapter 12 reveals quite a few crucial things about what is actually going on and what Moff Gideon is up to. As an added bonus we get to meet some old friends again as well! So click here or on the banner below to read the spoiler review!

The LEGO Star Wars Holiday special was released on Disney+ today. Is it any better than the original Holiday Special? Yes, of course. The special is a fun love letter to the entire franchise and something the whole family can enjoy. Click through and leave your own thoughts in the comments! Some of my assorted musings follow after the jump!

Beware that this is a spoiler zone! Only click through if you have either seen the special or love spoilers!

Not your typical binary sunset on Tatooine

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