Star Wars Celebration - live updates: The Phantom Menace 20th anniversary panel

All the action from the convention floor, including first looks at The Rise of Skywalker, The Mandalorian, and Galaxy’s Edge

Watch the brand-new teaser for Star Wars: Episode IX

Get ready, Chicago! This weekend sees all manner of creatures, droids, and jedi masters descend upon the city for Star Wars Celebration 2019. It’s the ultimate convention for fans of the franchise: not only can they gather together, revel in the geekery, and flaunt their very best cosplay outfits, but the event will feature a host of special panels – with some teasing major revelations for Star Wars’ future.

Saturday will see two major panels. The Galaxy’s Edge presentation will hopefully offer some initial ride footage from the brand new lands at Disneyland and Disney World. Meanwhile, we’ll get our first details of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a brand new EA game set after the events of Revenge of the Sith.

We’ll be covering all this live from the convention centre itself, so follow the liveblog below to find out the latest news coming out of Star Wars Celebration 2019.

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Key Points

• The first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was shown to Celebration audiences 
• The Disney Parks's biggest expansion yet, Galaxy's Edge, will be the ultimate immersive experience for Star Wars fans 
• First footage of The Mandalorian. set to stream on Disney+, debuts

[12 April 2019 17:42 · clarisse.loughrey]

John Boyega has explained that Finn has found his place in the Resistance in Episode IX, which means a new costume. Plus, Captain Phasma is definitely dead! And about that Finn/Poe romance we all wanted? Boyega hasn't taken it off the table entirely... 

[12 April 2019 17:46 · clarisse.loughrey]

Poe gets a new look too, with Isaac further teasing fans about that Finn/Poe romance. He also thinks Poe would make a great Uber driver. 

[12 April 2019 17:50 · clarisse.loughrey]

"My answer is not the end of this story, but the lightsaber that Rey inherited from Luke lives," Daisy Ridley has confirmed. They're being very touchy about whether Rey gets any new force powers though. "There are some other things," Abrams said. 

[12 April 2019 17:56 · clarisse.loughrey]

Kelly Marie Tran – who's gotten the biggest and warmest reception from fans so far – may or may not have a romance with Finn – there's a lot of talk about him being an "eligible bachelor"! 

[12 April 2019 18:02 · clarisse.loughrey]

New character and "friend to the Resistance" Klod 

[12 April 2019 18:10 · clarisse.loughrey]

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

OUR OFFICIAL TITLE

[12 April 2019 18:17 · clarisse.loughrey]

The trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is here... and PALPATINE IS BACK!  

[12 April 2019 18:56 · clarisse.loughrey]

Some initial thoughts: I think the easy assumption to make here is that Episode IX will reveal Kylo Ren was lying about Rey's parents being "filthy junk traders" and that she'll actually turn out to be a Skywalker herself. But, I think the title Rise of the Skywalker is potentially something more symbolic. Let's focus on those lines from Luke at the beginning: "We've passed on all we know. A thousand generations live in you now."

Rey's Skywalker legacy might not be in her blood, but in her spirit. This is the end of a saga, Rey is the last of the Jedi, and she's been imbued with generations of wisdom and power. But is that power both of the light and the dark? That could explain why we hear Palpatine's laugh at the end of the trailer: Rey could be all about the balance of the Force inside one person, in a way that echoes the ancient prophecy of Anakin Skywalker bringing balance and ending the Sith (by killing Palpatine and then letting himself, Darth Vader, die). 

[12 April 2019 19:30 · clarisse.loughrey]

The other big factor here is what happens to Kylo Ren. Yes, he could potentially be the Skywalker that rises, but that feels too obvious. I do think he will be redeemed in some way, but I think it will involve a sacrifice that will be critical to Rey's own destiny when it comes bringing this greater sense of balance.

[12 April 2019 19:34 · clarisse.loughrey]

I'm now at a presentation about the new VR series Vader Immortal, created by ILMxLAB for the Oculus