It's gonna be May the 4th, Cassian Andor casting updates, and more Star Wars news

Time again for STAR WARS WEEKLY, the SYFY WIRE series that rounds up the most important news of the week from a galaxy far, far away.

Think of us as your own personal Star Wars Holocron.

OFFICIAL CASSIAN ANDOR CASTING

Over the past couple of weeks, news has begun to leak from Disney+'s Cassian Andor show. We’ve reported on the rumors in previous columns, but are happy to say that Disney and Lucasfilm have officially announced the new additions. Perhaps the most exciting news is the fact that Genevieve O’Reilly will be reprising her role as Mon Mothma on the show.

George Lucas initially cast O’Reilly in Revenge of the Sith, but all of her scenes were left on the cutting room floor. She came back for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and even voiced Mon Mothma on Star Wars Rebels. To see she’s coming back once again ought to bring smiles to the faces of many Star Wars fans. Let’s hope they get Jimmy Smits to come back as Bail Organa, too.

Stellan Skarsgård, Denise Gough, and Kyle Soller will also appear in the upcoming Disney+ show, which does not yet have a release date. There's no word on who they'll be playing.

A VIRTUAL MAY THE 4TH STAR WARS CONVENTION

ReedPOP, the company behind Star Wars Celebration, is looking to hold a free virtual Star Wars convention on May 4 and 5.

The schedule includes live-tweets of the films and television shows, interviews with Star Wars luminaries, and gaming live-streams. Star Wars Celebration is currently still scheduled to take place in late August, but it's quite possible that it could be canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Could this virtual May the 4th shindig be testing the waters for an alternate Celebration this year?

Only time will tell.

THE SKYWALKER SAGA ON DISNEY+

There are even more reasons to celebrate May the 4th this year, as Disney+ has announced that the entire Skywalker Saga will be available for the first time all in one place. The arrival of The Rise of Skywalker on the platform this early is a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

That’s not all Disney+ is doing for the films, either. For May the 4th, they’ll be letting the concept artists take over the art and menus for the movies.

THE CLONE WARS GETS "SHATTERED"

The penultimate episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars hits screens today.

Seeing Order 66 from where Ahsoka Tano's perspective is a moving and heartbreaking moment for any Star Wars fan. Order 66 is a traumatic event, in any case, whether that’s in a video game like Jedi: Fallen Order, comics like Kanan, or even in Revenge of the Sith itself. Seeing it happen on this show is definitely a hell of a way to close this chapter of the saga.

The series finale airs on Monday, May 4, on Disney+.

RAY PARK’S RETURN

Some might not have noticed that the fight between Maul and Ahsoka looked a little different than other fights we’ve seen on Star Wars: The Clone Wars. That’s because actor/stuntman Ray Park came back to reprise the role of Maul and performed these sequences in a motion-capture suit.

You can watch a new behind the scenes featurette about it here:

The man is a treasure and I’m glad he’s been able to continue his involvement with Star Wars over the last 20 years.

GEORGE LUCAS AND DAVE FILONI

As part of the new Star Wars Show format, they’ve been able to include some longer gems in the context of the show. In this latest episode, aside from Anthony Carboni getting (rightly) teased by Anthony Daniels, there’s an extended conversation between George Lucas and Dave Filoni (hosted by David W. Collins) where they discuss The Clone Wars. It's worth watching, certainly.

That George Lucas’s favorite episode of The Clone Wars is "A Sunny Day in the Void" is endlessly hilarious to me. It's a great episode, but not necessarily my favorite. It's interesting to see his reasoning.

Until next week, may the Force be with you!