The Mandalorian wins big while Liam Neeson is still proud of The Phantom Menace

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.

THE MANDALORIAN SEASON 2 TRAILER DROPS WHILE SEASON 1 WINS EMMYS

The trailer for the second season of The Mandalorian has been released, and it’s quite epic. Watch it here and we’ll talk more about it:

The trailer doesn't offer any big surprises we've heard teases of, but it has created new rumors on its own. We saw no glimpse of Ahsoka Tano or Boba Fett or any other clone Temuera Morrison might have been playing (as yet-to-be-officially confirmed reports have suggested we might). The trailer relies mainly on dialogue from the first season of the show. Unless this is misdirection, the thrust of this season implies that Din Djarin, the titular Mandalorian, will be seeking out the Jedi.

Looking at the locales featured in the trailer, Mando and the child seem to be heading to places where Jedi have been. Tatooine seems a likely stop from the trailer, given the banthas and Tusken Raiders native to that planet. The most surprising planet might be Ilum — though we have no confirmation yet that the snowy planet in the trailer is Ilum. Ilum was seen in The Clone Wars as the place where Jedi go to find crystals for their lightsabers. We know, however, from Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order that Ilum was already well on its way to being slowly converted into Starkiller base by the Empire. If this does turn out to be Ilum, then we'll get some very clear ties in The Mandalorian between the sequels and the prequels, and that's always a good thing.

On top of the trailer coming out, The Mandalorian took home five Emmy wins. It won for Outstanding Special Visual Effects, Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series, Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Comedy or Drama Series, and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program. The Mandalorian is still up for another major Emmy Award, as it will be a contender in the Outstanding Drama Series category at the Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night.

Chewbacca himself, Joonas Suotamo, took to Twitter to congratulate the crew by doing his best to recreate the theme song to the show while watching his own “baby Yoda.” 

TALES FROM GALAXY’S EDGE

ILMxLAB offered their first glimpse of the forthcoming VR adventure Tales From Galaxy’s Edge. This trailer shows us that Artoo and Threepio will be central to the story and have players roaming around Black Spire Outpost in a way that will put you right in the middle of the action.

This is particularly exciting because access to Black Spire Outpost is so limited because of the coronavirus pandemic that's made widespread, safe access to Disney Parks out of the question for many people. At the point where visiting the Disney parks simply isn’t feasible, this feels like the next best thing. Tales From Galaxy’s Edge comes out for the Oculus this holiday season.

LIAM NEESON’S PRIDE IN THE PHANTOM MENACE

Liam Neeson, the imposing Irish actor who played Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, appeared on Sirius XM last week, and the subject of Star Wars came up as you might expect. 

"I like the film. I'm proud of it and proud to have been a part of it," Neeson told radio host Andy Cohen. "I got to be a Jedi. I got to play with those wonderful lightsabers and stuff. It was terrific, Andy, it really was.”

It’s no wonder Neeson would be proud of the film, despite its spotty critical reputation. The prequels may have some problems, but The Phantom Menace is fun and kicks off one of the greatest space film sagas of all time. Neeson's Qui-Gon was a highlight, and he’s come back to voice his character multiple times on the animated programs. Neeson also went on in the interview to talk about how dismayed he was by the backlash Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best faced for his portrayal of the Gungan scamp. And his assessment of Best's talent is 100 percent correct.

Neeson can next be seen in the film Honest Thief, which will hopefully get a VOD release so we can see it, since heading to movie theaters in a pandemic still isn’t safe.

STAR WARS: SQUADRON GETS 'HUNTED'

Star Wars: Squadrons comes out next month, and it looks to be something special: a game that captures the excitement and thrill of flight simulators in a way that more sophisticated gamers will respond to. But adding to that is a story. We got our first glimpse of the story with a trailer earlier this year. Now we have an animated short that offers us a window into one of the characters.

Varko Gray is the leader of Titan Squadron and features prominently in the story mode of Squadrons, and according to his entry on the Star Wars Databank, Gray is a cop who transitioned to working for the Empire. He’s also devoted to his husband.

Watch the beautifully rendered short here:

Until next week, may the Force be with you!