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Star Wars: The Mandalorian wrapped, Phantom Menace panel set for Celebration

By Brian Silliman
OldRepublic

The latest episode of The Star Wars Show dropped enough Star Wars news that it has us thinking, that's not news, it's a news space station. That didn't quite work, but you get the idea. The weekly internet series gave us updates on The Mandalorian, Star Wars Celebration 2019, and much more. 

First off, they announced the upcoming live-action Disney+ exclusive series, The Mandalorian, has officially wrapped. The show is helmed by Jon Favreau, and will feature Pedro Pascal as a lone gunslinger (whether he's an actual Mandalorian, or just wearing Mandalorian armor, remains to be seen) hiding out on the fringes of the galaxy from the New Republic in the period between the original trilogy and the sequel trilogy.

The show brought on a treasure trove of directors (including Dave Filoni, Taika Waititi, and Bryce Dallas Howard), and now we're one step closer to being able to stream all of that Star Wars action. 

We also got some updates on Star Wars Celebration 2019, which will include a giant panel celebrating the 20-year anniversary of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. This was expected, but now it's official — as well as Ray Park (Darth Maul) joining the guest roster. This is also not surprising, as Park is often a welcome guest at the convention, but it's good news all the same. Here's hoping that he and returning host Warwick Davis will continue their tradition of reenacting the final duel from Phantom Menace, because that would be so wizard. 

The game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (due in 2019) will have a panel at the convention, with actual footage being shown for the first time as well as "never before heard details." Not only that, but a "special event" has been announced for Star Wars: The Old Republic. We have no clue as to what this could be about, but fans of everything and anything based in that time period can start getting excited. 

Aside from all of that, hide the sand! It's an Anakin Skywalker kind of week. Star Wars: Battlefront II has at long last added their "chosen one" DLC, which means that players of the game can now play as Clone Wars-era Anakin (after unlocking him, of course). He is voiced by Matt Lanter, who also voiced him on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Lanter himself dropped by the show to share some of his insights. 

"I never felt like I really left," Lanter said when asked about returning to the character. "There were some intermittent games, and little toys here and there that I would still do Anakin for, even on Rebels, I went in once or twice for Anakin there. I never quite put it down, but now, I'm kind of like full-on now." 

When the subject of being able to play out Anakin's journey from Jedi to Sith (not Milan to Minsk) in a longer form of storytelling came up, Lanter said, "Hayden Christensen [Anakin Skywalker in the latter two prequel films] had a very difficult job," referring to the character's huge, two-film transformation, adding, "He didn't have much time to do it. I'm fortunate that I did get the time to kind of stretch that out. That was my job, to add that connective tissue." 

In terms of what Lanter has done with the more Hayden-looking Anakin in the Battlefront II DLC, he made it clear that he stuck to the Anakin that he's been doing for years, and which fans have come to love. Don't expect Lanter to be doing an impression of Christensen — as Lanter said, "That's not the goal here...I'm bringing my Anakin to the table, and I think they'll mesh well." 

The Star Wars Show airs on YouTube and StarWars.com every Wednesday. 


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