Tag Archives: SWNN

Star Wars History Explained

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Some stories are just movies, and others become modern mythology. Star Wars firmly belongs in the latter category. Since 1977, George Lucas’s space opera has captivated generations, spawning films, TV shows, books, and video games that weave together a tapestry of galactic conflict, mysticism, and politics. But for a newcomer—or even a casual fan—keeping track of thousands of years of lore can feel more difficult than navigating an asteroid field. Understanding how the pieces fit together transforms the viewing experience, turning a simple battle scene into the culmination of centuries of tension. Here is the essential Star Wars history explained, era by era.

The Early Republic Era
Long before the Skywalker family dominated galactic events, the galaxy was governed by the Galactic Republic. This period, often referred to as the “Old Republic” in legends and lore, was a time of relative peace and expansion, though it was not without its shadows. By the way, if you come across shadowy periods during your studying process, you might have a bright thought pop up in your mind: “What if I pay someone to do my homework?” If you think about using writing services, make sure to choose a trustworthy company before you place an order…

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Everything Coming to ‘Star Wars’ In 2026

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After a lot of failed attempts over the years, 2026 will finally see the return of Star Wars to the big screen. That’s thanks to director Jon Favreau and The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is set to take off on May 22.

The majority of the story details are currently being kept under wraps, but we do have a generic plot synopsis (see below), as well as some details: Sigourney Weaver’s Colonel Ward sends Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu on a mission in the Outer Rim, in which they find Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White. We also know that some characters from The Mandalorian Season 3 are returning, including Zeb (voiced by Steve Blum) and some of the Imperial Warlords that made up the Shadow Council…

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Should Lucasfilm Use AI Dubbing to Restore “Lost” Voices?

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The theatrical Star Wars experience remains a quest for a legend from a bygone age, spanning multiple decades. While editors have been hard at work for years attempting to recreate projects such as “Harmy’s Despecialized Edition” for fans who sought an alternative route from the 1997 Special Editions, audio quality remains a substantial barrier. High-quality audio for deleted footage or mono audio seems lost deep beneath a layer of analog decay. However, new technology surrounding AI dubbing enters the fray, and now the question is whether Lucasfilm can use these tools to bridge the gap between decaying history and modern clarity, or does reconstructing a performance cross an ethical line?…

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Mandalorian Passes 1 Billion Minutes Streamed

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In a significant milestone for a Disney Plus original, Star Wars: The Mandalorian has now streamed over 1 billion minutes between millions of Disney Plus viewers. This makes it the first – and only – Star Wars show to do so.

In a new end-of-year statement directly from The Walt Disney Company about their streaming numbers, it was revealed that The Mandalorian has found the way to over a billion minutes of streamed content between its 24 episodes, making it the only Disney Plus original show to achieve such a milestone. (Only one other streaming-only series produced by Disney achieved such a feat – Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale.) You can see the other shows – and two animated movies featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda songs – that reached such a milestone between Disney Plus and Hulu below…

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Stuff the Stockings

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Hey. Hey you. Yeah you. I’m talking to you. It’s the holiday season, and you haven’t done any shopping yet. I know because I’m one of you. I’m putting everything off to the last minute, not because I want to, but because… well, I don’t want to deal with it yet. Those that aren’t like us don’t appreciate that there is an art to procrastination. Sometimes, it leads us to find the perfect gift right before the big day. Other times, you are stuck getting yet another gift card (which is, of course, a valid course of action). In any case, it’s time to stop putting things off. Today, I hope to help you find the perfect clutch-time Star Wars gift for your family members’ stockings, or perhaps something more if they are fans of the, shall we say, Shakespearean….

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O’Reilly On Fleshing Out Mon Mothma

Regarding how Mon Mothma behaves in private and interacts with Stellan Skarsgård’s Luthen Rael in episode 4 (some of the press have already seen a handful of episodes), O’Reilly said the following:

First of all, yes. Stellan is just a special man and quite a brilliant actor. It was a real treat to get to work with him, and that scene you’re talking about in the gallery might be the first time we meet Mon Mothma in the season. It beautifully sets up what I think we’re trying to do with Mon Mothma, which is to meet the public face and unveil the private woman within it. That beautiful gallery set, which was designed by Luke Hull, also mirrors that within the scene. You enter a very public space, and then you go back behind a corner and we have a private interplay. So it allows for a play and a creativity, both within the space, but also between myself and Stellan, which feels genuinely full of energy. It was great to play. It is what an actor looks for; an actor looks for the private moments to reveal within a character….

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Kennedy To Exit as Lucasfilm President At the End of the Year?

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A late-night shocker from Matt Belloni’s Puck newsletter — Kathleen Kennedy will step down as President of Lucasfilm by the end of the year, after more than 10 years at the top of the company.

According to the report, Kennedy had planned to step down by the end of 2024 (when her contract was also up), and had even set up an exit interview with a reporter, but eventually decided to stay for one more year. Three sources are telling Belloni that she has already informed Disney, as well as friends and associates. Both Disney and Kennedy’s personal publicist declined comment to Belloni. We have reached out to Lucasfilm, but will probably not hear back given the hour.

There is no information on succession as of yet. The official confirmation will probably wait, but other Hollywood trades might pick it up in the coming hours….

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Also reported at The Hollywood Reporter

Gar Saxon – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight

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We’re profiling Gar Saxon this week in our Star Wars Character Spotlight.

Gar Saxon was a Mandalorian of little moral integrity. Member of Clan Saxon and the Death Watch terrorist group, Gar recognized power and always sided with those he thought had the most of it at any given time. While most Star Wars fans likely remember him from Star Wars Rebels, Saxon also popped up in a couple of Clone Wars stories too. He was closely tied to Darth Maul and the darksaber.

Gar Saxon actually made his debut in the comic Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir, a story which was supposed to be part of The Clone Wars but got adapted into a four-issue comic miniseries instead, after the animated series’ temporary cancellation…

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Sigourney Weaver Confirms ‘Mandalorian’ Role

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We’ve known for a few months that Sigourney Weaver will be appearing in the next Star Wars movie, The Mandalorian and Grogu, which is currently shooting. But hearing it from news reports is one thing — hearing it from the actress herself, is a lot more satisfying.

Weaver was interviewed by Deadline right before receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival, and when asked what’s next on her schedule, she mentioned the upcoming film by director Jon Favreau…

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Aurra Sing – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight

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Aurra Sing is the fearsome bounty hunter first glimpsed in The Phantom Menace who was then expanded upon in comics and novels. Like Cad Bane, she is a morally bankrupt bounty hunter who cares about little beyond getting paid no matter who she harms. Armed with a sniper rifle and built-in comlink antenna, she was a fearsome assassin.

While a lot of her Legends stories are no longer canon – which mainly means she no longer wields lightsabers – some fans might be surprised to know that she is still considered Force sensitive in current canon, considering George Lucas ignored that backstory completely when he used her in The Clone Wars


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SWNN Live! – Five ‘Star Wars’ Takeaways from D23

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After an eventful D23 weekend, the SWNN Live! crew is back to dive deeper into the big Star Wars news and trailers that were shown! Join Tyler, Luke, and myself (Jay) as Tyler shares five hot takes right off the heels of D23. We also discuss some other minor news related to Daisy Ridley and a new season of Young Jedi Adventures.

SWNN Live! is a streamed podcast that airs at 10 pm EST/ 7 pm PST (subject to change). Viewers can watch the show on YouTube, Facebook, and X (Twitter), or listen to it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts after the fact. But for those who do catch us live, you can leave us a comment, share your thoughts, and join the chat live on YouTube and our social media channels. We enjoy bringing in everyone’s thoughts….


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George Lucas To Receive Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes

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Thank the Maker! George Lucas will be receiving the Honorary Palme d’Or at the Closing Ceremony of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the organization announced today.

The event will take place on May 25, coincidentally, which marks the 47th anniversary of the release of Star Wars. It will be broadcast live on France Télévisions and Brut. and will be hosted by Camille Cottin. Last year, another Star Wars personality, Harrison Ford, was awarded the same prize while attending the first screening of the new Indiana Jones film…


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Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary Cinema Release Confirmed For May The 4th Weekend

The epic Darth Maul vs. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn duel. The thunderous Boonta Eve Podrace. The battle of Naboo. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is packed with moments best witnessed on the big screen, spooling back to the very beginning of the Skywalker Saga to depict Anakin Skywalker’s first encounter with the Jedi, the beginnings of the galactic civil war, and the menacing meddling of Palpatine. Well, good news: to mark 25 years since the film first hit cinemas in 1999, it’s coming back to cinemas later this year. Cue the fanfare!

This May the 4th weekend (so, from Friday 3 May), The Phantom Menace will be re-released in cinemas for a limited time, meaning you can revisit all your favourite moments as large and loud as George Lucas intended…

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This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Remembering Carl Weathers

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Welcome back to “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away“, in what is likely going to be our saddest edition yet. It’d been a slow news week and though I initially struggled with finding a topic for today’s edition, I finally settled on discussing recent reports surrounding streaming data from Nielsen. But then, the news about Carl Weathers hit on Friday and I had to change course.

Before we get to all of that, some plugs for other stuff I was working on this week. It’s been a busy week at MovieNewsNet.com, where I reviewed three films from last week’s Sundance online edition: breakout hit A Real Pain, this year’s winner In the Summers, and Hulu’s Suncoast. I was also able to see the new Daisy Ridley movie Sometimes I Think About Dying, which was pretty good! (It’s slowly expanding to more and more theaters in the US.) Last but not least, I was finally able to complete my top 24 most anticipated movies of the year!…


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SWNN Interview: Author George Mann

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We are one day away from Escape from Valo, the next novel in Phase 3 of the High Republic publishing initiative. That makes it an excellent time to look back at this phase’s launch before moving ahead. The Eye of Darkness was author George Mann’s first adult Star Wars novel. In it, he had the task of picking the story back up after the horrific events of The Fallen Star and the decimation of Starlight Beacon. Feel free to check out our non-spoiler review if you haven’t read it since the novel’s release in November.

I was lucky enough to speak with Mann about The Eye of Darkness, diving deep into the minutia of how he brought the first major chapter of this phase to life….


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This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: January 22, 2024

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Welcome back to a new edition of “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away.” Is anyone else tired of seeing the same Ryan Gosling GIF from the Critics Choice Awards on social media? I thought so! It’s been an interesting week in Star Wars, for sure, even if we still have no news on The Bad Batch season 3 — although, according to Jennifer Corbett, something should get announced soon.

We have a lot to discuss today, as I’ll be running a status report on all confirmed Star Wars movies. As always, let me know your thoughts, opinions, comments, and complaints in the comments section or via our Contact page. The idea of these weekly articles is to have a direct connection with our readers as we recap the week in the franchise with some analysis of what’s going on. Let us begin…

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A ‘Star Wars’ Marvel Comics Reading Guide

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In 2015, Marvel launched a new era of Star Wars comics. Mostly set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Marvel’s Star Wars #1 by Jason Aaron hit shelves on January 14, 2015. One month later, Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader #1 joined the party, and that’s when it began. The two ongoing series would crossover and eventually spawn a cacophony of titles for years to come. As of 2024, this epic has seen well over 300 issues of diverse and often great Star Wars stories brought to life (not including the dozens of other Star Wars titles out there). These tales would be canon, filling in the gaps of the original trilogy.

So that begs the question: how is anyone supposed to know where to start knowing that’s what they’re up against? If you’ve used any reading guide before, most will say there is no correct answer. With so many titles across every time period and continuity, you should begin with what interests you most. If you have a favorite character, pick a title where they are headlined…


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This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away | December 18th, 2023

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Happy Sunday, and welcome back to my weekly rant called “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away“. There was no shortage of things to talk about last week, but today, it’s going to be a slightly slower edition. As always, thanks for stopping by, and share the joy with your loved ones if you enjoy it! Today, we’ll discuss Star Wars sequel trilogy plans and how Netflix’s big viewership data dump could affect the Streaming Wars.

This past week has been the traditional busy time where everyone is trying to get their things in order before the holiday break, and that also happened to me. So many things to do, so little sleep. But I’m on the other side now, so hopefully, you’ll be soon too. Looking ahead, we have a few days before Christmas Day with a ton of new stuff, from Zack Snyder’s Star Wars wannabe Rebel Moon (which is getting destroyed by early reviews) to the event of the month for the Star Wars News Net *staff: the release of the Percy Jackson series on Disney Plus…

*Oh these websites with staff!! What are staff?!! 😉


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This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away | December 3rd, 2023

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Happy Sunday, and welcome to another edition of “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away“. First of all, thank you to everyone who has been keeping up with this weekly series of articles recapping the latest in the Star Wars galaxy. I’ve been having so much fun writing them, and your support for the last edition has encouraged me to keep them coming! Please share with your friends if you enjoy it, and don’t be shy: Let me know what works, what doesn’t, and pitch any ideas you may have.

It’s been a relatively quiet week in the Star Wars galaxy, at least compared to last week, but we still had quite a few of interesting quotes from several people tied to the franchise. Let’s break it all down, beginning with three headlines you may have missed….

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This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away | November 27th, 2023

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If you live in the US, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, and either way, I hope you had a wonderful week. It wasn’t a holiday where I live, but I still enjoyed some time tuning out the news and the entertainment business (other than watching Napoleon on Friday) for a few days. And though it seemed like it would be a slow week for Star Wars, it was most definitely not, as Lucasfilm and Daisy Ridley dropped a one-two-punch on Tuesday. The effects of these stories reverberated into the weekend with more interviews from Dave Filoni and Taika Waititi. Let’s try to unpack it all!

Star Wars Quote of the Week

“It’s not what I expected, but I’m very excited,” Daisy Ridley told Collider in a recent chat discussing her new feature film, which will mark the return of Rey Skywalker in a story set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker. There is a lot to unpack from the few sentences she said about the project, but this is definitely the one that’s been circulating the most. Prior to this comment, she also pointed out that “The story is really cool”…


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Return of the Jedi

New ‘Ahsoka’ Merch Descriptions List Anakin Skywalker Among Other Series Characters.

A description attached to multiple products tied to Star Wars: Ahsoka suggest that we will be seeing the return of the Jedi – Anakin Skywalker himself. This follows older reports indicating that Hayden Christensen would be appearing in the Disney Plus series in some capacity.

A multitude of products tied to the forthcoming Ahsoka series are now available to pre-order on Amazon. Beneath all the relevant products (you can find two examples here and here), the following copy lists Anakin Skywalker alongside other characters confirmed to appear in the series:…

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Harrison Ford Interview (1979)

By Alexander Giles

As always, I like to share some interesting interviews related to the Star Wars universe as I come across them. This one is from Bantha Tracks #6 (1979) and with Harrison Ford, just after the filming of The Empire Strikes Back had wrapped.

I found it really interesting to hear from Harrison on his entry to the saga and being typecast as “The sensitive brother, or the bank-robbing brother, or the business brother, or any kind of sensitive brother.”

There are some nice parts about him breaking into acting and getting started in movies too. I found it to be a quite enjoyable read throughout. Everything that follows was grabbed directly from the original newsletter, so the credit goes to the people behind it…

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James Mangold on Developing a ‘Star Wars’ Film…

…Without the Constraints of Existing Lore

By Miguel Fernandez

Of the three recently-announced Star Wars films, perhaps the one that looks to be the most distinct is the new project by Logan director James Mangold, set 25,000 years before The Phantom Menace during an era dubbed as Dawn of the Jedi. (Whether this will also be the title of the film, remains to be seen.) As he is promoting Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, io9 asked him about his next collaboration with Lucasfilm, and the writer-director shared a few interesting insights.

First and perhaps most interestingly to those keeping a record of the various projects Lucasfilm has been developing over the years, Mangold confirmed he’s previously worked on Star Wars for a short period of time, possibly alluding to the Boba Fett film that was once reported and quickly shot down by Mangold himself and people at Lucasfilm. He then said that he was surprised that Lucasfilm were as excited to go back in the Star Wars timeline and tell stories unconstrained by lore as he was when he pitched the idea…

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‘Star Wars’ New Release Calendar Removes December 2025 Date…

Adds Two Films in 2026

By Miguel Fernandez

Disney has announced that they will no longer be releasing a Star Wars film on December 19, 2025. Instead, they are planning on releasing two feature films in 2026, seven months apart, on May 22, 2026, and December 18, 2026.

The first film on that list will come out just three weeks after Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is released in theaters (Disney has also moved around Marvel’s release calendar). The company has not announced which movies will come out on each date. However, the most likely scenario is that this is the Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy-directed film they were targeting for 2025 and that due to the writers’ strike, they had to press Pause on for the moment. Meanwhile, the December date is likely the Dave Filoni-directed film that will culminate the overarching story told in The Mandalorian and spin-off shows during the New Republic era…

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Editorial: The New Jedi Order | Potential Locations for Rey Skywalker’s Jedi Academy

While the future of big-screen Star Wars storytelling is still largely wrapped up in mystery, we were treated to some concrete details about one of the movies during the last Star Wars Celebration. Directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, we will have a story set 15 years after the end of the Skywalker Saga, in a new era known as the New Jedi Order. This story will tell the rise of a new group of Jedi who have to face a challenging galaxy while being taught the ways of the Force by Jedi Master Rey Skywalker.

In the second of two articles (you can check out the first one here), I will speculate on where Rey might choose to train her Jedi candidates. With a whole galaxy of planets to choose from, the list is virtually endless, and there’s a good possibility the location will be somewhere entirely new, but I’ve tried to narrow the list down to locations that I believe have a good reason to be chosen as a starting ground for her Jedi Padawans…

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Editorial: The New Jedi Order | Potential Candidates for Rey Skywalker’s Jedi Academy

At the last Star Wars Celebration, it was announced that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will be directing a new film set in an era dubbed the New Jedi Order, set 15 years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. This film will see a new generation of Jedi rise up to face new challenges under the tutelage of Jedi Master Rey Skywalker. Little is known about this film, but we can perhaps make a guess at who might share the screen with Rey and where the film might take place. That is what I intend to do, starting with a breakdown of potential Jedi trainees in this first article.

It’s most likely that these Jedi will be fresh faces as we follow the path of a new young group of heroes venturing out into the galaxy. But there’s a possibility that one or two familiar faces may pop up to learn the ways of the Force under Rey’s tutelage. In this article I will speculate on which canon Force-sensitive characters could fit into the timeline of this film.

I’ve restricted my list to candidates of the academy, so I will be ruling out established Jedi Knights such as Cal Kestis and Ahsoka Tano, as I believe they would be Masters in their own right, assuming they are still around at this point in the timeline. With that said, let’s dive in!…

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Natalie Portman Open to Returning to ‘Star Wars’

Whoa…this is a surprise to me!

In a recent segment with GQ Magazine, Natalie Portman stated that she is open to returning to Star Wars. The actress famously portrayed Padmé Amidala in the prequel trilogy, but has not made an appearance in the franchise since Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

In the video, Natalie Portman replied to a Reddit question asking if there was “any chance that Padmé/Natalie Portman returns to Star Wars?”, to which she replied with the following…

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Mark Hamill Is Selling Signed ‘Star Wars’ Posters For Ukraine

The love and generosity of Mark Hamill knows no bounds.

Our very own Luke Skywalker is doing his bit to fight the evil Empire, as he announces his plans to raise money for Ukraine by selling signed Star Wars posters.

By his own admission, he doesn’t sell signed merchandise very often — this is the first time he’s done so in six years, back when The Last Jedi was coming out — but this is a special case, as he is one of a few celebrities to become an ambassador for Ukraine’s “Army of Drones”, stepping up when Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky asked him to join the fight against the “empire of evil” last September.

Only a limited amount of posters will be sold, and while it’s yet to be determined exactly how they will be sold, Hamill suggests that it will be via some kind of auction…

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