Star Wars’ Celebration Offers Breaking Movie News, Cast Reveals, and Major Announcements

 Star Wars Celebration kicked off its opening day in London today with a non-stop series of announcements about some of Lucasfilm’s most highly anticipated productions—from Disney+ original series such as Star Wars: Ahsoka and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew to upcoming feature films like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Taking place at the ExCel London Convention Center, Friday’s activities on the Celebration Stage began with host Ali Plumb welcoming Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to reflect on the success of the highly acclaimed Disney+ original series Star Wars: Andor. They were joined by the series’ director/creator/showrunner Tony Gilroy and stars Diego Luna, Adria Arjona, Kyle Soller, Denise Gough, Genevieve O’Reilly, Andy Serkis, Muhannad Bahair, and Joplin Sibtain, who was accompanied by droid B2EMO. Fans were treated to an exclusive first look at the second and final season, which is currently in production and chronicles the next steps in Cassian Andor’s journey as he fights to assemble a fledgling resistance. Kennedy, Gilroy, Sanne Wohlenberg, Luna, and Luke Hull are executive producing Season 2 for Disney+.

Next, Leslye Headland—creator and showrunner of Star Wars: The Acolyte—joined Kennedy on stage. Headland was escorted by Kelnacca, a Wookiee Jedi from the series, and offered an overview of the mystery-thriller. The Acolyte will take viewers into a galaxy of shadowy secrets and emerging dark-side powers in the final days of the High Republic era. A former Padawan reunites with her Jedi Master to investigate a series of crimes but discovers the forces they confront are more sinister than they ever anticipated. Joining Headland and Kennedy on stage were stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, and Star Wars veteran Joonas Suotamo, who plays Kelnacca. Headland wowed the crowd with a sneak peek at the series, which also stars Carrie-Anne Moss and Margarita Levieva and is currently in production. In addition to writing and directing, Headland serves as an executive producer with Kennedy, Simon Emanuel, Jeff F. King, and Jason Micallef. Rayne Roberts and Damian Anderson serve as producers. The Acolyte will stream exclusively on Disney+ in 2024.

The focus then shifted to Star Wars: The Mandalorian as Kennedy invited the series’ executive producers, Disney Legend Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, to the stage. The duo, along with fellow executive producer Rick Famuyiwa, were on hand for a discussion of the third season of the hit show, now streaming exclusively on Disney+. Following a special video greeting from star Pedro Pascal, fans were treated to a clip from next week’s episode. Afterward, stars Giancarlo Esposito, Katee Sackhoff, Carl Weathers, and Emily Swallow appeared onstage and announced a sneak peek screening of the upcoming episode that evening, exclusively for those in attendance.