This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Daisy Ridleys Latest Comments, The Bad Batch Reignites Star Wars Canon Questions

Welcome back to what originally seemed to be a lighter edition of 'This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away.' After weeks of teasing, we finally got the trailer for The Bad Batch season 3 this week, but that seemed to be enough from Star Wars to keep us satisfied. Daisy Ridley's latest film opened in two theaters on Friday, and it became the #1 movie on a per-theater average ($40.5k in two screens). However, we do have some statements from her as part of the promotion tour that are not exactly new, yet worth discussing anyway.



Before we get to Star Wars, allow me to plug my review of the most expensive series ever, which was quietly released on Friday on Apple TV Plus: Masters of the Air. I've spent the weekend watching a few Sundance films via their online portal, so stay tuned for some reviews on MovieNewsNet.com! As always, feel free to drop in your thoughts, suggestions, and complaints in the comment section below, or via our Contact page! If you like this type of analysis and features, let me know, and spread the love!


<h2>Three Things That May Have Flown Casual</h2>

• Darth Maul Minus Color: Not a lot of big news this week, so we'll be centering this segment on comics and toys for the most part. One of the big announcements this week was a 'Black, White &amp; Red' four-issue comic miniseries centered around Darth Maul, coming from Marvel in April (check out a full April comic preview here). It follows in the footsteps of Darth Vader.
• Collectors, rejoice! New Clone Figures!: Hasbro unloaded a bunch of new Vintage Collection and Black Series figures from the Star Wars TV era, including Grand Admiral Thrawn (coming in 2025?) and a couple of new clones, which is now a joke that is no longer funny.
• New comic reviews: Whenever there's a slower week, I always like to take a few lines to show appreciation to our publishing team at Star Wars News Net, who dedicate their free time to reviewing everything coming out in print, from new comic issues to upcoming books. This week, we had a few interesting comic releases: the first issue of the comic adaptation of Thrawn: Alliances (review by Nate Manning), The High Republic Adventures #2 (review by Jay Goodearl), and The High Republic #3 (review by Tyler Bradshaw).

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<h2>Star Wars Quote of the Week</h2>

That was Daisy Ridley in one of multiple interviews that came out this week where she talked about her upcoming project and the Star Wars franchise in general. Ridley has genuinely and subtly been the character of the week, between the multiple interviews she did to promote Sometimes I Think About Dying and the fact that her Disney Plus film Young Woman and the Sea about Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, will be released in theaters.



She also stopped by NBC's TODAY to discuss her future in the Star Wars franchise, as well as weigh in on the chatter about feminism and Star Wars. This is what she had to say about that: 'I think my take is things get blown out of proportion and the interactions I've ever had with people have been nothing but wonderful and supportive.' I mean, duh! The Internet is anonymous, but people melt down when they have the real person in front of them. In a separate profile in Inverse, she spoke about the high levels of stress she suffered leading up to The Last Jedi, among other things.







It's no secret that I'm really looking forward to this movie, even if I'm still slightly worried about the creative team involved. But I would describe my general state of mind as very optimistic. I was surprised, however, by the fact that Ridley hasn't read a script yet, as she told TODAY. It's my understanding that Lucasfilm is very aware of what Steven Knight is writing and he might have even submitted a full draft by now. I was convinced Ridley was going to produce the movie in addition to starring in it, but if she hasn't seen a page yet, maybe I was wrong about that.



In related news, the latest issue of Production Weekly is once again throwing stuff against the wall to see what sticks. Courtesy of r/StarWarsLeaks, they say that Daisy's film will start filming in May, and The Mandalorian &amp; Grogu on June 7. That last one kind of makes sense to me, if it weren't a Friday, but the Rey-centric movie targeting a May shoot is nothing short of delusional. Thinking about it, though, I realized something.



It's my understanding that they will be filming in Pinewood Studios, where Marvel's Fantastic Four is supposed to go up too, in August. Does that mean they will have to wait for Matt Shakman's film to wrap so that Star Wars can start? Maybe they can shoot outdoor sequences elsewhere in the world first, like they did for The Force Awakens in Jordan. I'm not sure how often they shoot two productions as big as these two simultaneously in Pinewood. (Ridley told Inverse she hopes to film the movie “sometime in the near future.')







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<h2>The Bad Batch Trailer and the Eternal Star Wars Canon Discussion</h2>


Before we begin with this highly sensitive topic, allow me to say that I'm not a gigantic fan of The Bad Batch. (I thought the first season was kind of a mess, but the second season was much better than it had any right to be.) I'm also not the biggest canon person. I've read some of the comics and a few novels, though I've yet to get my hands dirty with The High Republic.



I was aware that Asajj Ventress was not around much anymore, and that the details were addressed in some way in Christie Golden's Dark Disciple. But with the release of the trailer for The Bad Batch season 3, my Star Wars News Net colleagues, and mostly the Internet have filled me in.



For a lengthy discussion of the trailer, check out Sydney Watsek's detail-heavy breakdown here, and the latest episode of SWNN Live! (here), in which a lot of what I'll be talking about here was brought up. I thought the trailer was pretty good, and strangely, I'm kind of looking forward to the new season. I'd predicted a shorter, 12-episode run to wrap up the main storyline and move on to other things -- in the end, it will be just one episode shorter than previous seasons. And I did think that it would go up fairly early in the year; had you told me about the February date back in November I would have said 'Yeah, that lines up!' But I'd given up on that when we didn't have any promos for it a few weeks into the New Year. It's going to be an interesting month!







Of course, the trailer saved a big reveal for the end, with the Bad Batch encountering Asajj Ventress (with a new haircut!). Star Wars fans' minds immediately collapsed when they realized that the new season takes place in the timeline after the events of Dark Disciple, and that Ventress should be dead by now. A statement by supervising director Brad Rau trying to calm the masses and asking for patience, saying they're aware of the Golden novel, did not suffice. 'Star Wars is ruining canon again!'



Can we please watch the show first, and get details on the context of this scene before we waste so much time on this topic? It feels kind of dumb to say that while I'm spending my Sunday evening writing about it, and I own that. I also admit that, if the show comes out and it retcons Dark Disciple in any way, I honestly won't care in the least -- and I also wouldn't if I had read the novel. But at least I'll sort of understand where the anger is coming from.



The idea of an interconnected canon storyline was cute at first when Kathleen Kennedy announced it over a decade ago, but it's now become such a pointless source of controversy that I don't know if it's worth it anymore. Even though I haven't dived in yet, I applaud and admire the concept of the High Republic as a publishing initiative -- a section of the storyline removed from everything else in canon to the point that there is no space for discrepancies and readers of those stories can just worry about the only thing that matters. Enjoying them.



Asajj Ventress in a scene from 'STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH', season 3 exclusively on Disney+. © 2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. &amp; &#x2122;. All Rights Reserved.



I've never really understood clamoring for acknowledgments of novels and comic books on the big screen: Are you really spending hundreds of hours and that much money so you can have a few seconds of satisfaction when a character mentions something you read about? I've probably upset half our readership with that thought, but I truly mean it. I've read a few Star Wars books, not so my knowledge of the Chiss Ascendancy can be paid off in Ahsoka season 2, but to enjoy a story in its own right.



I understand the complaints about the overpromising and underdelivering of the canon concept. But it's also kind of hard to keep that up when you're developing so many parallel storylines and in such different schedules. That mostly refers to inconsistencies like Rey meeting Poe at different points in time according to the novelization of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, rather than the Ventress question.



As far as Ventress is concerned, why can't it be a flashback? Or maybe she was resurrected by the Witches of Dathomir. Or maybe she's actually Omega in disguise. Let us come back to this after the episode comes out. I do, however, have to wonder if it was even worth it to include her in the trailer. It created such a nasty online discussion that I question whether it will help more people watch the show out of curiosity, or stay out of it because of the volume of negative headlines. Ultimately, I think it won't matter, but it was a strange and calculated decision that I would have loved to be in the room for.



The Bad Batch season 3 starts streaming on February 21.



Hunter in a scene from 'STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH', season 3 exclusively on Disney+. © 2024 Lucasfilm Ltd. &amp; &#x2122;. All Rights Reserved.



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<h2>Jocasta Nu's Reading List</h2>

• <a style='color: #f7e028;' href='https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2024/01/review-escape-from-valo-delivers-a-delightful-tale-of-perseverance-and-finding-your-inner-light.html' rel='noopener']Star Wars News Net[/url]: The High Republic is back in book form, and Tyler has great news for you -- Escape from Valo, from authors Daniel José Older and Alyssa Wong, is good! Check out his review, and stay tuned for an interview with The Eye of Darkness author George Mann coming soon!
• <a style='color: #f7e028;' href='https://gamerant.com/star-wars-inquisitorius-program-explained/' rel='noopener']Game Rant[/url]: One of the most interesting concepts of the new canon, the Inquisitorius program, gets the 'explained' treatment by Cameron Miller here.
• <a style='color: #f7e028;' href='https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/ahsoka-season-2-world-between-worlds-mortis' rel='noopener']Inverse[/url]: Dais Johnston is of the mind that Ahsoka made the mistake of relying too much on animated predecessors to tell its story, and confounded viewers in doing that. (I personally disagree.) Here's how they think Dave Filoni could fix it going forward.
• <a style='color: #f7e028;' href='https://screenrant.com/star-wars-ahsoka-season-2-potential-characters/' rel='noopener']Screen Rant[/url]: Speaking of Ahsoka, the first season introduced a plethora of known Star Wars characters. Who will appear in season 2? Liz Declan has 11 interesting ideas.
• <a style='color: #f7e028;' href='https://www.cbr.com/star-wars-the-acolyte-high-republic-characters/' rel='noopener']CBR[/url]: More character lists! Anna Cate Jones pitches 10 Jedi from the High Republic who could appear in The Acolyte. (Hint: we already know about one - who's not on the list.)
• <a style='color: #f7e028;' href='https://www.bobafettfanclub.com/news/film-tv/what-its-like-to-be-boba-fetts-makeup-artist/' rel='noopener']Boba Fett Fan Club[/url]: Here is an interesting interview with Jamie Kelman, the Emmy-winning artist who did the makeup on Temuera Morrison's Boba Fett.

What did you think of the latest edition of “This Week, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away”? Let me know your thoughts and suggestions down below in the comment section. You can also send them, or reach out with any information tips, directly via our Contact page.



Have a great week!



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