The Celebration stage was the main stage for the largest panels. It was at Wintrust arena which can hold more than 10,000 people. The secondary (overflow) stage was in McCormick Place and I heard it can hold up to 5,000 people depending on the event. When I watched panels at these stages, they were PACKED.
Due to the demand at previous Star Wars Celebrations, event organizers held lotteries this year for the largest panels which were generally the first panel of each day. There were lotteries this year for the Episode IX preview, Galaxy’s Edge (the new Disney Parks), The Mandalorian (new TV show coming), and The Phantom Menace 20 Year Anniversary Celebration. Apparently people used to line up overnight for a chance to get into these things!
I entered all the panel lotteries and actually won a seat for the Episode IX panel on the overflow stage… Better than nothing! So the live event was on the Celebration stage and it was streamed to the Galaxy stage where I was.
The Celebration (main) stage: I was here for The Clone Wars Sneak Peek panel:
The Galaxy (overflow) stage: I was here for the Episode IX preview and below is the only picture I took of it! I suppose I was so excited to get the latest news in the panel that I paid 100% attention with no picture-taking interruptions!
Episode IX: So yeah, this panel was interesting and facilitated by Stephen Colbert (the late night talk show host), I don’t think anyone was expecting that!! He just walked out on stage and everyone was like, “WHAAAAAAAT!!!” A number of the Episode IX cast made appearances on stage with him including Rey, Finn and Poe, along with the original Lando Calrissian (looks like he’s in the new movie!), Rose, Chewbacca, and a new character who was introduced. And of course J.J. Abrams (Director of Episode IX) and Kathleen Kennedy (President of Lucasfilm) were there as well to answer questions and keep secrets from us.
The Episode IX teaser trailer was shown at the end of the panel, which like all Star Wars teaser trailers leaves so many questions unanswered, and we have to wait until December now to find out how it all ends!! At least the name of the movie was announced, or should I say displayed at the end of the trailer: The Rise of Skywalker. Interesting title considering Episode IX is supposed to be the end of the Skywalker saga. Questions, questions!!
Probably one of the highlights of this panel for me was The Emperor laughing at the end of the trailer (spoiler!) and then Ian McDiarmid (the actor who plays The Emperor) actually walking out onto the stage, (live at the panel!) and saying in his Emperor voice, “Roll it again!” So they rolled it again, they actually played the trailer 3 times in a row for us to digest, YAAAASSSS!!
Star Wars Rebels Remembered: I absolutely loved this animated series, four amazing seasons which wrapped up last year. This panel reminisced about the show and included appearances by Dave Filoni (the man behind Star Wars animation: writer, producer, and artist!), along with some of the voice actors Vanessa Marshall as Hera, Taylor Gray as Ezra, and Tiya Sircar as Sabine.
And PS: A lot of the panel pictures (from all panels I attended) are not the greatest quality because I really had to put zoom to the test on my phone. While I had great seats, I was still pretty far back in the crowd for a lot of it!
The image below is apparently the cover art for the book being released in October, “The Art of Star Wars Rebels.” I knew this book was coming but the cover image had not been released until now, as far as I know. I rarely buy physical books anymore as I’ve gone pretty much digital now, but I want to get my hands on this one! This picture of the Ghost Crew was on the shirt I wanted to get but couldn’t because of lack of sizes in the Celebration store, but at the end of the panel, there were 11″ x 17″ posters of this handed out to all attendees of the panel. WIN!!
Marvel Comics: This was a really cool panel although I could only stay for this first half of it due to a photo appointment with Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker from Episodes II and III!) So for the first half they announced the titles of upcoming Star Wars comics being released. I already knew some of the series’ that are coming, but not the specific titles or characters that would be represented, so this was real neat to know!! I have read every Star Wars comic by Marvel since they started releasing them again, back around the time The Force Awakens was released, I think since 2015 or 2016. They’ve released soooooo much and it looks like there will be no slowing down any time soon!! I love reading these comics especially the character specific ones, as you always get additional stories and more background on the characters, more than you would ever get from the movies and even some of the books!!
Funko: How could I not go to the Funko panel?!! These guys were here to talk about Star Wars Funko Pop! figures that have gotten so popular over the past few years. I can’t remember the exact number anymore, but I’m pretty sure they said that Funko has more than 2,600 Star Wars products alone, so good luck collecting all those!
The panel talked about how some of the figures were designed, and how ones such as Jar Jar were more difficult to figure out due to the eyes going against the grain of typical Pop! figure eyes. They showed images of some Star Wars Rebels figures that were designed but never actually released and then told us that anything is still possible depending on demand and what the powers that be end up deciding. So if there’s a figure we want to see released, we need to write to them about it and yell REAL LOUD!!
These blue Pop! figures below are the Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019 exclusive figures available at the show, the ones you had to enter and win the lottery for a chance to buy. But guess what?? They handed out some of them at the end of the panel and I managed to snag the blue stormtrooper for free, WOO-HOO!!
Vintage Canadian Collectibles: A Canadian panel!! One of the guys in this panel is actually someone I know (the one in red), along with two of his buddies, all from Canada. This panel was real interesting as they talked about collecting Star Wars items from back in the 70’s and 80’s, everything from action figures and play sets with and without bilingual packaging, to prizes picked out of cereal boxes, some mailed in for larger prizes. Remember those?!! Some of that stuff is worth thousands now, if only we’d kept it all from back in the day!!
The Clone Wars: Another animated series I absolutely loved. This show ran on network television for five seasons until Disney purchased Lucasfilm I think back in 2012, and the series was then abruptly cancelled. A sixth season never made it to TV but was released for purchase a couple years later. It consisted of a number of great story arcs but never properly finished the storyline of the show. Then, at San Diego Comic-Con last year (I think?), it was announced that Clone Wars would be returning for a seventh and final season so that writer, producer, artist Dave Filoni could finish the series properly, as intended. OH. MY. GOD!!!! Amazing news indeed!
So this panel which was facilitated by Warwick Davis (!), announced that the last season will consist of 12 episodes, will air on Disney’s upcoming streaming service, and hopefully give us some closure on certain events that took place, yaaaaaay!! We saw some of the new art and how the look of the original characters has been updated slightly, and of course a trailer. Still no debut date though, guess we need to wait for Disney’s streaming service to launch, sounds like it might be November??
A number of voice actors from the show made appearances in this panel, including Dee Bradley Baker, the voice of Captain Rex and if truth be known, all the rest of the clones! Ashley Eckstein was also there, the voice of Ahsoka, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Matt Lanter as Anakin, Catherine Taber as Padme, Sam Witwer as Darth Maul, and even the show’s narrator, Tom Kane! And of course we saw Dave Filoni, the man behind it all!!
This amazing image of Ahsoka below was handed out to all panel attendees as an 11″ x 17″ poster, woo-hoo!!
There were many other panels at the Celebration, couldn’t attend them all!! There was a panel for Star Wars: Resistance, the Season 2 sneak peek which I wanted to attend but couldn’t because that was my tattoo day, more on that later! I managed to get Elisa to snag me the 11″ x 17″ poster that was handed out to panel attendees, SCORE!! I need to rearrange my living room again to make space for the three posters I got!!
If it seems like my panel reviews are favoured more toward animation than anything else, it’s because they are. I love the animated stuff so much because of the art and the additional stories I get while watching them. And Clone Wars, Rebels, and Resistance are all canon, meaning these stories count!! They are an official part of the saga, not expanded universe or anything like that. Not that some of those stories aren’t amazing as well!
One panel I missed but would have loved to have seen was for The Mandalorian, the upcoming TV series (live action, not animated) starring Pedro Pascal among others. This was a lottery-only panel which I did not win a seat for. I got to see snippets of it on the big screen in the exhibit hall but didn’t hear any important announcements. I did see that Pedro was actually there on the stage though, so he was at the Celebration! I loved him as Prince Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones and look very forward to seeing him as The Mandalorian. This show is being written, directed, and produced by Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni has his hands in it too with directing and producing, so I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic!!
