The Biggest Announcements to Come out of Star Wars Celebration Japan
For most of the world, the weekend of April 18th-20th was Easter Weekend. For Star Wars fans, though, it was Star Wars Celebration Japan. People from all over the world came to Chiba, Japan, to celebrate the sci-fi franchise, and there was much to celebrate. Not only were there appearances from people who devoted part of their working on Star Wars, but there were a great many announcements to be made. With the franchise approaching its 50th anniversary in two years, there’s going to be a plethora of content for fans to indulge in until then.
In the spirit of celebrating the franchise, the upcoming Star Wars Day, and the re-release of Revenge of the Sith on the eve of its 20th anniversary, here are a few of the biggest announcements from Star Wars Celebration Japan.
Star Wars is Taking Over Fortnite for a month
The popular online shooter Fortnite is no stranger to collaborating with big franchises, but Sweetar Wars is one of its most consistent partners. Every May, they regularly do some sort of big event related to Star Wars in conjunction with the popular fan-holiday May the Fourth. This year, though, Fortnite seems to be planning its biggest collaboration to date: Galactic Battle Season.
As revealed at SWCJ, from May 2nd to June 7th, Star Wars will be taking over Fortnite for its new season. Split up over a series of five weeks, the event will all lead up to a live, in-game event that likely has something to do with the Death Star that’s all but certain to appear. In addition, the game will also see the arrival of flyable X-Wings and TIE fighters, allowing gamers to take control of two of the most iconic ships in sci-fi. The best part, though, has to be the additional character skins that will be added. While Mace Windu and Darth Sidious are both welcome additions, the real highlight has to be the meme-legend himself, Darth Jar Jar! It’s nice to see Ahmed Best’s oft-maligned character get the love he deserves.
Star Wars: Zero Company= Star Wars meets X-COM
Fortnite wasn’t the only video game that made a splash at SWCJ. During the festivities, it was announced that game developers Bit Reactor, Respawn Entertainment, and Lucasfilm Games would be teaming up to give us a Star Wars game unlike any other, Star Wars: Zero Company. Set during the twilight of the Clone Wars, this game will not be focusing on the epic battles that many people think of when they think of that conflict. Instead, this game will be focused on the war taking place behind the scenes. Players will take control of the titular Zero Company, a ragtag group of individuals, as they wage a war from the shadows as part of the larger conflict. The result is something less FPS and more turn-based strategy.
For those who are familiar with the X-COM video games, then this game should sound remarkably similar in nature. In that series, players take control of a covert organization whose job it is to defend humanity from an alien invasion. Every decision that players make can decide whether a mission ends up succeeding or if their squad even makes it back alive, so there can be a lot of pressure. With the game set to release in 2026 on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, this could be something gamers will want to look out for next year.
More Star Wars Films are Coming
The Skywalker Saga that started Star Wars might be over (for now), but for better or worse, there are more Star Wars films set to come out in the next few years. At SWCJ, attendees were given a teaser for next year’s upcoming film, The Mandalorian and Grogu. While footage has yet to be publicly released, there’s one image that has been making the rounds online of a grown-up Rotta the Hutt. Introduced as a baby and the son of Jabba in the pilot film for The Clone Wars, the adult Rotta will be living as a gladiator…and be super buff. With how big a Hutt can get, you can imagine how terrifying one with muscle on it could be.
The second big film that was announced for the first time is Star Wars Starfighter. Directed by Shawn Levy, the director of the Deadpool movies, and starring Ryan Gosling, little is known about this film as of now. However, what is known is that production on it will begin later this year, with the film set to release in 2027, just in time for the franchise’s 50th birthday.
More Shows are On the Way
Since The Rise of Skywalker came out, Star Wars has largely stayed in the spotlight thanks to the abundance of shows it’s released on Disney+. While some of them have performed abysmally, that hasn’t seemed to deter Disney in the slightest. At SWCJ, there were a plethora of shows, both new and returning, that got attention.
In the next installment in Dave Filoni’s animated series in Star Wars, we have Maul: Shadow Lord. Set in the aftermath of the Clone Wars, this series will see the former Sith Lord continue to pursue his own attempts to gain power in the criminal underworld.
Ahsoka is confirmed to be getting a second season. In addition to that, it was confirmed that the character of Baylan Skoll would now be played by Rory McCann, AKA Sandor ‘The Hound” Clegane from Game of Thrones.
The animated anthology series, Star Wars Visions, will be returning to its anime roots this October with new shorts, three of which will be sequels to shorts from Volume 1, including The Village Bride, The Ninth Jedi, and The Duel. In addition, The Ninth Jedi will also be getting its own miniseries airing on Disney+.
The story of LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy will be continuing with another series title Pieces of the Past, and this one will be including a BRICKHEADZ Ahsoka and…Jaxxon the Lepi?!!? What sorcery is this?!?!?
There’s going to be a lot to look forward to.
Star Wars Celebration Los Angeles Coming in 2027
The year 2027 will likely be the year of Star Wars for one reason: it’s the franchise’s 50th anniversary. Knowing Disney, they will go all out to try and make it bigger than ever, and part of that will stem from the next Star Wars Celebration. At the end of SWCJ, it was announced that the next one will be taking place in Los Angeles. So, if you are big on Star Wars, then now is the time to start saving up money for that trip.
Discover more from The Game of Nerds
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
