by Beth Keating
News
DisneyBizJournal.com
May 27, 2022
If you weren’t one of the lucky ones who snapped up a seat at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California, you may still be able to be part of the fandom by tuning in to the Star Wars Celebration LIVE! complete livestream of Day 1 from Star Wars Celebration Anaheim. The stream includes many of the interviews and panels from the day, interspersed with visits from creators of Star Wars merch, and a look at some new releases.
Additional streams from the four-day gathering (May 26-29, 2022, at the Anaheim Convention Center) will also be coming, and for your convenience, some of the more popular interviews have been broken down and posted into smaller, several minute long segments by the good folks at the Star Wars website. You can also watch live on the StarWars.com homepage or YouTube.com/StarWars beginning at 12 p.m. PT each day.
While you might be thinking that the stream (and the event itself) is a bit of a nerd-fest, and a five-hour-long promo for all things Disney+ (yeah, it is that, too), viewers will still walk away feeling like they found out more about their favorite shows than they previously knew. And though there are true “fanboy” and “fangirl” moments to the day, the interviewers still manage to bring a fair amount of interesting discussion to the celebrity moments.
In particular, I’ve long been an admirer of Dave Filoni, and enjoyed his take on creating his corner of the Star Wars world. Without a doubt, Ian McDiarmid gives one of the most note-worthy and amusing interviews of the day in his “An Audience With The Emperor” segment, fascinating not only from a fan point of view, but for those whose interests lie in the process of film creation and in film history.
The day’s stream also offered moments with some of the merch and gaming creators, with a nod to what they created and why, and what new products they thought would “wow” audiences.
Day #1 of Star Wars Celebration LIVE! featured stage time with such luminaries of the Star Wars universe as Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Kathleen Kennedy; as well as fan favorite actors including Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan, The Mandalorian), Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano, Star Wars Rebels), and Ian McDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine).
With the hype building for the release of the limited series, six episode Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ series the following day (today, May 27), the room went crazy for the interview with Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen (Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, but if you are reading this article, I’m pretty sure you already knew that!). If you want to see their comments before tuning in to the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series tonight, their segment is at about the 4:04:10 mark.
Also putting in appearances in the interview chairs were Jon Kasdan (among other things, Executive Producer and writer of Willow – coming to Disney+ November 30), Joanne Whalley (Sorsha, Willow), Warwick Davis (Willow Ufgood, Willow); Ruby Cruz (Kit, Willow), Ellie Bamber (Dove,Willow) and Erin Kellyman (Jade, Willow); Rupert Friend and Moses Ingram (Grand Inquisitor and Reva from Obi-Wan Kenobi); Deborah Chow (director, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Mandalorian); Taylor Gray (Ezra, Star Wars Rebels); Sanne Wohlenberg (Executive Producer, Star Wars: Andor – coming to Disney+ August 31); Diego Luna (Executive producer and Cassian Andor, Star Wars: Andor, and Star Wars: Rogue One); and Genevieve O'Reilly (Mon Mothma, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars: Rogue One, and Star Wars: Andor).
The Star Wars: The High Republic panel was also part of the day’s livestream coverage, offering a large group of panelists in an hour-plus long, wide-ranging discussion of behind-the-scenes storylines and decision-making.
Streaming continues for the additional days of the celebration, and you can catch a few of the sneak peek trailers for upcoming series on the livestream as well.
To quote Hayden Christensen’s interview, “This is where the fun begins!”
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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.
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