Lucasfilm

For the past few years ILMxLAB, Industrial Light and Magic’s Experience Lab, has been developing new ways to enjoy Star Wars using the latest virtual and augmented reality technologies. We've seen some samples of ILMxLAB’s projects in that time, but nothing beyond a very nice tech demo has been released to the public so far. That changes this winter when ILMxLAB and The Void will team to release Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire. Billed as a full-immersive virtual reality experience, Secrets of the Empire will let you actually enter that galaxy far, far away by simply dropping a visor down over your head.

I’ve always found the intersection of fan culture and Hollywood to be endlessly fascinating. When Joss Whedon took over the reigns of Marvel’s The Avengers, for example, it kicked off a period where a filmmaker’s talent behind-the-scenes was less important than their reverence for the source material. Whedon once wrote a series of X-Men comic books; Duncan Jones had spent years playing the Warcraft MMORPG; Neill Blomkamp adored the Alien franchise; Rian Johnson was an unparalleled Star Wars nerd. It was no longer enough for a studio to hire a director with vision and talent, you also needed to hire someone who identified - or could as least pass a skill check - with the very audience you were trying to target.

With all the new pieces in play in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it sure seems like Lucasfilm is setting the Star Wars universe up to go somewhere special. Once Kathleen Kennedy and company made the decision to blow up the preexisting Star Wars canon, we watched firsthand as they began the process of stitching together a new continuity. There were Star Wars books explaining the events that followed Return of the Jedi, new television shows that wove together the old and new trilogies, and even video games fleshing out some of the new planets and species we’d seen in The Force Awakens.

Today Disney dropped a whole slew of new release dates for the studio through 2021. It might seem like a joke that humanity will even exist to see that year arrive, but hey, we can dream, and in those dreams there’s a lot to be excited about, including Indiana Jones 5.

Unlike the previous Obi-Wan Kenobi  —  sorry, Alec Guinness  —  Ewan McGregor has long been excited about the prospect of returning for more Star Wars movies, telling Empire Magazine last October that he was the “right age” to make two more movies as the beloved character. While fans were sometimes unimpressed by the prequels, McGregor’s winning performance as the young Jedi was one of the highlights of the film, leading fans to clamor for a standalone Kenobi movie while McGregor was still the right age.

While fans from around the world have gathered to share their love of Star Wars at this year’s Star Wars Celebration, there has been one sobering element to the festivities. The loss of Carrie Fisher has been felt at every level of the convention, from Thursday’s bittersweet memorial video put together by Lucasfilm to the sadness felt while Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson shared his behind-the-scenes footage from the set. And since this is a convention of all things Star Wars, fans have also speculated about the role the actress might play in the next film. Is there a place for Fisher in Star Wars: Episode 9?

Fans are never satisfied. Here we are, finally enjoying the first batch of footage from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and we’re already wondering about Star Wars: Episode 9 and beyond. The resurgence of Luke Skywalker in particular has us wondering a bit about the franchise’s endgame. The Star Wars movies have always been tied to the emotional journeys of one father and one son; can this universe maintain a new Skywalker narrative after the main one is complete? Or will Star Wars: Episode 9 bring this chapter in the Star Wars universe to a close?

While pop culture junkies like to joke about the fact that Lucasfilm’s new extended universe approach means the sun will burn out before we go another year without a Star Wars movie, what we really need to resign ourselves for is decades of production rumors. Every director with an ounce of style and a half-successful movie under their belt will now be a popular match for a standalone Star Wars film. So when directors such as Guillermo de Toro  —  who possesses far more than just an “ounce” of style  —  are rumored to maybe-sorta be in the market for their own Star Wars movie, that means its time to buckle up for the long haul.

It’s been a few months since the world lost Carrie Fisher, and while many would prefer to expand the conversation to her accomplishments outside of the Star Wars universe, plenty of people are anxiously wondering how her death might affect her character in the upcoming Star Wars sequels. For some, this can be viewed as a tacky approach to celebrity, but there’s a sweeter side to things as well. Leia Organa remains an icon for people around the world; finding an appropriate way to say goodbye to her character will be, in essence, the way many Star Wars fans say goodbye to Fisher herself.

The dream of a live-action Star Wars TV series gets a little bit further with each successful film, but some of the prior small-screen efforts bore surprising fruit. As it turns out, the concept for Rogue One initially began with the post-Revenge of the Sith TV series, as revealed by ILM visual effects supervisor John Knoll.