Now that the D23 Expo and Comic-Con International are over—with neither bringing much Star Wars news, oddly—Lucasfilm fans are setting their sights on December's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. And the promotional machine is rewarding that attention with all kinds of hints and spoilers. Despite what it seems, though, it's not all about the next chapter in the Skywalker Saga: Marvel has revealed that, starting with the 38th issue, its monthly Star Wars comic will have a new writer and artist. Fans will be familiar with their work, though; it's Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larocca, the team behind the critically acclaimed Darth Vader comic book series from 2015. Everything else, though? Well, it's beginning to look a lot like Last Jedi time, as you're about to see.
The Source: Lucasfilm itself Probability of Accuracy: If Pablo Hidalgo says it, you can assume it's pretty much canon. The Real Deal: For those wondering what the hell those little Furby-like beasties were in the behind-the-scenes video for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the official Star Wars website has the answer: They're called porgs, and they're a native species on the planet where Rey found Luke Skywalker at the end of The Force Awakens. "Porgs are native to Ahch-To, and can be found dwelling along the cliffs of the island where Luke and Rey are. In many ways, they’re the Star Wars version of puffins. They build nests. They can fly. Their babies are called porglets," explained Lucasfilm guru Pablo Hidalgo. Needless to say, Hidalgo is aware of their merchandising potential. "You fall into those deep, soulful eyes," he said. "I think a lot of people are going to want a porg as a pet." Hey, toymakers: You've already jumped on this for the holiday season, right?
The Source: Lucasfilm itself Probability of Accuracy: It's on the official Star Wars site, so it's pretty official. The Real Deal: After being rumored for some time, the official Star Wars website has finally debuted Kylo Ren's TIE silencer, a one-of-a-kind fighter that will make its debut in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Underscoring his love of a previous Sith Lord, the TIE silencer is—according to the machine's description—similar to Darth Vader's TIE advanced as well as being something that shows off a skill fans didn't get to see in The Force Awakens. "Ren is an expert pilot—thanks to skills passed down from his father—which he puts to use in exploiting his ship's speed and ferocity," the description reports. It's time for a one-on-one dogfight with Poe Dameron, aka the best pilot in the Resistance, perhaps?
The Source: Speculation based on promotional artwork Probability of Accuracy: It's far from certain, but it would certainly make sense. The Real Deal: Actually, let's stay on the subject of fighters for a minute. The Making Star Wars site noticed that in cover art for an upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi tie-in book there's an X-wing fighter that seems to be submerged off the coast of Ahch-To. Does this mean that Luke crashed his X-wing into the ocean, or that it's waiting there for him to take off when needed? Either way, the fact that it's underwater altogether raises the potential for the movie to play off the scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Yoda uses the Force to lift Luke's X-wing out of the Dagobah swamp. A reference to the second movie in the original trilogy in the second movie of the new trilogy? That seems more than likely—and not just as an excuse to point out that Luke really needs to work on his parking skills.
The Source: Lucasfilm's creative director of publishing Probability of Accuracy: Well, that's the question, isn't it? The Real Deal: There wasn't an official Star Wars movie panel at this year's Comic-Con International, but Lucasfilm did announce a lot of new Last Jedi-related books at the convention, including a novel based in the new location Canto Bight and another revealing the origins of Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie's First Order character). Perhaps most interesting for deep continuity nerds will be The Legends of Luke Skywalker, which will be filled with the stories shared around the galaxy of what Luke did after the events of Return of the Jedi—although they might not be true. “For kids coming out of [The Force Awakens], for casual fans coming out of that movie, you hear about Luke Skywalker for that whole film, but you only see him for two seconds at the end. He doesn’t even say anything," Lucasfilm publishing creative director Michael Siglain told Entertainment Weekly. "This book is a book that goes into some of those stories that were told, some of those legends of Luke Skywalker. Are they true? Well, maybe. Maybe not." All the fact and fiction will hit shelves this fall, just before the release of The Last Jedi, so fans will have to wait until then to try to decipher the truth.
The Source: Last Jedi director Rian Johnson Probability of Accuracy: It's impressively vague, but it's probably very accurate. The Real Deal: Rian Johnson spoke to the Los Angeles Times about the challenge of writing the opening crawl for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and revealed that it wasn't as easy as it looks to sum up everything that has come before. "I wrote something, and it was terrible," he explained, adding that it was George Lucas' description of the job as "like writing a haiku" that unlocked the process for him. "We didn’t finish the opening crawl and totally lock it until a few weeks ago actually," he continued. "Because you’re like, 'Do we need this word, do we need that word, what if we shift?' It’s like a poem, there’s very little room for error in trying to get it just right. Which is awesome, it’s really fun." The one word he was willing to share from the crawl was appropriately dramatic: "Decimated." Does that mean emotionally, physically? Who or what does it refer to? All will be revealed in December.
