Star Wars Bits: ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Returns, a Defense of Luke’s Arc in ‘The Last Jedi,’ and Porgs as an Invasive Species

In this edition of Star Wars Bits:

Star Wars Rebels gets a mid-season premiere date
John Williams confirms he’ll be scoring Episode IX
Snoke’s throne room design has an unlikely influence
Matt the Radar Technician makes a grand return
And much more!

Let’s start, as every post on the Internet should, with Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’ve polled the entire planet, and pretty much everyone wants McGregor to reprise his role from the prequels in a Kenobi standalone film, which is reportedly in development. That includes, of course, McGregor himself. But he insists he still hasn’t heard anything from Lucasfilm. As he told reporters backstage at the Golden Globes last weekend: “There’s a lot of talk, and I’d be happy to play him again, but I don’t know anything more than you do.” There’s more info at The Hollywood Reporter, including a photo of McGregor working out while sporting a very Kenobi-like beard. #forscience

Your very own lightsaber is calling to you, reports Blooloop. Disney recently filed a patent for “systems and methods for augmenting an appearance of a hilt to simulate a bladed weapon,” likely to be used as part of an AR experience in the Galaxy’s Edge section of Disney theme parks. In other words: Laser swords for everyone!

Mark Hamill rocked the Star Wars universe by voicing his initial displeasure with Rian Johnson’s plans for Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi. As it turns out, another lead actor also wasn’t thrilled with her character’s plot. At the BAFTA Q&A for The Last Jedi, Daisy Ridley expressed her “reservations” over Rey’s plot, saying: “I thought, ‘Where is John [Boyega]? He’s away from me, and I don’t want to be away from him.'” The comment earned appreciative laughter, and was most likely meant to display Ridley’s closeness with Boyega, rather than Rey’s closeness with Finn. Judge for yourself at ComicBook.com.

A report from the German site Jedi-Bibliothek has now been confirmed by Disney XD: the fourth season of Star Wars Rebels returns on February 24 with an episode titled “Jedi Night.” More information – including slightly spoilery episode descriptions – can be found over at Den of Geek!. What? No, I’m not already crying. Nothing to see here, move along.

The final music for #StarWarsRebels. Thank you, Kevin Kiner.#FollowTheWhiteLothcat http://pic.twitter.com/LvLoATexJf

— Dave Filoni (@dave_filoni) January 6, 2018

While we’re all now waiting with bated breath for a new Rebels trailer, showrunner Dave Filoni tweeted out a teasing, behind-the-scenes photo of a scoring session featuring the (absolutely sublime) music of Kevin Kiner.

Speaking of sublime music, the iconic John Williams gave a delightful interview to Variety about his two 2017 film scores potentially up for Oscar nominations: The Last Jedi and Steven Spielberg’s The Post. (Williams already has more Oscar nominations that any human in history, but he could earn his 51st and even 52nd when the next batch of noms are announced). Williams delivers some wonderful, behind-the-scenes tidbits about both scores, while also confirming that he plans to come back and score Star Wars Episode IX, which is all well and good, because the world would literally grind to a halt if he didn’t.

One thing we can all agree on when it comes to The Last Jedi: John Williams’ score is, as always, nothing short of excellent. As reported by MakingStarWars.net, Disney recently released an extended version of the TLJ soundtrack, which you can listen to here.

In an interview with People, Rian Johnson explained the secret behind those exhilarating Force bond scenes with Kylo and Rey: actually having both actors present. “Every single time we shot one of their sides, the other person was off camera,” Johnson said. “Even to the point where Adam flew to Ireland just to be off camera for Daisy’s stuff, which was essential because they’re such intimate conversations. And that also meant we had to shoot each of those scenes twice basically, which meant the rehearsal time was really important.”

Already sick of schlepping to the theater to take in repeated viewings of The Last Jedi? Rumor has it, you can buy TLJ on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K Ultra HD on March 27 and watch Chewie roast Porgs on a loop in the comfort of your own home. That date comes to you from The Digital Bits and is based on a number of retail sources.

Heroic Hollywood picked out another cool factoid from The Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Speaking about Snoke’s blood-red throne room, Design Supervisor Kevin Jenkins discussed some of the influences behind the bold visual style: “Early on, the one thing that stuck was the heavy red with colonnade banners. It is part of the Ran/Kurosawa thing—the samurai influence. It’s a colonnade leading you to a dais and a chair. Rian didn’t mention Twin Peaks’s Black Lodge—the red room—but we all did in an art department meeting.” All in all, that’s a damn fine design.

Star Wars Explained addresses another of the billion burning questions fans have about plot points in The Last Jedi: Why didn’t Snoke or Kylo Ren have yellow Dark Side eyes, like Anakin/Vader in Revenge of the Sith and the Emperor in Return of the Jedi? Hear the answer to that question and more in the video above.