With a Han Solo-like blaster holster and other rebellious appointments, Jones was front-and center in the photo that revealed much of the cast from the December 2016 release Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One — just one of the highlights from Disney/Lucasfilm’s presentation on Saturday morning at the biennial fan event D23.
Meanwhile, Disney confirmed that Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow will direct Episode IX, which upstart site Heroic Hollywood first reported back in July. That film is slated for 2019, and will be Trevorrow’s follow-up to the $1.58 billion superblockbuster for Universal.
“He knocked our Avengers from third place on the all-time box office list,” studio chief Alan Horn said. “We hired him anyway.”
Rogue One, which Godzilla director Gareth Edwards will helm, rounded out its cast with Diego Luna (Milk), Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline), Hong Kong action star and martial artist Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker (King of Scotland), Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale), Alan Tudyk (Firefly, in a performance-capture role here) and Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler).
Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams took the stage and brought out much of his cast, including Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Lupita Nyong’o. But none elicited anything close to the thundering whoop quite like Harrison Ford, who strode swiftly onstage — his on-set Millennium Falcon accident and plane-crash injuries clearly not bothering him — to say a few words.
“I’m delighted to be here with JJ and the cast, and Disney,” an ebullient Ford said, “which has supported this effort in a really extraordinary way. So it’s a great thrill to be here with you and those who made this whole thing happen. I couldn’t be happier. Thank you so much.”
Abrams teased some “epic Star Wars news,” and while many thought Lucasfilm might confirm a title, theme and/or director for its 2018 film (which Fantastic Four director Josh Trank dropped out of), they did not — instead, that news turned out to be a pair of Star Wars-themed parks at Disneyland and Disneyworld.
