- This week on the show, I sit down to talk Thrawn
with author Timothy Zahn.
- Plus, we get a deeper insight into the story
elements of Star Wars--
Galaxy's Edge.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This is "The Star Wars Show."
From the Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco,
here's your hosts, Andi and Anthony.
- Hello, and welcome to "The Star Wars Show,"
the only "Star Wars" show that's normally filled with
'80s references, but this week will be filled with
'90s references because our normal writer is
on vacation and has been replaced with a writer
that's 10 years younger.
- Yeah, get ready for all that Lip Smacker, Lisa Frank,
Beanie Baby, Space Jammin' fun.
- Ugh, as if.
Let's say bye, bye, bye to this and go to the news.
- Jon Favreau is back at it again
and giving fans a quick look behind the curtain of
"The Mandalorian's" production.
- On Saturday, the director posted an image to his
Instagram of a drawing by new-to-Instagram writer
and director Dave Filoni that appears
to be of a blaster-carrying IG droid yelling, "Music!"
- The impressive drawing was paired
with the caption, "Scoring season 1 of "The Mandalorian."
- "The Mandalorian" premieres on Disney+ November 12.
- Also last week, starwars.com revealed three images from
the upcoming book "Star Wars--
Myths & Fables."
- Painted by Grant Griffin, these images include a menacing
skeletal Darth Vader, a heroic Ralph Macquarie-inspired Jedi,
and an unknown character standing on a hill with a Black
Spire Outpost-esque background.
- Written by George Mann, "Myths & Fables"
tells fantastical stories from the "Star Wars" universe
told as fairy tales and legends being passed down
from generation to generation.
The book is available for preorder
now and will hit store shelves August 6.
- If you want to see more of the images up close and read more
about "Myths & Fables," along with more
breaking news from around the galaxy,
check out starwars.com/sws.
- Hey, did you know we are 29 days away
from the opening of Star Wars--
Galaxy's Edge at Walt Disney World in Florida?
- Huh.
I can't believe your 29-day alarm went off and mine didn't.
Huh, interesting.
Well, to help feed your need for all that great Black Spire
Outpost content, here's a closer look at how Walt Disney
Imagineering teamed up with Lucasfilm to create and expand
the story of that, too.
Do you have yours set to--
- Yeah, it's got the little-- the little thing right there.
- It's weird, I normally have--
29 days before anything important,
I have an alarm go off.
- It's the most important milestone.
- Mm-hmm.
[SHIP ENGINE ROARING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- One thing about storytelling in "Star Wars"
is we have one universe of story.
One of the great opportunities we have is we
work very, very closely with all the other creators
who are working on all the other forms
of "Star Wars" storytelling.
We kind of make sure that everything
we're doing all weaves together and makes sense.
- The breakthrough moment in developing Star Wars--
Galaxy's Edge was thinking about the park as a setting
where stories occur, and that story focus is what
made it clear that it not only had to be a new world,
but it had to be a world where interesting things happen.
- The story of Batuu is that it's kind
of a off-the-beaten-path planet that,
in the early days of hyperspace travel,
ships would go to stock up and resupply before they
ventured out into wild space.
And now Batuu's kind of fallen a little bit from its glory days.
Now it's the place where people go
when they want to get lost, when they want to be off the radar.
- We work with the designers, the architects, the ride
engineers, landscape designers, food and beverage,
merchandise to come together and tell
a cohesive story that truly holds the DNA of "Star Wars."
- We thought it very important to carve out a space that
had to exist on its own track because it had
all sorts of considerations that need to be thought of separate
from all the considerations that go into making a movie
or making a TV show.
But once it gelled and we came to understand what it was,
we were able to communicate our discoveries
to other storytellers.
- The story, it weaves into all of our current storytelling.
It was mentioned in "Solo--
A Star Wars Story" twice.
It's shown up in "Thrawn Alliances."
Now we're doing an entire publishing program
around it, which includes various books, comics,
all kinds of exciting things.
So we really are treating it as a part of true "Star
Wars" storytelling.
- You want to have different ways
to experience this galaxy and this saga,
this epic storytelling.
And how do we challenge ourselves to continually
be surprising to our "Star Wars" fans
as well as our Disney guests?
[SHIP ROARS]
[PORG SQUAWKS]
- I'm joined today by Timothy Zahn.
Oh, it's so good to have you here.
I always love talking to you-- - Thank you.
It's always great to be here.
- "Thrawn-- Treason" is out.
- Yes.
- You're finishing up the second trilogy
with this awesome character that you've been working on.
I'd love to hear about how you're feeling about wrapping
up this new chapter in your "Star Wars" authoring life
and with Thrawn.
- It's always a little bit of a downer.
OK, this is all done now.
What do we do after this?
But it was fun to bring back some of the characters
from the first book, do some connections
with the second book, "Alliances,"
and just bring things to a rousing conclusion
with the possibility of something
further down the line if and when that part of the timeline
becomes available to me.
- When you were working on "Heir to the Empire,"
did you ever imagine that he would have this sort of legacy
and be so beloved in the community?
- You have no idea what characters, what storyline,
is going to connect with the readers.
At that point, frankly, we didn't
know if there were any "Star Wars" fans out there,
so the original "Thrawn" trilogy was
an experiment in its own right.
The fact that Thrawn has persisted and been
a popular character this long, I would never have believed it
had you told me back in 1991.
- You know, now 30 years later, was there anything
that you discovered about him or about yourself
in the process that was kind of different this time?
- Not really because a lot of the fun of doing Thrawn is not
just the tactics and playing both sides of the chessboard,
but it's how are people going to react to him.
That multiple dynamic is part of the storytelling, part of
the fun of writing these books.
Eli Vanto is a good example of that.
He starts out not really liking this disruption in his planned
career, his planned life, and gradually comes around to,
you know, this may be the best thing that
ever could have happened to me.
This gives the reader somebody to look through their eyes
and see how they would fit into this mass story around him.
- So now this time around, you know,
you're writing these stories at the same time
when Thrawn's being used in other "Star Wars" content.
Did you work closely with, you know,
Dave, for example, who was using Thrawn?
- There were several places in "Rebels"
where he meets Colonel Yularen, Governor
Pryce, and Moff Tarkin.
But none of those felt like a first meeting,
so I can make these connections.
So it's boundaries, but it's also opportunities.
- So speaking of, you know, Thrawn's appearance
in "Rebels," do you know where he went?
- I would like to know where he went.
I've got ideas of my own.
But at this point, that's off the table.
Dave Filoni has got first crack at that.
- So you really don't know.
- I really don't know.
- Oh, that's wild.
That's like the best kept secret in "Star Wars" right now,
I think.
- We could all find Dave Filoni and see what we
could bribe him with, you know?
- I haven't seen the guy.
He's really busy.
- Yeah, that is the other thing.
He is very busy with a lot of other cool projects.
- So speaking of other cool projects
that are going on in "Star Wars,"
what's exciting you right now?
- Looking forward to "The Mandalorian,"
particularly with Dave and John in charge of that one.
I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with that.
Galaxy's Edge, we're going to the park
in October hoping to be able to get into that
if it's not too crowded.
- You're Timothy Zahn.
You could get in.
Like-- like, call someone.
- I keep-- well, I keep dropping hints at people,
and then so far, nobody's picked up on one, so.
- Hopefully, we can get you in.
- Yeah, there we go.
- Try-- I'll try and pull some strings.
- OK, sounds great.
Thanks.
- So convention season is in full swing,
and you're staying really busy.
I mean, you're doing a whole circuit.
Where can fans find you?
- I've got a quick tour schedule hitting about every two
weekends till around November.
It's all listed in the Notes section of my Facebook page.
- Thanks again for coming by.
I'm so glad I got a few minutes with you.
- Well, thanks - You're.
- Watching. - The.
- Star. - Wars.
- Show.
- I love that you got to sit down and talk with Timothy Zahn
this week.
- Yeah, it's always awesome to sit and talk in-depth about
our favorite blue boy Thrawn.
- Yes.
- Hopefully, Timothy will come back for another chat soon.
- Last week on the show, we asked
to hear about your favorite moments from the "Clone Wars,"
and you all delivered.
- Michael Vitti said he liked how the "Clone Wars" humanized
the clone troopers, gave them all
unique personalities and desires,
and how they formed a brotherhood.
Couldn't agree more.
- Matt Rushing shared that he loved
the entire Mortis trilogy--
same-- - Yep.
- --Because it was when George cracked
open the Force in the most unexpected and incredible way.
- And last but not least, Joe wrote
that he loved when Jar Jar distracted
the Trade Federation with his art
in order to save the people of Ryloth.
So many great Jar Jar moments.
- Every Jar Jar moment is a great Jar Jar moment.
And hey, thank you for watching.
Remember to like the video, subscribe to the channel,
follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
And remember that MC Double Def DO says don't copy that floppy.
- Thanks for watching, and may the Force be with you.
[SHIP ROARS]
[BEEP]
That was a deep cut. [BEEP]
- Very deep cut. [BEEP]
But an important cut because otherwise
you have floppies everywhere. [BEEP]
- I didn't even know you could copy floppies.
[BEEP] - You shouldn't.
[BEEP]
- What percentage of people watching this
have no idea what a floppy is.
[BEEP]