The Skywalker family will be the common thread in future Star Wars saga films

We’re mere months away from the premiere of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, and while there’s no shortage of anticipation surrounding the continuation of the Star Wars series, there is some uncertainty about how the new film will connect — narratively speaking — with the original trilogy’s final chapter, 1983’s Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi. In a recent interview about the future of the Star Wars franchise, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy explained the difference between the upcoming Star Wars “Saga” films like The Force Awakens and the standalone “Anthology” films like Star Wars: Rogue One and the Han Solo movie, and described the unifying thread that runs through each of the past and future Star Wars Saga films. “The saga films focus on the Skywalker family,” Kennedy told The Costco Connection. “The stories follow a linear narrative that connects to the previous six films. The Force Awakens follows Return of the Jedi and continues that generational story. The Anthology films offer opportunities to explore fresh characters, new storylines, and a variety of genres inside the Star Wars universe.” While it’s been speculated that one (or more) of the characters in The Force Awakens will be related to Luke Skywalker or his sister, Leia Organa, Kennedy’s comments seem to offer some confirmation of that notion. Exactly which character hails from the Skywalker clan is uncertain, though. After The Force Awakens hits theaters in December, Walt Disney Pictures and Lucasfilm currently have a new Star Wars movie scheduled to premiere every year for the foreseeable future, with the films alternating between Star Wars Saga installments (i.e., Episode VIII and Episode IX) and Star Wars Anthology movies that so far include the upcoming Rogue One and Han Solo movies, as well as a potential standalone film focusing on the bounty hunter Boba Fett. As the schedule currently stands, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens arrives in theaters December 18, 2015. It will be followed by the first Star Wars Anthology film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, on December 16, 2016. Star Wars: Episode VIII will then premiere May 26, 2017, and the following year will bring the still-untitled Han Solo movie to theaters on May 25, 2018. Star Wars: Episode IX will then hit theaters in 2019. Thanks to its status as one of the most popular franchises in the history of movies, Star Wars has a hoard of fans that rivals any out there. It’s also got plenty of trivia that has accumulated for decades, and if you’re someone who digs deep on everything from Star Wars shows to even the Star Wars movies that don’t happen, then you might be interested in some of the facts we’ve assembled here. Here are 10 facts about the mega-franchise that may surprise even some major fans.
Obi-Wan was supposed to survive Star Wars fans don’t get along. The fandom has been called toxic and divided, and many times, it’s lived up to that stereotype. But I, for one, count the diversity of the fanbase as a positive. It’s what’s led to the wide range of stories, genres, and media types over the years, each generating its own small base of fans. More broadly, these fanbases are created based on your generation and what part of the series you gravitated to first for whatever reason. I hope you’ll be able to find yourself among at least one of these waves of Star Wars fans and start to see that there’s enough room at the table for us all.
The Original Trilogy Boomers Star Wars has contributed countless indelible moments and images to our popular culture, but if there’s one artifact that is most intrinsic to the Galaxy Far, Far Away, it’s the fantastical weapon of the Jedi Knights, the lightsaber. From the very first time audiences saw Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader cross glowing, humming swords aboard the Death Star in 1977, we’ve been absolutely obsessed, and storytellers across multiple media and nearly half a century have been only too happy to indulge our craving for increasingly elaborate lightsaber duels.
Lightsaber fights come in all shapes and sizes, from emotional one-on-one bouts in live-action to wild animated free-for-alls, and selecting our 10 favorites from the franchise to date was no easy task. There are a lot of metrics by which to judge — the excitement of the action itself, how it’s shot, the story behind it, the use of environment, even the music to which it’s set — but the cream of the crop are those duels that either dominate one category or harmoniously balance each one. Will your favorites make the list? You’ll find we’re full of surprises … 10. The Ronin vs. the Bandit Leader (The Duel – Visions, season 1, episode 1)