Star Wars Celebration Orlando took place over Easter weekend and with it came a metric ton of Star Wars news. Julian, Daniel and Jeremy are here to break it all down and talk about everything going on in the galaxy far far away. Starting, of course, with Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. Director Rian Johnson dropped the first teaser trailer and revealed the official poster and the guys break down every detail. Moving onto the animation side, Supervising Director Dave Filoni dropped the bomb that season 4 of Rebels would be it's final season. Julian, the resident Rebels super fan, delves deep into all the Rebels related news. To cap things off the conversation moves to Battlefront II, the sequel to the EA game from two years ago, which was announced along with a trailer showing off it's new single player campaign. All this and so much more in this ToB Interlude / Star Wars extravaganza!

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Show Notes

Nerd Association

Theme: Star Wars

Round 1: Storm Trooper
Round 2: Leia
Round 3: Prequel Trilogy

Movies

Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, in an interview with MTV, said that they are getting close to announcing the next standalone film. Going so far as to say that she hopes she can reveal it this summer. She even gave the impression that it could be an Obi-wan solo film by giving one of those non-denial-denials that execs are so good at.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
- Trailer
- Poster
Mark Hamill, speaking to Fandango, said that not having Luke, Lea and Han reunite in Force Awakens was a “great missed opportunity”. He felt as though it would have been a stronger emotional thread if Lea and Luke had witnessed Hans death rather than 2 relative strangers and chewie.
Clarifications:
- According to director Rian Johnson “The Last Jedi” refers to Luke and is singular.
- Leia will NOT appear in Ep 9 at all. Having reworked the entire story since her Carrie Fisher’s death.
- Rian Johnson says that The last Jedi will “absolutely” address Rey’s parentage

TV

Dave Filoni announces that "Rebels" will end with season 4.
Filoni Teased new animated projects are coming in the future.
A 2D animation project was also announced. A series of animated shorts called “Star Wars Forces of Destiny” will be released on YouTube and will have an accompanying toy-line. It focuses on the female characters of Star Wars with Leia , Padme, Ahsoka, Sabine, Rey and Jyn all getting the animated treatment.

Games

EA announced Star Wars: Battlefront 2
- Trailer
- Will release on November 17 worldwide.
- Will have a single player campaign set between Ep 6 and 7. Following Iden Versio who leads an elite Imperial unit called "Inferno Squad".
- Star Wars legends like Luke and Kylo Ren will also be playable
- Multiplayer is getting bolstered and will now span all three eras and the long awaited return of space battles.

Apr 30, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 7 & 8

There's two of them now?! With the arrival of another Inquisitor things really start to escalate on Janyx. We see Maul at his lowest since probably his spider-leg days (he goes on a self-guided therapy session/vision quest that results in something quite inspiring actually!), providing us a deeper understanding of his motivations, beyond simply "revenge!". Meanwhile, Devon continues to be the most interesting character on the show as she takes two steps forward, one step back, flirting with the dark side (though bonus points for the slick ride she acquires for their getaway). On the action side, the show continues to bring the goods, with dynamic, large scale battles (heavy on LAATs which is always a treat), intimate lightsaber combat, and a special shout out to the speeder chase this week that included a new Star Wars techno track (get outta here Niamos!), which combined for a chef's kiss of a sequence. The finale is next week, dropping on Star Wars Day (May the 4th), so stay tuned to see how much the show wants to tie up and how much it wants to leave dangling ahead of season 2!

Apr 25, 2026

Episode 205 - CinemaCon 2026 + News Roundup

It's been a minute since Matt and Julian sat down to cover the latest in film and TV news. Some might say it's been dearly missed. Well wait no more folks because this week it's all news and nothing but the news so help me god! If the last few weeks (months?) of stories weren't enough, CinemaCon 2026 also just concluded which had it's own news deluge. The guys unpack it all (well most of it anyway)! Of utmost priority is the news of Michael B Jordan and Austin Butler's reboot of 'Miami Vice', which is close to Matt's heart. Plus 'Spaceballs 2' gets a title and release date, trailers for 'Dune 3', 'Clayface' and 'Street Fighter' all surprise (in a good way), and a new 'Lord of the Rings' movie is announced (and you won't guess who's writing it!). Plus, a 'Game of Thrones' movie, more 'Transformers' and is 'Avatar' over? All this and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

Apr 23, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 5 & 6

We’ve reached the halfway point of the season and with it comes a tonal shift back to the roots of Star Wars animation - 'The Clone Wars'. With the arrival of the Empire, the focus shifts away from Maul and his dealings and toward the pair of Jedi as they are now in the crosshairs. The noire tone takes a back seat, next to Maul, as things become more pulpy, mixed with an impending doom that is reminiscent of the final season of 'The Clone Wars'. The set-piece action sequences get an injection of scale and danger, which is exciting, and some of the early seeding of characters like Rylee start to pay off. While maybe a bit different from the previous 4 episodes, the quality and the stakes remain high (well... for every character except Maul I suppose). Join Julian and Rachel as the unpack it all in excruciating detail.

Apr 15, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 3 & 4

Now that the premiere is out of the way, the team at Lucasfilm Animation can focus on driving the story forward with authority. The pacing is much improved this week as time feel more evenly dispersed across the characters. There's a greater concentration on characters who can wield a lightsaber and it's appreciated. No shade to the crime syndicate storyline, but we've kind of seen all that already (it was quite literally a 'Clone Wars' arc). The action remains strong while taking another step forward with lightsaber duels joining the mix. Plus, the fast cutting from last week seems to have been dialed back, which is appreciated as it provides more clarity in action scenes. For example, Devon's engagements with Maul are gripping, and with the additional time provided to Master Daki, the stakes feel ratcheted up. Kevin Kinner's music remains a highlight, the illusions to the Anakin vs Obi-Wan Mustafar theme was a particular highlight. In general, there is still room for more character growth, especially with characters not named Maul, who really can't/won't change - but happy to proven wrong! This show feels like it's in full swing already, which is good because next week things look to be really heating up as we hit the half way mark. Julian and Rachel unpack it all!

ToB Interlude - Star Wars Celebration 2017

Show Notes

Nerd Association

Movies

TV

Games

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