Plus J.J. Abrams reveals why Leia didn’t choose to become a Jedi before the movie. Anthony Russo teases the levity Spider-Man brings to Civil War. Plus, Jeffrey Dean Morgan talks being faithful to the comic book roots of his Walking Dead villain. Spoilers now!
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Unsurprisingly, George Lucas is diplomatic in his verdict on the film, having seen it:
I think the fans are going to love it. It’s very much the kind of movie they’ve been looking for.
[Vulture]
Speaking to IGN, J.J. Abrams reveals why Leia, strongly force-sensitive, chose not to became a Jedi after the climax of Return of the Jedi:
And one of one of the answers was that, simply it was a choice that she made. That her decision to run the Rebellion, and ultimately this Resistance, and consider herself a General as opposed to a Jedi, it was simply a choice that she took. Not that there’s any regret that she could have and didn’t.
But clearly we’ve seen, and we do again, that she is still Force-strong, and is something that is an intrinsic piece of her character.
A new batch of promo pictures has been released—there’s a few more at the link. [Movie Jones]
Note: We’re putting discussion of what appears to be a major spoiler below this series of new images. If you want to avoid it this close to the movie, please skip ahead to the “Captain America: Civil War” segment, and avoid the comments section. Last warning!
Yesterday, an image of an action figure purchased in a Walmart from the next wave of figures based on the movie sparked some major speculation about where Rey ends up at the end of the film. The figure—said image is promptly being scrubbed off of the internet by Disney, hinting at its legitimacy—was dubbed as a “Resistance Outfit” Rey. The outfit itself is a slightly modified version of her costume from the film that was seen in a featurette yesterday
There have been rumors surrounding Rey’s force sensitivity for months—even the trailers have hinted it
Captain America: Civil War
Anthony Russo says that Spider-Man and Ant-Man will give the film some much-needed levity:
Characters like Spider-Man and Ant-Man enter the story a little later and deliver some lighter moments. As per usual, a little balance goes a long way.
Ant-Man and The Wasp
Peyton Reed discusses adding the Wasp into the mix for the film:
It just happened to be organic for the characters of Ant-Man and Wasp, [so] it worked. Her last line in the movie—‘It’s about damn time’—[is] very much about her specific character and arc in that movie, but it is absolutely about a larger thing. It’s about damn time: We’re going to have a fully realized, very very complicated hero in the next movie who happens to be a woman.
[Yahoo]
Anomalisa
Here’s a poster for Charlie Kaufman’s new animated movie. [/Film]
Game of Thrones
Master of dodging spoiler-y questions Gwendoline Christie jokingly says she knows nothing about the upcoming season:
I mean I’ve wrapped on it but I didn’t read any of it. I just improvised this year. The whole thing.
But then elaborates on its move away from the George R.R. Martin books for source material:
I really love what David Benioff and Dan Weiss are doing. I think they’re creating some really fascinating and intelligent storytelling, and George R.R. Martin is an executive producer on Game of Thrones so nothing is ever without his blessing.
Emerald City
Joely Richardson has been cast as Glinda the Good Witch in NBCs’ Wizard of Oz show. [TV Insider]
The Walking Dead
Jeffrey Dean Morgan says the show is pushing AMC to keep Negan faithful to his comic book characterization... right down his mile-a-minute swearing:
Look, it’s a speed bump. I’m not going to say it’s an issue because they’re working on it. We’re going to push AMC—the plan is to push them as far as they can because it’s who Negan is. It’s our intention that this character is going to leap off the pages of the comic book. It’s very important that that’s who it is. Some of the characters there’s much more leeway, but Negan is a guy that you want to keep as true as possible, and that would be how I want to play him as well.
The actor also mentioned that he has gotten a hands-on with Negan’s iconic weapon: a baseball bat named “Lucille”. [Entertainment Weekly]
Once Upon A Time
TV Line are reporting that Dorothy Gale will return to the series after her appearance in season 3. However, this time she’ll be played by a new actor, as the character is now in her late 20s and “evolved from ‘the iconic, pig-tailed girl from Kansas’ into ‘a brave warrior for good.’”
Limitless
Here’s a brief press release for “This is your Brian on Drugs”:
When Agent Casey Rooks (Desmond Harrington) and his SWAT team skim 80 NZT pills for themselves from the recovery of stolen inventory, it starts an internal investigation that is viewed through the shifting perspectives of Brian’s immediate circle at the FBI, on LIMITLESS.
Galavant
Deadline have an exclusive preview of the first song from the next season, unsubtly titled “A New Season.”
Legends of Tomorrow
Finally, the show has revealed the emblem that identifies Hawkman and Hawkwoman.
Additional reporting by Gordon Jackson and Charlie Jane Anders. Image: Star Wars: The Force Awakens.