Highlights from 2017 Star Wars Celebration Orlando: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

This weekend, Star Wars fans from all around the world have gathered to attend the 2017 Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida for plenty of force-wielding, light saber battling fun, contests, and snake peaks at the latest in Star Wars-related entertainment. As much fun as the past few days have been, this afternoon’s presentation of STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI was the moment everyone had been waiting for.

I could go on, but we know why you’re really here. So without further ado, let’s get to some of the highlights of the STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI panel!

• The festivities began with fans of all ages congregating to the auditorium where they were greeted by the event’s host, actor Josh Gad.

• After an enthusiastic intro, Josh welcomed STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI director Rian Johnson and producer Kathleen Kennedy to the stage.

• Rian address an overly-excited audience by stating, “We’re in post-production and still editing.” As you can imagine, the thought of almost having another chapter of the Star Wars saga “in the can” was enough to send the whole place into a frenzy as fans applauded and cheered for the future of the franchise.

• Next, Rian introduced a series of images taken from the set of STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. You can see one of them below which features actress Daisy Ridley as Rey, brandishing a light saber: 

• After that, Rian expressed his love and adoration for the late Carrie Fisher, whose presence will be sorely missed both on and off the set of any Star Wars-related project for as long as the saga continues. With passion in his voice, Rian stated, “I love her so much, man. I just adore her.”

• Shortly thereafter, the auditorium erupted once more, as actress Daisy Ridley took to the stage. As you can imagine, the crowd reaction was near-deafening when Rey herself arrived in the flesh.

• As the presentation progressed, more images from the film were shared with the audience, including this on of Rey standing next to the Millennium Falcon:

• With Daisy’s main portion of the show wrapped up, it was time for everyone’s new favorite droid to take center stage! That’s right, BB8 rolled up into the house, y’all:

• Next, everyone’s favorite Storm Trooper-turned-rebel-hero, John Boyega, took to the stage:

• After some hype from Boyega, it was made clear that Oscar Isaac would not be in attendance of todays’ show. Fortunately, fans were treated to a snazzy new photo of Isaac as Poe Dameron looking lean and mean in his orange and white flight suit:

• After things calmed down for a moment, Rian declared that, “The First Order are making some big moves at the start of our film… things are going to get dire.”
• Following that, Kelly Marie Tran took to the stage to speak about being a part of the resistance:

• Then, the celebration for turned up to eleven as Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill arrived onstage. While speaking to a crowd who could barely keep their sabers in their pants, Hamill praised Rian Johnson and his filmography while making mention of films like LOOPER, BRICK and more:

• Hamill then shared a photo of himself dressed in the iconic brown Jedi robes, complete with seasoned Jedi face fuzz action:

• Shortly thereafter, it was time for the guests to present the crowd (and everyone at home watching via YouTube with the film’s brand-new teaser trailer. After that, it was near impossible to convey any manner of rational response other than to say, “Is it friggin’ December yet?!”