Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019: Star Wars Resistance Season Two Sneak Peek

Star Wars Resistance is one of those projects with its entire existence kept under wraps until the appropriate time to reveal it. At Celebration Orlando in 2017, Dave Filoni announced that the fourth season of Star Wars Rebels would be the final one, but kept fans guessing at what might come next from Lucasfilm Animation. Shortly after the Rebels finale aired the following spring, Resistance was unveiled as the next animated series, and premiered in October 2018. On Monday, April 15, in Chicago, fans had their first opportunity to attend a Celebration convention panel for Resistance. The timing was fortuitous, as the full first season had already completed its airing on the Disney Channel. This allowed the panelists to talk freely about the storylines from that season, and readily avoid spoilers from the upcoming episodes in the second season, which launches this fall.

The Resistance team did not hold back for its panel. Participants included supervising director Justin Ridge, executive producer Athena Portillo, and head writer Brandon Auman and cast members Christopher Sean (Kaz Xiono), Suzie McGrath (Tam Ryvora), Scott Lawrence (Jarek Yeager), Myrna Velasco (Torra Doza), Donald Faison (Hype Faison), and Bobby Moynihan (Orka). Moderator David Collins is sound editor for the show at Skywalker Sound, and he led the panelists on a wide-ranging discussion about the creation of the series, the story arcs of the major characters, and the relationship between Resistance and the Sequel Trilogy films.

Although all of the participants expressed their love of Star Wars and their fondness for the cast and crew of the series, the infectious joy and exhilaration on display from Faison and Moynihan showed an excitement to be part of Resistance at another level. As lifelong Star Wars fans and career entertainers, they practically shook with uncontained energy at getting to talk about the gift of sharing those two parts of themselves as voice actors on Resistance. At a Celebration convention showcasing fandom at its best, Faison and Moynihan would have fit right in even if they’d had zero panels to appear on.

When the panel discussion concluded, the livestream broadcast ended and the audience at the Galaxy Stage was treated with a screening of the opening episode of Season Two. We’ll save a full spoiler review for the fall premiere, but here are a few glimpses. Like The Last Jedi, season two of Resistance picks up immediately after the season one finale. Kaz, Torra, Neeku, and CB-23 have to assist Yeager and Captain Doza in repairing the Colossus and keeping it functional for space travel. Tam has to adjust to her enlistment in the First Order. And, as is always the case for Star Wars, things don’t go smoothly for anyone.

Listen to Sandra and Tricia share their reactions to the Resistance panel and second season premiere episodes on this special edition of Fangirls Going Rogue:

Watch the Star Wars Resistance Season Two Sneak Peek Panel here, as part of the Celebration live stream (begins at 2:44:58):

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Lex

Lex

B.J. Priester has been a Star Wars fan since he played with the original Kenner action figures as a young boy. His fandom passion returned after watching Attack of the Clones in 2002 and reading the entire New Jedi Order series in 2003. He voraciously caught up on the novels and comics in the Expanded Universe in addition to writing fanfiction, frequently co-authoring with Tricia. B.J. has served as editor of FANgirl Blog from its inception, as well as contributing reviews and posts on a range of topics. He edited Tricia’s novel Wynde, and is collaborating with her on several future projects set in that original universe. Currently a tenured law professor in Florida, B.J. has been a practicing lawyer in Washington, D.C., a law clerk to a federal appeals court judge, and a law journal editor-in-chief. He is also a proud geek dad whose son who is a big fan of Star Wars and The Clone Wars.