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Saturn Awards 2026 Wins: George Lucas and Andor Triumph

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George Lucas holds a gold Saturn Award at a podium while Mark Hamill stands behind him on stage.

The 53rd Annual Saturn Awards took place this week at the Hilton Los Angeles, Universal City, marking a night of high honors for the galaxy far, far away. While the competition was fierce across the science fiction and fantasy landscape, for Star Wars, the Saturn Awards 2026 wins solidified the franchise’s standing in both its legendary past and its acclaimed current television era.

The Maker Receives the Founder’s Award

The most significant moment of the evening was the presentation of the Dr. Donald A. Reed Founder’s Award to George Lucas. In a surprise that delighted the audience, the award was presented by Mark Hamill. The actor spoke movingly about Lucas, stating that it is “impossible to overstate George’s contribution to the industry” and noting how the original film redefined the term blockbuster.

Lucas accepted the honor with his signature humility and humor. He joked about his wife’s instructions to keep his speech short and briefly discussed his current project, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. He drew laughter from the crowd by comparing the construction of the museum to “making a movie, only worse.”

Andor and Skeleton Crew Dominate Television

On the competitive side of the night, Andor emerged as a major powerhouse. The series took home the award for Best Science Fiction Television Series, beating out tough competitors like Severance, Silo, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. This victory was a highlight for many fans who have followed the series’ journey since its first season.

The acting categories further bolstered the Saturn Awards 2026 wins. Diego Luna was awarded Best Actor in a Television Series for his performance as Cassian Andor, and Stellan Skarsgård won Best Supporting Actor in a Television Series for his portrayal of Luthen Rael. These awards served as long-overdue recognition for the high-caliber performances found within the show’s second season.

The success extended to the newer projects as well. Ravi Cabot-Conyers, the young star of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, won Best Younger Performer in a Television Series. This win was particularly impressive given the competition, which included established talent from hit shows like Stranger Things.

A Historic Streak Comes to an End

Despite the many celebrations, the evening saw a rare loss for Lucasfilm Animation. Tales of the Underworld was nominated for Best Animated Television Series or Event but lost to Predator: Killer of Killers. This marked the end of a long-standing streak where Star Wars animated projects typically dominated this category at the Saturns.

A Night of Collaboration and Legacy

The Star Wars presence was felt even in categories won by other franchises. James Cameron, whose film Avatar: Fire and Ash was the night’s biggest film winner, took time during his acceptance speech for Best Direction to praise George Lucas. Cameron specifically highlighted Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the visual effects company founded by Lucas, for its essential role in bringing the world of Pandora to life.

Overall, the Saturn Awards 2026 wins for Star Wars paint a picture of a franchise that is effectively honoring its roots while pushing into prestige television territory. From the emotional tribute to Lucas to the technical and acting accolades for Andor and Skeleton Crew, the night was a resounding success for Star Wars fans and creators alike.

That Time George Lucas Cussed Out a Comic Book Professional…

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I have been a Star Wars fan for most of my life. Being born in the late 70’s pretty much meant I was destined to be a Star Wars fan. Since then I have learned quite a bit about that “Galaxy Far, Far Away”, and find it difficult to learn anything new. That is why it is so exciting to find out something new about the movies or people involved with the film from over four decades ago.

Keith Giffen has long been one of my favorite comic book writers, as anyone who knows me, knows that my favorite comic series of all time was Justice League International. The book was of course written by Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire and Terry Austin. Anytime something new comes about that series, I am all ears.

Giffen just started a brand new podcast about his career as a comic book writer/artist. Listening to the third episode of the I’m Not Dead yet podcast revealed not only some great insight from the creator, but a little nugget of Star Wars trivia. Giffen began his career at Marvel Comics with the Marvel Preview Magazine in 1976. This puts him at the company around the time or shortly before a deal was being worked out for Marvel to produce the comic book version of Star Wars.

One day while walking the halls at Marvel, Giffen turned a corner slamming into a visiting George Lucas. Lucas was most likely there talking about the adaptation of his upcoming film. Lucas’ papers went flying and the creator of Star Wars started a steady tirade of curses and more at Giffen. This wouldn’t be the first celebrity Giffen ever had an accidental run-in with…

The story starts at the 34:20 minute mark of the episode below and he can tell it better than I.

So there you have it. A little bit of somewhat related Star Wars trivia for you. Hopefully the story brings a smile to your face, and maybe gives you a new podcast to listen to on your way to work.

GEORGE LUCAS INVOLVED IN THE MANDALORIAN?

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The Mandalorian

Just when you think that The Mandalorian couldn’t get any better, news is coming in from an interview with Collider and Giancarlo Esposito about George Lucas’ involvement with the upcoming show for Disney+.

A few months ago, we learned that George Lucas visited the set of The Mandalorian, and most of us thought that this was just George doing his thing. After all, he has visited the set of all the films since he sold Lucasfilm to Disney. This meeting might have been more than meets the eye.

Actor Giancarlo Esposito, who’s role is still a mystery in the show, mentioned that Lucas worked with Jon Favreau on the show.

“I’ve got a great costume. We got great set pieces. I’m not giving anything away because [Jon Favreau] is an artist, truly an artist. [He was] working with George Lucas on this particular piece and making it a piece that we can really relate to now in our world that we’re in. Besides the fact that there are so many Star Wars fans out there that really don’t get enough of this, finally we have a [Star Wars] piece that for the first time ever is shot outside of a London studio.”

George Lucas and Jon Favreau on the set of The Mandalorian

If that wasn’t enough, Esposito named dropped George Lucas again, when praising Favreau’s willingness to work with other directors on a show he created…

“Well you know what’s cool about Mandalorian is you figure a guy who wrote it, who figured it out with George Lucas, would direct every episode. That would be all ego, right? He has amassed some incredible directors from different parts of the planet to give their take on an episode. I find that to be so phenomenal because then we have new and fresh ideas every single episode, coming into this show, that reflect the fans—because the directors are also fans. They’re from Australia, from England, from wherever you are, it reflects their take of their people on how they saw the original and how they’re going to do it as well. So you get new, fresh energy into a piece that is already energetic because of all the stuff that’s going on on the screen, because of all the technology that they’ve worked out. This is going to be a fantastic show.”

This show continually looks better and better with every new thing we see and hear. As always, leave your thoughts in the appropriate places…

About The Mandalorian:

The Mandalorian is set after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. We follow the travails of a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic. The series will be written and executive produced by Emmy-nominated producer and actor Jon Favreau, as previously announced, with Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels) directing the first episode. Additional episodic directors include Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones), Rick Famuyiwa (Dope), Bryce Dallas Howard (Solemates), and Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok). It will be executive produced by Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson. Karen Gilchrist will serve as co-executive producer. It stars Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Gina Carano (Cara Dune) and Carl Weathers (Greef Carga).

WATCH GEORGE LUCAS GIVE MESSAGE TO FANS AT CELEBRATION CHICAGO

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So you didn’t get to attend Star Wars Celebration Chicago 2019, and for some reason you couldn’t watch the live stream on Youtube. Well fret not! We have you covered with at least this cool moment from the convention.

During the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 20th Anniversary panel at Celebration Chicago, stage host Warrick Davis shared a short video recording of George Lucas delivering a special message to the attending crowd. You can view the segment above.

To sum it up, he thanked Ahmed Best for his performance as Jar Jar Binks (who is his favorite Star Wars character), thanked John Knoll for his visual effects work, and thanked the crowd for their love and support of the entire Star Wars franchise.

If you are in the mood and have about an hour to spare, you can watch the entire panel, featuring guests like Ian McDiarmid, Ahmad Best, Ray Park and Anthony Daniel. The panel was hosted by Warrick Davis, who also had a couple of parts in the film as well.

Star Wars: Phantom Menace 20th Anniversary Celebration Live Panel

About Star Wars: The Phantom Menace:

Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is a young apprentice Jedi knight under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) ; Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who will later father Luke Skywalker and become known as Darth Vader, is just a 9-year-old boy. When the Trade Federation cuts off all routes to the planet Naboo, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are assigned to settle the matter.

The Secret Origin of C-3PO

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C-3PO from The Phantom Menace

By now we all know the origin of C-3PO from his creation by Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. In the film, Anakin collected parts and built the protocol droid to help his mother (Shmi Skywalker) around the house. Anakin didn’t quite finish him before he left on his big adventure, leaving the droid complete, but with no “coverings”.

In the followup film Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, Anakin revisits his home planet of Tatooine and finds a now “covered” C-3PO helping out on the moisture farm of Cliegg Lars.

This is considered canon now. It may surprise you to find out though, that George Lucas had a different idea about C-3PO’s origin way back in 1977. While preparing for an upcoming sequel to Star Wars: A New Hope, Lucas talked with Lucasfilm’s then Director of Publications Carol Titelman about story ideas for the main cast of characters (at that time Luke, Han, Leia, and C-3PO). Lucas role-played the character of C-3PO for the notes…

I’m about 112 years old and have had about forty-three masters. I was made in a robotic factory on the planet Affa, which is one of the Outland Regions in the third sector of the Galactic Empire.

“Before I was assigned to the court of Alderaan, roughly twenty years ago, I was in one of the sub-embassies in the Granicus system. I was working in the embassy for one of the third liaison officers at that time. That’s where I really started out. It was a good thirty-seven years before I was actually transferred into protocol. When I started in the embassy, I was one of twelve hundred interpreter droids. I was in the Outland area and there were a lot of strange planets being amassed into the Republic. There was actually a very attrition rate out there, too, because of the strange climates. Many of the droids would fall apart very rapidly. I was lucky to be totally reassembled by a young boy working for a junk dealer. After several years I gained new coverings and became as good as new.”

While this is different from the origin that we got on the big screen, the similarities are still there. The young boy in the story above, was turned into Anakin Skywalker, who also worked for a junk dealer (Watto). However, the 112 years old part went away, along with the back story before Anakin.

It is still great to see that some of the same ideas were there from the beginning, and it is always great to get history lessons about our favorite galaxy far, far away…

 

Simon Pegg Thinks New Star Wars is Missing George Lucas

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Simon Pegg as Unkar Plutt

Simon Pegg was a guest on the latest episode of The Adam Buxton Podcast, and gave his thoughts on the current state of the Star Wars galaxy. The veteran actor, including a role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and a guest spot on Star Wars The Clone Wars as Dengar, thinks that the imagination of George Lucas is “missing” from the current “sequel trilogy”.

“I must admit, watching the last Star Wars film [The Last Jedi], the overriding feeling I got when I came out was, ‘I miss George Lucas.’

“For all the complaining that I’d done about him in the prequels, there was something amazing about his imagination.”

“I do feel like his voice is missing from the current ones.”

If you recall, Pegg has been very vocal about his hatred of the Prequels. This almost smells of someone trying to win back a little love with fans of the Prequels, but doing it at the expense of the Sequels.

Remember friends, only Sith deal in absolutes! It’s okay to be a fan of the Original Trilogy, Prequels, Sequels and everything in between. Let’s all just love Star Wars and learn to not be so critical of everything (okay I am coming down from the soap box).

George Lucas Came Up with the Idea for Luke to be in Exile

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Uh-oh, it seems anger towards the choices for Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars sequel trilogy might need to be aimed at someone else…

According to a new article by Slashfilm, a new book which contains the art that inspired Star Wars: The Last Jedi features some concept art that was commissioned by George Lucas when he pitched Episode VII to the company. Part of the pitch for the new movies was that Luke Skywalker was in a bad place and shut himself off from his friends, refusing to teach a new generation the ways of the Jedi.

The main difference in George’s take was that Luke would have been found and reunited with his friends in the third act of episode 7. So why did this story change? Those involved with the creation of The Force Awakens, realized that Luke Skywalker would better serve the needs of the story as the person that everyone seeks, but does not find until the final scene of the movie. This allowed Han Solo more time as the mentor of the story, and the visuals of Luke training Rey on the site of an old Jedi temple were shelved for the next movie.

You can check out some of the concept art below, which sees Luke meditating in some sort of Jedi chamber below…

Page from the Art of Star Wars: The Last Jedi book

About Star Wars: The Last Jedi:

Star Wars: The Last Jedi hits North American theaters on December 15, 2017. Directed by Rian Johnson and starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Benicio del Toro, Laura Dern, Jimmy Vee, and more! Music will be composed by John Williams.

The Outer Rim News Podcast – Episode 12

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In this week’s episode of the Outer Rim News podcast we talk about the first three episode of Star Wars Rebels season 2. We also discuss George Lucas’ role in the storyline of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as well as a sneak peek at our talk about the book Smuggler’s Run. Join us for the Outer Rim News Podcast, episode 12!

If you like our show, please show your support by leaving us a review on iTunes or Stitcher, and tell all your friends about the podcast.

About the ORN Podcast:

The Outer Rim News Podcast is Outer Rim News’ weekly podcast about all things Star Wars. Join us each week as Austin Gordy and Ashley Wilbanks take an hour or so and share their thoughts about everyone’s favorite far away galaxy. From Star Wars comics to Star Wars movies, everything is on the table for discussion. Get your weekly fix here every Friday.

Is Disney Getting Ready to Release Original Cuts of Star Wars?

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Return of the Jedi

Since the day that Disney purchased Lucasfilm for a cool 4 billion, fans of the original trilogy of Star Wars films have been optimistic about getting original cuts of those films on blu-ray or DVD.  It seems that they day that happens might be getting closer.

Empire Magazine dropped a few tweets indicating that Disney is going to be re-releasing the theatrical cuts of the original trilogy, thanks to a leak by George Lucas.

Now you could be thinking to yourself, “What does George Lucas know?  He doesn’t have anything to do with Star Wars anymore!”  Well you couldn’t be further from the truth.  In actuality, George Lucas is the second largest stock holder in Disney, after the estate of Steve Jobs.  Something tells me that he has his finger on the pulse of everything that Disney does with Star Wars.

In other words, he is in the know.  We will keep our ears to the ground for those of you that have been waiting for this release.  What are you thoughts?  Leave them in the comment section below.