New Star Wars holiday special will follow Rey after The Rise of Skywalker

A new Star Wars holiday special will reunite the characters from the sequel trilogy for a journey through time. The catch is that they’re all in LEGO form.

The original Star Wars Holiday Special aired in 1978. It featured Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher reuniting as Luke, Han and Leia, all of them joining Chewbacca’s family for his people’s annual Life Day celebration. The special marked the first appearance of Boba Fett (in an animated short)! Bea Arthur was in it!

It also was considered something of an embarrassment the minute it came out. “That’s one of those things that happened, and I just have to live with it,” George Lucas said in 2002. But there was a contingent of young fans who really loved it, including Jon Favreau, who went on to create The Mandalorian for Disney+. “I love the holiday special,” he said a while back. “I would love to do — someday maybe — on Disney+, we’ll do a Holiday Special, too.”

And now Favreau’s wish has come true. USA Today reports that a new Star Wars Holiday Special is coming to Disney+ on November. Set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, it’ll see Rey reunite with Poe Dameon, Finn, Rose Tico and others as they once again celebrate Life Day with Chewbacca.

But in this version, Rey gets sidetracked after she and BB-8 visit a mysterious Jedi temple and get hurtled through time and space, meeting up with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and others.

There is one big catch: the whole thing is LEGOs.

Indeed, the full title of the event is The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. “Life Day was an easy sell with Lego and ‘Star Wars’ because it gives you the license to be a little more playful and comedic,” said executive producer Josh Rimes.

"It’s a celebration of the saga. A lot of characters will be interacting with different characters and perhaps even different versions of themselves at different ages."

Rimes says the heart of the special will be Rey’s relationship with Luke. “It becomes a much different take on a teacher and apprentice with the more seasoned Rey and a younger Luke.” But there will be other interesting combinations of characters, too, like Kylo Ren, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine finally getting a change to hang out together. “It’s really hilarious with what’s going to happen with those guys.”

Some of that sounds pretty fun, but I wouldn’t hold out hope for the entire cast getting back together to voice their LEGO selves. Per USA Today, Rimes says that “a few” actors will reprise their roles, but it doesn’t sound like the whole gang is returning. John Boyega, for instance, says he’s “moved on” from Star Wars, so it’s hard to see him returning as Finn, but you never know.

Hopefully The Lego Star Wars Holiday Special can stand on its own as a fun novelty. Rimes hopes that it becomes “as beloved as something like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer…It’ll bring a little joy to this world in this very, very crazy year we’re having.”

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