Star Wars Bits: The Planets of ‘Han Solo,’ Some Love For Aunt Beru, and

In this edition of Star Wars Bits:

A possible look at the planets featured in the Han Solo movie.
An interview with the editor of From a Certain Point of View.
Author Meg Cabot shares her love for Aunt Beru.
Ron Howard shares more Han Solo set pics.
Pablo Hidalgo answers some pressing (and nerdy) canon questions.
A new Thrawn novel is on the way.
And more!

Making Star Wars says they know every planet that shows up in the upcoming Han Solo spin-off movie. And here they are:

Corellia
Kessel
Iridium
Savareen
Vandor

And if you’re not the person who knows what all of those names mean instantly (and props to those of you who do!), they offer a breakdown of each planet is at the link above. However, many of you may be familiar already with Corellia (Han Solo’s home planet) and Kessel, which is most famous for a certain “run.”

Those #Corellian nights get a little chilly. Screenwriter @JonKasdan and I try to keep warm #UntitledHanSoloMovie pic.twitter.com/3FnUnY8dxo

— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) October 6, 2017

However, at least one of those planets shouldn’t come as a surprise. Director Ron Howard confirmed Corellia on Twitter with a picture from the film’s set.

StarWars.com has a great interview with Elizabeth Schaefer, the editor tasked with assembling the 40 short stories collected in the new book From a Certain Point of View. Here’s a sample:

At the very start of this project, I sat down in front a blank Excel sheet and proceeded to fill in the names of all of my favorite authors. It was a dream list of people I’ve always wanted to work with. The craziest thing was how many of them said yes. The first-timers were universally invested in getting the lore right. Everyone wanted recommended reading lists — I think Sabaa Tahir went out and bought Star Wars: Kenobi on the spot to make sure her Tusken Raider story felt authentic!

You can read the whole thing at the link above.

In another great StarWars.com interview, author Meg Cabot explains why she chose to write about Aunt Beru in From a Certain Point of View and how this minor character is far more important than most people realize:

I chose Beru Lars right away. I was actually super paranoid that someone else might have chosen her first. But fortunately, the Force was with me. One of the reasons I wanted Beru so much is that I had just seen a guy dressed up for Halloween as a stormtrooper, carrying a sign that said “I Shot Aunt Beru.” After I finished laughing at how funny that was, because it was a little funny, I got mad. The Aunt Berus of this galaxy and the next never get any respect! I mean, I get it, it’s a funny gag…but without Aunt Beru, Luke would never have saved the galaxy. So I’d been kind of looking for a way to tell Aunt Beru’s side of the story when Elizabeth [Schaefer, the editor of From a Certain Point of View] contacted me. I still feel like the Force had something to do with it.

If you don’t have time to read From a Certain Point of View, Star Wars Explained has put together a handy video explaining how the 40 short stories plug a bunch of tiny plot holes scattered across the movies. That’s pretty handy for all the nerds out there (we say with love, counting ourselves among the nerds).

Meanwhile, Star Wars Explained has dedicated another episode to R5-D4, the red astromech droid that Uncle Owen almost bought instead of R2-D2. And this new story diverges from its original expanded universe story. You can learn how in the video above.

Thrawn is back. And he's bringing Vader with him. Coming summer 2018. #Thrawn2 #BlackandBlue pic.twitter.com/hIw1dgRnyb

— Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) October 6, 2017

In other book news: Thrawn is back. In book form! And Timothy Zahn, who created the character in the old extended universe and returned him to the new canon with this year’s new Thrawn novel, is returning to the blue-skinned military mastermind. A new book is coming next year and you can check out a mysterious teaser above…

When asked about J.J. Abrams returning for Star Wars: Episode 9, John Boyega was his typically charming self:

“Yeah, I’m really happy [and] really excited. I actually sent him an email and asked him if the real reason is because he misses me. And I think that’s what it is – that’s the only reason why he came back, and I appreciate that.”

Yeah, we’d miss hanging out with John Boyega, too. But in an interview with Coming Soon, Boyega removed the wink and spoke a bit more seriously about working with Abrams again on Episode 9:

“I think what’s fantastic is it feels like it’s coming back full circle. I don’t know nothing about the script, the story. I don’t know where Finn’s going, I don’t know where Rey is going, but definitely I feel this is the war to end all wars in this movie. I’m interested to know how he will handle that. I’m asking so many questions and I haven’t had a chance to kinda sit down and write J.J. a message just to say congratulations and I’m stoked. My fixation now is that he needs to get some SLEEP and GEAR UP because we’re doing another one of these movies, mate! But I think he’s gonna do a great job, as always. He’s J.J.”