Star Wars Celebration Live Put on a Great Show Without It’s Best Content
The Star Wars Celebration Live presentation was perhaps the biggest ever, yet Lucasfilm made the inexplicable decision to not broadcast the panels for their most-anticipated releases.
--
Over Memorial Day weekend in 2022, more than 60,000 Star Wars fans descended on Anaheim, California for Star Wars Celebration. The regular fan convention hosted by Lucasfilm is part con and part marketing event, featuring panels with the creators and actors who bring the galaxy far, far away a little closer with every new show or film. Yet, Star Wars fans number in the millions, and the vast majority can’t afford to spend (at least) $1,000 to join in on the fun. Which is why the Star Wars Live presentation put on by Lucasfilm (usually in partnership with GEICO) is a gift. It brings some of Celebration to audiences at home for the price of an internet connection. Still, this year’s livestream was missing the most anticipated and interesting panels. While it seems like the Star Wars Celebration Live crew worked harder than ever to put on a spectacular show, the event felt further away than ever before.
To say it again, the Star Wars Celebration livestream is a gift. Lucasfilm does not have to broadcast anything, letting those of us not at the convention experience FOMO via Instagram and Twitter. It was also especially nice to see Anthony Carboni and Andi Gutierrez back on YouTube talking about Star Wars. The pair hosted most of StarWars.com’s YouTube offerings for the entirety of the Disney era. The Star Wars Show, a mostly weekly 15-minute marketing presentation from Lucasfilm, was genuinely enjoyable. A big part of what made the show so charming were Gutierrez and Carboni. Yet, at the dawn of the pandemic, The Star Wars Show ended and the two affable hosts seemingly left Lucasfilm. If this was not their choice, it was a huge mistake. So, seeing them again was great, and neither of them have lost a step in the past two years.
In fact, a small consolation for the lack of panels broadcast on the livestream is that we did get more time to spend with the StarWars.com hosts. Krystina Arielle, who hosts the High Republic series on Star Wars’ YouTube Channel…
