State of the Empire Episode 41: Prelude to The Last Jedi

on December 11, 2017, 10:00am

To keep tabs on the ever-growing pop culture zeitgeist that is Star Wars, we’ve partnered up with Nerdy Show to bring you State of the Empire. Led by Art Director Cap Blackard, the series speculates on the future of the franchise and looks for news in Alderaan places. To catch up on episodes, click here.

We’re mere days away from the release of Episode VIII and the full-fledged return of Luke Skywalker. Compared to The Force Awakens, it’s shocking how little we know going in … or at least it was. After months of rampant speculation, Bothan spies have provided a juicy dossier filled to the brim with insights on the film: The Last Jedi Visual Dictionary. But fear not of spoilers friend! They’re locked safely behind the blast doors.

In this episode we talk the latest news on Solo and Star Wars video games, but most importantly, we serve up a primer for The Last Jedi. We zero in on some spoiler-free media tie-ins that enrich the depth of the world: background character back stories, weird alien anatomy, and thematic storylines threaded across mediums. But then, yes, beyond the blast doors we’ve cobbled together an iron-clad outline of the film using all the clues scattered through the Visual Dictionary. We also confront a substantial and controversial outline of the film. Is it the real deal or LIES! DECEPTIONS!… well… we’ll find out.