Star Wars Celebration — the official fan convention for all things Star Wars — returned to the Anaheim Convention Center from May 26 to May 29.
The annual gathering, which has been held in cities such as London, Tokyo and Chicago, took place in Anaheim this year for the first time since 2015. Anaheim was selected to host the convention in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed until 2022.
In typical fashion, the convention boasted massive displays, celebrity appearances, major franchise announcements and scores of cosplayers and fans.
In addition to the many life-sized spaceships, sets and creatures that decorated the showroom floor, convention-goers were treated to previews and panels featuring Star Wars mainstays such as Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen and Pedro Pascal.
There were also surprise appearances from Rosario Dawson, Harrison Ford and legendary composer John Williams, who conducted a live concert with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra that featured music from Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
One of the convention’s biggest attractions was The Mandalorian Experience, introduced by creator and showrunner Jon Favreau, which showed off a host of costumes, props and puppets used in the production of the Disney+ shows The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett.
The event brought some of the series’ popular characters to life, with moving animatronics used in The Mandalorian including Grogu (popularly known as “Baby Yoda”), who waved to guests from atop the Mandalorian’s starfighter ship. The Mandalorian Experience commanded lines with wait times of over four hours.
As always, Star Wars Celebration brought in fans from around the world and across the United States. Roberto Sierra, an Entertainment Coordinator at Walt Disney World, flew in from Orlando, Fla. to attend the event.
“At the opening panel, they invited us back to watch Obi-Wan’s first two episodes before it was released,” Sierra said. “And then I went to [Disneyland] and saw Hayden Christensen walking around the park, which was unbelievable. But I’ve been to most of the panels and The Mandalorian Experience. I think it’s the best exhibit they’ve put out so far at a Star Wars Celebration.”
Sierra, who has attended five different Star Wars Celebrations, said that The Mandalorian Experience was the highlight of this year’s convention.
“They have all the props and costumes from the actual show, so just to see that in person is amazing. If there’s one thing to see, it’s The Mandalorian Experience.”
Karen Hallion — an artist from Boston who has worked with the likes of Marvel, Lucasfilm, Cartoon Network and Disney — exhibited at the convention’s Artist Alley.
She was also commissioned by Star Wars Celebration to create this year’s official “Artist Series Alphabet:” an annual art project featuring different Star Wars characters for each letter of the alphabet, which adorned posters, pins, drinkware, blankets and other materials sold at the convention.
“The artist gets to choose which characters they do which I thought was fantastic, because it makes it very personal,” Hallion said. “I wanted to do a mix of our fan favorites, but I also wanted to balance and make sure there were as many women in the alphabet as men. So that was really tricky, because it was always a give and take.”
Hallion attended the convention with her family, including her 17-year-old son Ryan who enjoyed seeing the Star Wars universe come to life, like the life-sized replica of a TIE fighter on the convention floor.
“The TIE fighter was really cool,” Ryan said. “But I met Giancarlo Esposito on one of the other days, and that was definitely really important.”
Hallion also added that while she was nervous about returning to the convention scene since the COVID outbreak, she was happy to be attending events in person again.
“I still feel like we’re slowly easing back into whatever normal life is going to be like now and I’m trying to just not be too anxious about it. I’m so happy to be back in person; I really missed it. I missed this energy.”
During the closing ceremonies on Sunday, officials announced that next year’s event will be held in London for the third time. Star Wars Celebration 2023 is scheduled to take place April 7 to April 10, 2023 at ExCeL in London, England.
Josh Cain is a Photo Apprentice. He can be reached at jbcain@uci.edu.
