For years, the standard story about the Star Wars prequels was simple. Older fans were angry. Critics were cruel. Jar Jar became a punchline. Hayden Christensen took far more heat than any young actor ever should. And the internet, still discovering its full power to be awful in public, decided that The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith were a betrayal of “real” Star Wars. But according to Ian McDiarmid, George Lucas saw a lot of that coming. Speaking at Spacecon 2026, McDiarmid said Lucas knew older fans from the original trilogy era might be picky about the prequels. But Lucas also had a different target in mind: kids. Or, as McDiarmid recalled Lucas putting it, “if an 8-year-old is happy,” he had done his work. That one line explains the prequel trilogy better than 25 years of shouting ever did. The Prequels Were Never…
Ian McDiarmid
Star Wars Celebration LA 2027 Starts With a Very Strong Guest List
Star Wars Celebration Los Angeles 2027 has just fired its first proper hype shot. The first celebrity guests have officially been announced, and Lucasfilm is not starting small. Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Dee Bradley Baker, and Michelle Ang are all heading to Los Angeles next year, giving the event an immediate mix of Skywalker Saga royalty and Lucasfilm Animation favorites. The announcement was confirmed on StarWars.com’s Celebration LA 2027 guest reveal. Anakin, Palpatine, and C-3PO Lead the First Wave The live-action side of the first guest wave is stacked. Hayden Christensen returns to Celebration as one of the franchise’s biggest modern fan-favorites, thanks to his run as Anakin Skywalker in the prequels and his later returns in Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka. Then there is Ian McDiarmid, which means the Emperor himself will be in attendance. Few Star Wars actors can weaponize a smile quite like McDiarmid, and yes,…