The Star Wars Holiday Special is the most notorious entry in the whole saga – which is really saying something – and so Lucasfilm has been trying to bury its existence ever since it first aired in 1978. But this festive season, the unthinkable is happening. No, the original isn’t being put up on Disney Plus, but the streamer is debuting a kind of honorary sequel to it in the form of the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special. And it looks poised to be a real blast judging by the trailer up above.
Loosely set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, the Holiday Special sees Rey and faithful droid BB-8 flung on a time-traveling adventure across Star Wars history, leading to a confrontation with her evil granddaddy Emperor Palpatine and a team-up with her master Luke Skywalker in his youth. Meanwhile, Poe, Chewie, Lando, Threepio and the gang get ready to celebrate the Kashyyk custom of Life Day on Life Day Eve (this concept comes from the original special).
Of course, this new outing promises to be hilariously irreverent, with the trailer managing to squeeze in jokes and good-natured digs at pretty much every era of Star Wars. The two Han Solos invite each other to shoot Greedo first, Palpatine is offended by Kylo Ren’s exposed chest and even the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda turn up for a cameo, with The Child’s cuteness distracting Rey during a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader.
Though the likes of Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac and Mark Hamill aren’t involved, the special does feature the voices of a bunch of SW actors from both the movies and the TV shows. Billy Dee Williams is back as Lando, as is Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico and, of course, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. Meanwhile, James Arnold Taylor, Matt Lanter and Tom Kane reprise their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Yoda from The Clone Wars.
The Star Wars Holiday Special might be infamous, but the LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special looks like it should be fun for the whole family. Don’t miss it when it lands on Disney Plus on November 17th.