Disneyland Resort recently did a fairly major thematic overhaul to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, by including original trilogy characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in the land. In addition, they’ve added classic music cues from the films by composer John Williams. But the biggest new addition to Galaxy’s Edge, both in Anaheim and in Orlando, is the updated version of the attraction Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, which now includes the Mandalorian and Grogu.
Not only are those beloved characters joining the attraction, but riders will now have several new worlds to choose from. All are iconic and familiar worlds from the Star Wars films. Tatooine, Bespin, Coruscant, and the Death Star wreckage around Endor are now part of the story too. At a recent press event held at the Disneyland Hotel, we got to chat with Lucasfilm’s Senior Creative Executive Matt Martin, about bringing a new dimension to this Galaxy’s Edge attraction.
Nerdist: How long has this update to Smuggler’s Run been in the planning stages? And were there any initial ideas that maybe went by the wayside when you decided to finally pull the trigger and do it?
Matt Martin: I mean, we’ve been working on this for, I think, about a year and a half. Something like that. We discussed a lot of different planets. I think, at one point, I made a really long spreadsheet of kind of what planets might be good options and why. So there’s definitely a lot of discussion about the different locations that we could go to, things like that. Because there are so many planets in the Star Wars galaxy to choose from.
You know, the nature of this sort of thing, you have to make choices. So, there were a lot of things that we discussed early on that eventually, we just went in a different direction. Because we had to look at what made the most sense for the story of this attraction. We had to kind of look at the type of gameplay we were going for, what would make it the most fun to do. What would make for the most fun locations, how they were diverse from each other, things like that. So some planets got left behind.
So, the original version of the ride isn’t really even that old. It’s only been around for seven years, but technology improves really fast. So, how do you feel that the improvement in technology helped you guys out this time?
Martin: Yeah, I can’t speak too directly to the technology, because it’s not really my field. But I can say that I think, just by the nature of us having the attraction for that many years, we were kind of able to see what things were maybe working better, and also what things needed improvement on the gameplay side of things, and we were able to kind of work to enhance some of that. So, like, the engineering role has been greatly expanded. You know, the piloting and gunner positions, they’ve both gone through a lot of improvements, so I don’t know what part the tech actually played into that, which is sort of the experience of watching people go through this and understanding the best way to make things better.
How did you find an organic way to incorporate the Mandalorian and baby Grogu into the ride?
Martin: I mean, that was actually a really fascinating thing. Because, as you said, the Falcon is Han Solo’s ship. Mando has never really come into contact with Han Solo.
That we know of!
Yeah, that we know of (laughs). At least we haven’t seen it happen so far. But what worked out really well was we have this really convenient thing in the character of Hondo Onaka. Hondo really does, as a pirate, and as a businessman, he helps connect the dots. So, there was sort of a natural. We had to think, “Okay, well, what would happen if Mando came and brought the Falcon here?” Well, it’s only natural that Hondo would have gone and “borrowed” it.
After that, it was really about working in how Mando is doing missions for the New Republic. All of which is coming right out of the new film. Right. How do we bring that into it? So the New Republic has contracted Hondo. They need Mando to go babysit him, because no one trusts Hondo. And, of course, Hondo is the one who grabbed the Falcon! So there was a lot of thought about how to get all of that to work. But I feel like the linchpin ended up being the character of Hondo.
Do you have a new aspect of the ride that’s your personal favorite, and can you tell us what it is?
Yeah, I mean, I think Coruscant in general is probably my favorite. This detail is pretty nerdy, but hey, you’re Nerdist! So yeah, in Corusant, you’re actually shooting an ion cannon, because you’re in the city. But tthere are people there. Otherwise, you’ll do real destruction [with a regular cannon.] So you’re shooting an ion canon. It’s really fun to shoot at some of the signs and things, and just watch the kind of electric sparks, having things turn off. So, you’re not really destroying the planet. But you’re definitely impacting it, and when you’re surrounded by it, you really get to see the effects of that. And it’s extremely cool.
The newly updated version of Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run is now open for business at Galaxy’s Edge in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
The post Lucasfilm Talks Updates to Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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