The STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL is a rather bizarre piece of the franchise; arriving just a littler over a year after the release of the first film, the made-for-TV movie found much of the original cast taking part in a ridiculous story that had to do with getting Chewbacca back to his home planet in order to celebrate Life Day. Toss in a handful of song and dance segments, comedy skits, as well as a cartoon that introduced Boba Fett for the first time, and you can understand why George Lucas disowned it almost immediately.
Over the years, the STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL has gained something of a cult-following, and the special is due to receive a follow-up in the form of the LEGO STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL that will debut on Disney+ next month. The new special will find Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewie, Rose, and the droids preparing to celebrate Life Day, but Rey finds herself hurled into a cross-timeline adventure at a mysterious Jedi Temple that puts her into contact with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and other figures from the franchise. Entertainment Weekly has a new image from the LEGO STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL that finds Rey battling with none other than Darth Vader. Check it out below.
If you look behind the pair, it appears that Sebulba can be seen in his Pod along with some stormtroopers. Executive producer James Waugh told Entertainment Weekly that "The Holiday Special has something you will never see in Star Wars otherwise which is all the characters from across all timelines crashing together. Normally story groups are so concerned about maintaining this amazing galaxy so that it feels cohesive, it was liberating to do this in a way that's charming and fun." Waugh added that the timeline crossovers were at least partly inspired by watching how children played with STAR WARS toys.
We started realizing that the way they play with them isn't with canonical separation, it's not, 'Let's put all the classic trilogy sets here, the prequel sets here, new sequel sets here.' My son literally just dumps his bucket out. We realized that was a play pattern that could actually inform the fun of this show.
LEGO Star Wars Holiday Special will debut on Disney+ on November 17, 2020.