J.J. Abrams says he wants to connect Episode IX to the Star Wars prequels. On today’s Nerdist News Talks Back we discussed if he might do that by returning to some old locales in the galaxy far, far away, along with the sudden popularity of documentaries, the future of Star Trek, and Taco Bell‘s “highest” award.
Host Jessica Chobot was joined today by Nerdist editor Kyle Anderson, producer Derek Johnson, and very special guest Sasha Perl-Raver, host of FX Movie Download, and they started with some of the first rumors for Episode IX. Reports say J.J. Abrams might be filming in places that appeared in both A New Hope and Rogue One, as well as the Italian city Caserta that was used for Naboo. Do we buy these rumors? Are we excited by this possibility? When will we get some concrete info about the movie from Disney? And how could all three trilogies end up connecting?
Next they talked about Variety‘s article highlighting the success this summer of documentaries like Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, RBG, and Three Identical Strangers. Why are docs having a resurgence? Are audiences looking for some counter-programming? And do we prefer to see them in theaters or on streaming services?
Star Wars wasn’t the only big-time franchise on the docket today, as Star Trek and all of its new projects is in the midst of a resurgence. Could it soon equal or even surpass it’s sci-fi brother Star Wars in the near future? What timeline would we prefer Quentin Tarantino’s film to focus on? Is another series with Jean-Luc Picard the way to go, or would we prefer a show with all new characters? And of all the Star Trek projects in development which one are we most excited for?
Finally, High Times magazine has named Taco Bell the ultimate stoner restaurant. Was this up for debate? Is the real question whether or not it’s the best restaurant period? What menu items are our favorites? And what are the merits of ordering via the drive-thru versus actually going inside?
Nerdist News Talks Back is off tomorrow for the 4th of July, but we’re back on Thursday at our YouTube and Alpha channels at 11AM PT, and we’ll end our week with an all-new episode of Nerdist News What the Friday at 1PM PT exclusively on Alpha. Whether you’re on Naboo, Coruscant, or Tattooine tune in to talk the biggest pop culture stories of the day with us.
What did you think of today’s show? Talk back to us about it in the comments below.
Images: Lucasfilm, Paramount
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