It’s been a rough year for pop culture fanatics looking to congregate and geek out over their fandoms. Well, it’s going to be a quiet year for Star Wars fans, too, because Lucasfilm has officially canceled the bi-annual Star Wars Celebration, with the event returning in 2022.
This has been expected for some time, so it doesn’t come as a complete shock. Back in April, organizers of the event, which is basically a D23 or Comic-Con for Star Wars fans, were doing what everybody was doing. They were watching the COVID-19 outbreak and seeing how bad it would get. There was coordination with the city of Anaheim to ensure the event’s safety for a possible launch in August, but that is now off the table. Here is part of the official statement:
To our Star Wars Celebration fans and friends. At Star Wars Celebration, the health and safety of our fans, attendees, exhibitors, guests and staff is always our number one priority. Due to the global impact of the COVID-19 virus and in speaking with local and state authorities on the latest public health guidelines related to indoor conventions, we have made the decision to cancel Star Wars Celebration for 2020. While this news is disappointing, we are happy to announce that Star Wars Celebration will return to the Anaheim Convention Center on August 18-21, 2022.
There will be ticket and hotel refund opportunities beginning June 22nd for those who booked early. Those looking for refunds will want to seek out more info here.
To be fair, there wasn’t exactly going to be a lot of Star Wars shit to show off this year, right? Sure, there may have been a glimpse at the second season of The Mandalorian, but anything in 2021? The Cassian Andor series has been pretty quiet, and they had to delay production because of COVID-19 like everybody else. The Obi-Wan series in the works from director Deborah Chow has gone through its share of script troubles, which caused a further slowdown. And we know there aren’t any movies that would be close enough to talk about.
So maybe this isn’t such a big deal, after all?
Due to the impact of COVID-19, we’ve made the decision to cancel Star Wars Celebration 2020. While this news is disappointing, we’re happy to announce #StarWarsCelebration will return to Anaheim in 2022. Full statement with ticket transfers/refunds info at https://t.co/o2ObVULVVF pic.twitter.com/CnRWHZhuDq
— StarWars Celebration (@SW_Celebration) June 15, 2020
