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The “Star Wars” franchise is no stranger to the strange and odd. But the wildest of all the offerings from the galaxy far, far away is the bizarre (but beautiful) “Star Wars Holiday Special.” And Jon Favreau is ready to resurrect it.
The TV special celebrating the Wookiee holiday “Light Day” aired on CBS in 1978. All the original “Star Wars” members made an appearance from Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford to Mark Hamill along with special musical guest Jefferson Starship. It’s a can’t-look-away train wreck of corporate meddling and contractually obligated celebrity appearances. But it also has Bea Arthur tending bar at the Mos Eisley cantina so… it’s perfect.
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Despite years of cruel ridicule, Life Day was recently referenced in the Disney Plus spinoff series “The Mandalorian.” Comedian Horatio Sanz, who played the all-blue Mythrol character, evoked this “Star Wars” gem in the pilot episode, wishing he could return to his family for the celebration. So it begs the question, is director, writer and producer Favreau still planning a “Star Wars” Holiday Special all his own?
“Oh I would definitely be interested in doing a holiday special,” Favreau told Variety at “The Mandalorian” fan event. “And I’m not going to say who I would be interested in. But one of the people is the member of the cast in an upcoming episode of the show. So we’ll leave it at that for now.”
When pressed to see if he was serious, the director doubled down. “I’ve been thinking about it. It’s ready, the ideas are ready. I think it could be really fun. Not as part of this, but there’s an excitement around it because it was so fun and weird, and off and not connected to what ‘Star Wars’ was in the theater. ‘The Mandalorian’ cartoon, the Boba Fett cartoon, from the holiday special was definitely a point of inspiration for what we did in the show.”
Just a few days shy of Light Day’s 41-year celebration, perhaps the news that we could have another holiday “Star Wars” offering is truly the greatest gift of all. Now to obsess over which celebrity cameo could cross over.
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