Star Wars Celebration has been running since 1999, to celebrate the start of the prequel trilogy with the upcoming release of The Phantom Menace. An event by the fans for the fans, in the years since it has transformed itself to be the largest fan convention based on a single franchise, with plenty of guests and panels, and huge world exclusive reveals saved for the event.

Such has especially been a thing in recent times with the start of the sequel trilogy, where the event started getting livestreamed for all to see, allowing fans who can’t be there in person see a part of the proceedings. Celebration has always been a great watch, and I’ve covered every one since 2015.

So, with a month out from the next Celebration, I felt it best to take a look at some of the trailers that have come out of the event. I’ll only be covering those since livestreaming began in 2015, so no Detours here (but how I wish that had been a thing), but with the amount there have been since that time, I’m pretty much sorted anyway. And though this is covering just the TV series and films, I couldn’t help but sneak in one from…

The Video Games

When Disney took over the franchise in 2013, EA were given exclusive rights to the video games, and they wasted no time at all that E3 to tell the world they had started production on a Star Wars Battlefront game. It wouldn’t be until Celebration Anaheim where fans got a proper first look at the game through the trailer. But though it was a great trailer, it’s not the most impactful from those at Celebration.

It wouldn’t be until Celebration Chicago that the most impactful of the video game trailers would make itself known. We had known the name of Jedi: Fallen Order since E3 2018, where Respawn had announced that as the name of their game in production during EA’s conference. The only detail we knew of it was that we’d be a Jedi in the aftermath of Order 66.

Come Celebration Chicago, where The Galaxywide Premiere of Jedi: Fallen Order was a panel at the event, it was clear that this was a game to watch. The first single player focused video game set in the Star Wars universe since The Force Unleashed 2 back in 2010, the teaser for the game revealed little of the plot.

It showcased a few locations we’d be visiting and a few characters we’d be encountering. But what it did showcase was the idea that our main hero – Cal Kestis – would get forced out of hiding. He could no longer be a nobody to survive. He had to embrace who he had been in a galaxy that was out to get him. It was enough to get me wanting to know more and seeing how the story would develop.

Star Wars Rebels

A big focus of Celebrations would be on the films, but in recent times that also stretched to the TV series. The Clone Wars had finished its run, but there were still things to talk about with it, and new show Rebels had started strong, and with each Celebration, fans were excited to know what was coming next.

It would be easy to say that season 2’s trailer was the best, what with Vader tearing through rebels, Rex’s appearance, and the showcase of more Inquisitors. Or even season 4’s, what with its significance as the last season and the very careful construction of it that revealed very little except for the focus on both Mandalore and Lothal.

But it is with the season 3 trailer that my heart lies most. After the end of season 2, and all the action that took place on Malachor, it seemed destined that the Ghost crew were in for even harsher trials. The trailer showed just that, with a more mature and darker Ezra, more Mandalorian action, and reveal of Thrawn entering the fight.

Thrawn was a massive fan favourite, and this trailer built up his reveal excellently. It showed that they were getting him done right. Along with that came more Maul action, and the question of what information he is after through the connecting of holocrons. There were plenty of plot threads that this trailer provided, with that singular shot of the darksaber in Sabine’s hands being the second of my most anticipated stories to see.

The Spin-Off Films

Celebration Anaheim held the second official teaser for The Force Awakens, but it also announced the start of the Star Wars Anthology films. We had known that independent films from the Skywalker Saga were being developed, but this was the first time that they had been labelled as the Anthology series. Rogue One would be the first of those, with a small teaser given during the Anaheim announcement.

It wouldn’t be until Celebration Europe 2016 where the first real look at the film would come. The behind-the-scenes reel showcased a gritty depiction of the Star Wars universe. A darker and more mature tone than anything that had come before. Being what it was, there was little in the way of plot elements to decipher from it, but it did its job in getting people excited for the film.

With the information we knew of it – how it was a film about the recovery of the Death Star plans, certain parts made sense. The tropical planet known as Scarif would be where the battle for those plans would take place. We’d seen many shots of that within the trailer, but how we got to that battle and who these characters were was something this trailer wasn’t giving up.

It does seem hard to believe, but this is the only trailer seen for any of the anthology films seen at a Celebration. The marketing of Solo didn’t begin until after the release of The Last Jedi, with no Celebration taking place in 2018 to offer a final trailer before the film’s release. Production of the anthology films was then paused to give each film their own space. Hopefully we see a new one at this next Celebration.

The Clone Wars

Ah, yes. It seemed a magical moment to know that this series was returning for a final season, but we got just that at the 2018 San Diego Comic Con. The Clone Wars was indeed saved, and they knew people would be happy about that, featuring the hastag #CloneWarsSaved on early promotional material for this final season. The only arc that we knew was confirmed to be told in those twelve episodes was the Siege of Mandalore – the pivotal moment for numerous characters and the Mandalorian people.

Until the panel at Celebration Chicago gave the details of each of the arcs that would be featured. The Bad Batch arc – that had previously been released in animatic form on StarWars.com in 2015, had been updated and completed. We’d also see Ahsoka trying to fit in with civilisation, but getting caught up in an adventure with two sisters who were trying to make a living in the underworld of Coruscant.

Of course, the attention of everyone was on the Siege of Mandalore. It was said that this end had to be done right, with the best lightsaber duel the series had ever seen. Motion capture had been used in creating it, and during the trailer we got to see just a small bit of that duel in action. It certainly looked like it would be the best ever seen, and there had been some great duels throughout the series.

The visuals had been greatly improved from past seasons, with the trailer showing plenty of great action and pretty shots of various worlds. The focus on Rex and Ahsoka with the trailer – and what we knew from Rex’s appearances in Rebels – made it seem like some sort of conflict between them with the announcement of Order 66 would come. It was, to me, the best thing to have come from that previous Celebration.

The Sequel Trilogy

It’s obvious which I’m picking here. There’s a reason Celebration events started being livestreamed for all to see, after all. While The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker would save their first trailers for Celebration, we’d already had one teaser for The Force Awakens the previous year. That didn’t stop the reveal of the second teaser being an event of its own.

This was the first Star Wars film in ten years (not counting The Clone Wars theatrical release in 2008), so plenty were hyped to see it. Showing off the new characters and locations, the only dialogue coming from Luke’s reveal of Leia being his sister from Return of the Jedi – and that absolute nostalgic “Chewie, we’re home” at the end from Han.

From that opening shot of a speeder driving past a crashed Star Destroyer, the quick shots of various characters and action pieces – including seeing the Millennium Falcon in flight once again… It all brought the feeling that Star Wars was hitting the big screen once again – and doing so in a big way. The story wasn’t important at that time. Plenty of time to deal with such details later. It was simply time to let the characters do the talking.

The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker trailers might be great for their own reasons, but it’s hard to describe just how much excitement that first panel of Celebration Anaheim brought to fans. And even non-fans. As I say, it was an event of its own. It seemed the world was united on that day in their love of Star Wars. No matter what thoughts of the trilogy eventually turned to, that panel was a momentous one.