The Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter: March 20, 2026
A Zabrak and a Twi'lek do a buddy comedy
Hello there
Is there a better way to start your weekend than the Death Star Human Resources Department Newsletter? I mean, probably. But let’s pretend this is in fact the perfect way to kick off your Friday evening. So welcome back to Death Star HR. This week we’ve got Grogu on the red carpet. Or at least on a red booster seat. And speaking of red, there’s a certain Sith Lord with a red face and a double-bladed red lightsaber who’s getting his very own show in a couple weeks!
As always, thanks for reading Death Star HR. If you’re reading this and you’re not a subscriber, I’d love it if you entered your email below and smashed that subscribe button. There’s also an official Death Star HR Instagram and an official Death Star HR YouTube page as well and I’d love it if you subscribed there as well.
This Is Where The Fun Begins
This is the 100% absolute truth.
Only problem for Vader is Palpatine is pretty clearly a “let’s just hop on a call, cameras on” type of guy.
Din Grogu is Now an A-Lister
The Oscars were last Sunday. Given that most of my media consumption either involves lightsabers or just rewatching The Simpsons/Always Sunny/Bob’s Burgers ad nauseam, I realized I hadn’t seen any of the movies nominated for Best Picture. Culture has passed me be. But at the ceremony there were several Star Wars people in attendance that night, including Sigourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal - co-stars in the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu - who were there as presenters for the award for Best Production Design.
Oh, and there was America’s little green sweetheart, Grogu.
I do wonder how exactly Kate Hudson, a person with absolutely zero (as far as I know) connections to Star Wars, got involved in the bit. Conan O’Brien, sure. That makes sense. He’s a well known Star Wars fan. And Conan trying to get Grogu to clap and the puppeteer going along with it was fun. Definitely looking forward to seeing Grogu at next year’s Oscars accepting this Best Actor award.
Darth Maul Excitement Increases
I didn’t realize just how badly I do in fact want to see this Darth Maul show. When it was first announced, I was of course excited because I get excited for every new Star Wars show or movie or anything Disney licenses the name to. I’m an easy mark and the Walt Disney Corporation knows it. And while I was pretty sure it would be a fun series, I wasn’t convinced it was a series we needed. How many more Darth Maul stories do we need to tell? Obi-Wan Kenobi cut him in half at the end of The Phantom Menace. He miraculously returned in The Clone Wars with a new set of spider legs. Maul popped back up in Rebels, only to be killed (again) by Obi-Wan. And finally there was his cameo at the end of Solo. Which came as to surprise to everyone (myself included) who hadn’t seen The Clone Wars or Rebels at that point. So yeah, that’s a lot of screen time for a character who was supposedly killed off in what should have been his first and only appearance.
And yet…and yet after watching the latest trailer, I really can’t help but get excited for Darth Maul: Shadow Lord. Which drops its first two episodes in just over two weeks. I mean, just watch!
Are you not entertained?!
Does this trailer not contain everything you could want in a Star Wars trailer. Lightsabers! Jedi! Sith! Inquisitors! Shadowy underworld type of cities. You’ve got slicing an AT-ST in half with a lightsaber, come on! Get hyped!
Did your heart rate not increase when you heard “Duel of the Fates” at the end?!
If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, please go back and watch the trailer on repeat until you can say yes. I mean, just look at that!
The plot of course is still fairly bare bones. Darth Maul is mad at the Empire. Jedi are on the run. Is the enemy of my enemy going to be my friend? Will Devon the Twi’lek Jedi turn out to Darth Talon? We’ve already seen the Eleventh Brother and Marrok, will there be cameos from anyone else? I guess we’ll find out.
We also got the release schedule and the episodes titles. All of which are very Sithy sounding.
Friend of Death Star HR Matthew Freeman noted that the title for Chapter 8, “The Creeping Fear” is a bit of inside baseball.
This title is a pushing-up-your-glasses-on-your-nose Gen X early internet joke. It was the incorrect title scooped by to (now zombie) Aint It Cool News of Revenge of the Sith. (Can anyone confirm that it was also the fake-leaked original title of Episode I somewhere? I seem to remember it was, but that was a long time ago.) Someone on the writing staff is having a good guffaw.
First off, I hadn’t thought about Ain’t It Cool News in years. I’m pretty sure it’s founder, Harry Knowles got #METOO’d in 2017 for some (allegedly) pretty disgusting behavior. I do have a very vague recollection of a rumor that “The Creeping Fear” was going to be the Episode III title. I have no idea if whoever gave Knowles the info thought it was legit or they were just trolling. I’m sure there’s someone out in Death Star HR land who knows if it was ever a serious contender. The post is dated roughly 14 months before Revenge of the Sith came out, plenty of time for Lucas to decide on and then change his mind about a title. After all, Episode VI was called "Revenge of the Jedi” for a while.
We’re not that far off from April 6th. Get pumped!
This Day in Star Wars History
March 20th is a big birthday for voice actors in the Star Wars universe.
Canadian voice actor Andrew Kishino was born in 1970. Kishino voiced Saw Gerrera in The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch but not Rebels. Forest Whitaker, who plays the live-action Saw, voiced him for Rebels. Kishino is also married to Vanessa Marshall, who provides the voice for Hera Syndulla.
Another voice actor, Jonathan Lipow, was born in 1972. Lipow has done quite a lot in Star Wars, although he doesn’t really have a stand-out role. He’s provided a variety of voice work in: Resistance, The Bad Batch, Visions, and Young Jedi Adventures. Maybe you can say RJ-83 from Young Jedi Adventures would be his signature role? I guess.
The cartoons continue, voice actress Myrna Velasco was born in 1988. Velasco appeared in three episodes of Resistance, voicing pilot Torra Doza.
Hostage Crisis, the season finale for season 1 of The Clone Wars first aired today in 2009. Cad Bane takes the Imperial Senate hostage, only Anakin is in the building! There’s danger, intrigue, and Ziro the Hutt.
On this day in 2019, the merger between Walt Disney Corporation and 20th Century Fox was completed. Between this merge and the blending of Disney+ and Hulu is why Disney+ will suggest that you want to watch Toy Story, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Alien, and Bluey. An unholy combination.
Actor/stuntman Paul Grant passed away in 2023. Grant played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi. He also appeared in Labyrinth, Willow, and and the first Harry Potter movie.
Author Michael Reaves also passed away in 2023. Reaves was an old school Star Wars guy, having one episode of Droids and two episodes of Ewoks. He later on got into writing books for the Expanded Universe including Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (different than Darth Maul: Shadow Lord), the MedStar duology and the Coruscant Nights trilogy.
Casting director Dianne Crittenden passed away in 2024. She was the casting director for A New Hope way back when. I almost skipped including her since there really isn’t much to her Wookieepedia page. But when I checked her IMDB page, she had a pretty extensive career. She worked as casting director on, including but not limited to, Witness, Howard the Duck, Pretty Woman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III, and last on the list here but certainly not least, Hackers.
From the Depths of Wookieepedia
One thing Star Wars is pretty bad as is giving you a sense of time. How long did Luke train on Dagobah, and at the same time, how long did it take the Falcon to get to Cloud City without its hyperdrive? Was Ahsoka stuck in the mouth of a purrgil for days, weeks, months? I just don’t know.
All that to say, it (probably) takes a while to fly from one end of the galaxy to the other even if you’re traveling via hyperspace. Just imagine how long it would take if you’re using the dimensional drive.
This type of propulsion system worked by rippling space-time such that faster than light travel could be achieved. Interstellar ships that made use of a dimensional drive were rather slow when compared to those that would later use hyperdrives. Due to this fact, crews were placed in suspended animationthrough the process of carbonite freezing to accommodate for trips that could last decades or even centuries. This technology was used by sleeper ships from Coruscant to colonize planets like Kuat, Alderaan, and those in the Tion Cluster.
I think my favorite part here though is one of the sources is something called "Fly Casual.”
News From the HoloNet
Disney Plus Perks Offers a Chance to Attend ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Premiere
If I win, I will take a Death Star HR reader. Because for the sake of my marriage, I can’t let Emperor Palpatine’s #1 Fan get anywhere near Pedro Pascal.
Epic and Disney now let Fortnite creators make Star Wars games
This will either be the best or worst idea ever.
Star Wars Got The Design For The X-Wing While Its Creator Was At A British Pub
Whom among us haven’t come up with their best ideas over a pint?
Tom Cruise Interrupted ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ Filming with Surprise Helicopter Landing
Such a classic Tom move.
That’s it for this week. If you like what I’m doing, please subscribe. I’ll catch you next week, and may the Force be with you.
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If you're planning a Maul watching party, let me know. I'm in, and I don't say that lightly. (Exactly HOW did Maul come back, anyway? I remember catching Solo on Netflix a few years back, and wondering "Wait, this guy is supposed to be dead, isn't he?" (And the Harry Knowles stories will have to wait until we get together in person. Let's just say he came perilously close to cratering the Alamo Drafthouse franchises.)
Sign me up for the Maul watch party