Will Star Wars Celebration Be Delayed Due to Coronavirus?

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown all of our lives into a "new normal", with many uncertain about exactly what the future holds until a vaccine becomes available. In the month-and-a-half since Americans began quarantining, a slew of major events have been postponed or canceled entirely, including multiple major conventions. While there's a chance that stay-at-home orders could begin to be lifted in the near future, it sounds like some upcoming events could still be in jeopardy -- including the annual Star Wars Celebration convention, which is set to be held in Anaheim, CA this August. During a press conference on Tuesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom spoke about what the future of mass gatherings will be until there is a vaccine, and said that large scale events are "not in the cards".

Bad news for concert venues, sports stadiums, Newsom says: "The prospect of mass gatherings is negligible at best until we get to herd immunity and we get to a vaccine. Large scale events that bring in hundreds, thousand, tens of thousands of strangers..is not in the cards."

— Kathleen Ronayne (@kronayne) April 14, 2020

Although this certainly isn't an official restriction or confirmation, it certainly could hint that Celebration Anaheim II might ultimately be in jeopardy. Last year's Star Wars Celebration Chicago drew an estimated 65,000 fans, and any number around that would definitely qualify as a "large scale event". And even if some aspects of everyday life begin to return to "normal" by August, it's safe to assume that a portion of fans would be apprehensive about attending such a large gathering. The nerd world has already seen that with regards to 2020's San Diego Comic-Con, as many attendees have already called for the annual July event to be canceled for the year.

Granted, there's no indication at this point of what things will be like by late August (much less in a matter of days or weeks), but it's definitely a situation that Star Wars fans will be keeping in the back of their minds. That will especially be the case for those who have already secured passes or started looking into hotels and airfare, as the event traditionally draws fans from all over the world.

If Celebration Anaheim II did end up being postponed, it wouldn't necessarily be unprecedented for the convention to skip another year. Past Celebrations have often been scheduled around key events in the franchise, which has led to the con not being held on certain gap years. While Celebration Anaheim II would realistically have some big events tied around it - including the upcoming second season of The Mandalorian and the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back - we'll just have to wait and see if the event will be able to go on as planned.

Star Wars Celebration Anaheim II is scheduled to be held from August 27th through August 30th.