Star Wars Celebration 2023 Confirmed for London

By Adam Barnhardt

Star Wars Celebration is moving back across the pond for next year's event. During closing ceremonies on Sunday, Celebration officials announced the 2023 event would be held at London's ExCel Exhibition Centre for the third time. Not only that, but the event will take place less than a year from now. Star Wars Europe IV will take place from April 7th through April 10th as the studio preps to promote one of its busiest years on record.

In addition to three conventions held at the ExCel Centre, Star Wars Celebration also hosted an event at Germany's Messe Essen in 2013. Outside of the three Europe stops (four if including next year), plus the 2008 event in Japan, all other Celebrations have been hosted stateside.

Since its inception in 1999, there have been a total of 14 celebrations. Event organizers typically like to space the events out so that they aren't every year, but there are some exceptions to the unspoken rule. Celebration IV and Celebration Europe I happened in May and July 2007, respectively, only to be followed up by Celebration Japan in 2008. Fast forward a few years and Celebration Anaheim, Celebration Europe III, and Celebration Orlando were all within the span of three years. After Celebration Chicago in 2019, the event had a three-year break, largely due to the ongoing global pandemic.

Announced on Saturday, The Mandalorian Season 3 will kick things off for Lucasfilm in 2023 as the show is set to return in February. Other 2023 releases are expected to include Skeleton Crew, Ahsoka, and The Acolyte amongst the studio's ensemble of animated shows.

Celebration Anaheim II happened to be the first event attended by Ewan McGregor, who thanked fans Saturday for welcoming him.

"It was amazing to see, and you could feel it out there today, that he is so beloved, Hayden. And rightly so, he's really a special guy, he's a beautiful man," McGregor shared with ComicBook.com after his Obi-Wan panel. "He's loved by the Star Wars fans. And our crew, for this series, there's so many real Star Wars fans in the crew. It's pretty cool. They totally got used to me being around then Hayden arrived for his first day and it was unbelievable. There were hundreds of people behind the cameras. I was looking around going, 'I've never seen so many people on set. What's going on?' And then we start the rehearsal and Hayden walks out as Vader and you're like, 'Of course. Everyone's here to see Vader.' It was really nice, it's nice, I hope, for him, that he could feel that love from everybody. And certainly today, it was unbelievable. I've never done a Celebration or anything like it. That was quite unbelievable."

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