Star Wars: 10 Things I Learnt At My First Celebration

1. Star Wars Is Now A Fan-Run Family

Obviously being around for nearly forty years means that Star Wars has spanned generations, but you don't fully appreciate the true meaning of that until seeing a whole host of fans in one place. While the panels put focus on the upcoming movies, the floor of the convention was full of booths dedicated to fansites and artists and collectors and more where people could just stand and chat Star Wars. Furthermore, meeting people who would have seen the original trilogy in cinemas take their kids around the stalls was a touching sight, and the love of the series that hung in the air, uniting everyone, was phenomenal.

But this cross-generational love passed over to the panels too. All four of the upcoming directors (Rogue One's Gareth Edwards, Episode VIII's Rian Johnson and Han Solo's Lord and Miller) made a point of explaining how they were not just major fans growing up, but how Star Wars influenced them to take up a career in filmmaking, while most of the long-standing Lucasfilm stalwarts are actually the second generation, having grown up with the movies.

This is a franchise now inherited by the fans. And that's really, really exciting.

Were you at Star Wars Celebration? Are you going to Orlando? Discuss all things about the convention down in the comments.