May the 4th won’t be greeted this year with Star Wars cosplay in a mass gathering of nerd camaraderie, but Disney and Lucasfilm are still marking the day in a social distancing way. Disney+ is streaming The Rise of Skywalker a few months ahead of schedule, and the site’s received an old-school makeover for those who wish to binge into oblivion. In addition, the official Star Wars “May the 4th” video has arrived, and it’s all about hope. A New Hope? Yes, that movie (in which Princess Leia famously called Obi-Wan Kenobi her “only hope”) gets face time in a montage that features ghostly Luke Skywalker and dances through several messages of hope from the four-decade movie and TV franchise, both on the live-action and animated fronts, including the following:
– “We have hope, hope that things can get better, and they will.”
– “Stand up together, because that’s when we’re strongest. As one.”
– “You had each other, that’s how we won.”
Yes, Baby Yoda makes an appearance, as does nearly every notable character of the franchise. The reason for this extra-positive May the 4th video never receives mention, of course, but it’s on everyone’s minds already. George Lucas’ wild cantina of characters can help connect people when we’re all separated from each other, if only by providing inspiration about how people and aliens have come together in miraculous ways throughout the franchise. Sure, we’d probably all prefer to be in a far-away galaxy right about now, but here on Earth, we’ve simply got to keep hope alive.
