Ahead, highlights from the event as it happened in real-time.
Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy opens the panel wearing a Star Wars t-shirt with her silver pantsuit.
Before she can finish, yo welcome … the audience is already on its feet.
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George Lucas is here.
Gigantic cheers for the father ofStar Wars, who has stepped back from the productions after selling the company.
We love you George!
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and chants of Lucas!
Does that always happen when you walk into a room?
Davis asks how he feels four decades later.
I hired you when you were 11 years old, Lucas tells him.
Now you have grey hair.
We will continue celebrating their legacies today, and also beyond, Davis says.
In the real world … critics … certain fans.
Theyre not very nice.
Dave Filoni, executive producer ofThe Clone Warsand the currentRebelsanimated series, joins Lucas on stage.
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He says the Yoda-like advice he got from Lucas was Never make a decision out of fear.
Qui-Gon Jinn makes an appearance.
Liam Neeson appears via video from the Canadian Rockies where he is in bloody make.
Were making a movie, a very unofficial movie, about Jar-Jar Binks.
Spoiler alert: he did go to the dark side.
The video ends with, May the Force be with you.
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Lucas says McDiarmid is one of the loveliest people in the world.
Hes nothing like the Emperor.
Only occasionally, McDiarmid says.
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McDiarmid recalled the audition process for 1983sReturn of the Jedi.
George doesnt go into lengthy explanations, he says.
We met briefly with Richard Marquand over lunch.
I went home and the phone was ringing and my agent said, Youve got the part.
I said, Great… whats the part?'
I thought, I wish I was playing that character.
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Then I found out, I was playing both of them.
Now a video from Samuel L. Jackson, who played Jedi elder Mace Windu in the prequels.
We know Jedi can fall from incredible heights and survive.
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I am not dead!
We know a long rich history Star Wars characters reappearing with new appendages.
Mace Windu is awaiting his return.
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Lucas says the protocol droid was designed to have a face that was completely neutral.
When you walk in, you wonder: What is he thinking?
Mayhew talks about Carrie Fisher.
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My favorite memory is, she was a hell of a Rebel, but shes also a beautiful princess.
Lucas shares the legend of how he came up with Chewie.
The stories are all true.
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I loved that image.
When he sat in the car, he was bigger than I was.
I thought that would be a fun character forStar Wars.
He said that in the originalStar Warsscript, there were lots of Wookiees and they were more like Ewoks.
They werent technical at all.
They were primitive, Lucas says.
When I moved along and realized I had to cut Wookiees out of the movie.
I decided to save one and make him the copilot.
Williams described the key to Lando Calrissian as the cape and the name Calrissian, an Armenian name.
I A N, he says.
It felt distinct in the galaxy.
I didnt want to do a stereotypical, cliche character.
i wanted to do something special.
Something bigger than life.
Luke Skywalker is here.
Mark Hamill thanks the thousands of fans for their continued enthusiasm.
Theyre more supportive than my own family, he jokes.
Im stunned by the passion that has lasted all these years.
Davis asks what qualities Hamill had that made Lucas decide: This is Luke Skywalker.
Im not sure I want to hear this, Hamill says.
Lucas says it was a year-long process of auditioning actors until they got down to two or three contenders.
Then he mixed and matched them with the other Leia and Han actors to find the best team chemistry.
That and the fact that he was shorter than I was, Lucas says.
Does she have to say that?
He was right, it was a bit much, Lucas says, as Hamill repeats the line.
Although it stuck in your brain.
It doesnt get better than this … or actually it does, the emcee says before introducing Harrison Ford.
But you cant say it.
Davis teases Ford about his recent FAA warning over landing on the wrong part of a Southern California airport.
I cant believe we kept this a secret, considering you landed your plane on I-4, Davis says.
But it was a good landing, Ford said.
Ford had appeared inAmerican Graffiti,but Lucas said that small role didnt do much for his career.
Then he went back to carpentry.
Lucas says a casting director urged ford to hang around outside Lucas office until he got a part.
Rubbish, Ford says.
He corrects the story by saying he was working on a door for Francis Ford Coppolas art director.
I love you, but I wasnt going to wait around for you, Ford says.
He credits the story of Star Wars with the enduring popularity, rather than the cast.
An actor without a story to tell may as well go home, Ford says.
With that, the legacy actors from Star Wars have ended their presentation and say goodbye.
Kennedy and Lucas remain onstage.
Carrie Fisher is gone, but they pay tribute to her in spirit.
We cant celebrate 40 years of Star Wars without remembering our beloved princess, Davis says.
Carrie Fisher, I said … She was a princess, she was a senator, and she played a part that was very smart.
And she had to hold her own with two big lugs, these goofballs who were screwing everything up.
But it was her war.
Fisher often called herself the custodian of Leia.
There are not very many people like her.
Theyre one in a billion.
Kathleen Kennedy also choked up as she spoke.
She will be remembered forever.
Even by those who are not yet old enough to say: May the Force be with you.'
She loved you because you embraced all of her, Lourd told the fans.
The strong soldier she was and the vulnerable side, who fought her own dark side.
She loved this incredible character she got to create this force, called Leia, Lourd said.
Youre my only hope.
Heavy emotion in the audience as she whispers the final line.
As the Fisher tribute ends, a curtain raises, revealing composer John Williams and a full orchestra.
Grief turns to elation as the crowd leaps to its feat shouting.
Williams puts a finger to his lips and the room of thousands hushes.
He raises his baton and the orchestra begins playing Princess Leias Theme.
After that bittersweet moment, Williams rouses the crowd again with the stirring main title theme ofStar Wars.
With that, the 40th anniversary panel ends and the rest of Star Wars Celebration begins.
