by: S. Scott Stanikmas

What a glorious time to be a Star Wars fan.

Starting at 10 am on Thursday April 16, StarWars.com and Verizon will be live-streaming more than 30 hours of content to the fans not able to make the trip to Anaheim this year. This is a first in the history of Star Wars Celebration!

It all starts with the Star Wars: The Force Awakens kickoff panel featuring director J.J. Abrams and producer Kathleen Kennedy. From there it’s a cavalcade of Star Wars panels featuring the likes of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams and so many others. They’ll be broadcasting the Star Wars fan film awards. We’ll get a look at the new EA videogame Battlefront. And in between all the on-stage action, the StarWars.com crew will host interviews with celebrity guests inside their own personal Mos Eisley Cantina!

Exclusive clips will be available on demand from Verizon long after the final credits roll on the Celebration, meaning fans can re-live the excitement long after the live streams are over.

And the official Star Wars Twitter account revealed that any exclusive footage will be part of the streams. That’s right, no cutting out and no asking for money for an upgrade. Any footage that the fans in Cali get to see, we get to see as well.

It all starts at 10 am PST this Thursday April 16, so get your excuses ready as to why you need to call in sick to work. It’s gonna be a fun weekend!