Briefly

Disney announced Thursday — to kick off the four-day Star Wars Celebration in Orlando — that Lucasfilm will unveil a series of animated shorts, Star Wars Forces of Destiny, that focus on the franchise’s female characters, including Princess Leia (voiced by Shelby Young), Rey ( Daisy Ridley), Jyn Erso of Rogue One ( Felicity Jones), Ahsoka Tano of Clone Wars ( Ashley Eckstein) and Sabine Wren of Star Wars Rebels ( Tiya Sircar). The first 16 shorts will debut on Disney’s YouTube channel in July and in a two-part Disney Channel special in the fall.

Christian Bale will play Dick Cheney in Adam McKay’s upcoming biopic of the former U.S. vicepresident. The film is also to star Steve Carell as former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Amy Adams as Lynne Cheney.

Josh Brolin is expanding his comic-book movie repertoire, playing Cable in 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool 2 opposite lead Ryan Reynolds. David Leitch is directing the sequel, which is expected to hit theatres sometime in 2018.

Actress and gospel singer Linda Hopkins, who won a Tony Award in 1972 for the musical Inner City, has died. She was 92. Inspired by blues singer Bessie Smith, Hopkins wrote and starred in 1974’s one-woman musical Me and Bessie, and was later nominated for a Tony for Black and Blue. Her film and TV appearances include Clint Eastwood’s Honkytonk Man, the miniseries King and 1979’s Roots: The Next Generations.

A newly discovered species of shrimp that uses a bright pink claw to create a sound loud enough to kill small fish has been named for Pink Floyd. The shrimp found on Panama’s Pacific coast has been dubbed Synalpheus pinkfloydi. Oxford University Museum of Natural History researcher Sammy De Grave says the description of the shrimp was “the perfect opportunity to finally give a nod to my favourite band.”