2015 PARADE

Dragon Con Parade gawkers, take note: The route of one of the city’s great annual spectacles takes some different turns this year. The parade will step off at 10 a.m. Saturday from the intersection of Peachtree Street and Linden Avenue, before heading south on Peachtree, east (left) on Andrew Young International Boulevard and north (left) on Peachtree Center Avenue. It will end on Peachtree Center Avenue between John Portman Boulevard and Baker Street, in front of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. The new route is slightly longer — 0.9 miles, up from 0.8 miles last year — and comes closer to the North Avenue MARTA station. As in past years, it also passes close to the Civic Center station and right by the Peachtree Center station. About 75,000 people are expected to drink in the profusion of costumed paraders. Parking downtown is likely to be tight, and Dragon Con officials are encouraging parade spectators to take MARTA. For more, go to dragoncon.org. cheers as they watched the premiere of the latest “Force Awakens” trailer. Chewbacca and Han Solo’s appearance at the end wound up being the money shot.

“Chewie, we’re home,” Ford says in the trailer. And last summer, Mayhew did in fact go home again as he filmed scenes aboard a tangible Millennium Falcon, Han and Chewie’s fabled starship.

“It felt wonderful,” Mayhew said of the experience. “I walked onto the stage, and there was Harrison in the Han Solo costume. And the whole ship was reconstructed. It was amazing. Everything was perfect. The cockpit we were using was beautiful, and even the seats were absolutely fabulous. Everything was there and all of the instruments worked. Phenomenal is the only word I can think of to describe it.”

The glow on set certainly owed a share to Mayhew, who wore full Wookiee garb. Even seasoned crew members couldn’t suppress their inner fan.

“I gave a lot of Wookiee hugs on the set,” Mayhew said. “I couldn’t move without giving hugs.”

Yep, the Wookiee’s still winning.