'Star Wars: Episode VIII' Director Shares New Photo, Says Filming's in the 'Home Stretch'
Daisy Ridley and John Boyega in ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (Photo: David James/Disney/Lucasfilm via AP)
Depending on what you choose to believe, reports of reshoots on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story either reflect a natural part of the tonal-shifting filmmaking process or signs that the production is in trouble and trying to navigate a mid-course correction. When it comes to Star Wars: Episode VIII, the next installment of the series proper, however, there seems to be no such drama.
Related: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Finishes Historic U.S. Box Office Run with $936.7 Million
In a new Tumblr post, Star Wars: Episode VIII writer/director Rian Johnson offers up a new photo from the set with a caption — “In the home stretch” — that indicates his follow-up to last year’s The Force Awakens is on schedule to wrap principal photography soon. The photo itself gives us few clues about the film’s closely guarded plot, though from the looks of things, Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker will again don the Jedi cloak he sported at the end of last year’s Episode VII. And, well, the action will apparently take place, at least in part, near some rocky cliffs (ostensibly, the locale of The Force Awakens’ closing scene).
(Photo: Rian Johnson’s Tumblr)
While there’s been no concrete information regarding the direction of the story begun by Abrams, it is known that Episode VIII will reunite all of The Force Awakens’ principal characters — Daisy Ridley’s Rey, John Boyega’s Finn, Oscar Isaac’s Poe, and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren — and it will begin, more or less, where its predecessor left off, with the first meeting between Rey and Skywalker.
Related: ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ Enlists Renowned Stunt Coordinator for Reshoots
No word on when an official first look will arrive, but the still-untitled Episode VIII storms into theaters on Dec. 17, 2017.
‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’: Watch how Rian Johnson previously celebrated a production milestone:
