First ‘Rogue One’ opened without a crawl, now Rian Johnson’s ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ will break from tradition in another way. Unlike previous films which jumped ahead some time from the end of the previous film, thus necessitating the expository crawl, ‘Episode VIII’ will open just moments after the end of ‘The Force Awakens’. As you may remember, the last film closed with Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Chewbacca landing on Ahch-to, the home planet of the first Jedi temple, where Rey found the long lost Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who’d gone into self-imposed exile after Kylo Ren went to the Dark Side. Rey’s mission was to return Luke’s lightsabre, a major plot point of ‘The Force Awakens’.
Johnson explained his choice, saying:
“I don’t want to skip ahead two years. I want to see the very next moment of what happens.”
The burgeoning relationship between Luke and Rey, who was teased to be Force-attuned, will be “a large part of the movie.” Rey, a humble scavenger at the start, finds herself wrapped up in the larger Saga. “But part of what’s she’s dealing with is the realization that she has this power and this gift,” Johnson explained. “She’s taking her first step to coming to terms with this thing inside her that she never knew was there and is just starting to reveal its potential.”
There have been rumors that portions of the new movie will take place on a private island, leading to speculation of a recreation of Luke’s tutelage under the guidance of Yoda in the original trilogy.
But of course, as with all ‘Star Wars’ films, everything is being kept firmly under wraps, even the film’s title! But the film is wrapped and in post-production for release this coming winter. Presumably, we will learn more about Supreme Leader Snoke and other characters who didn’t have very big parts in ‘The Force Awakens’, like Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma. Billie Lourd‘s character, Lieutenant Connix is also expected to be fleshed out further.
Well, whatever happens, ‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ opens on December 15, 2017.
What would you like to see happen in the upcoming film?
