Rian Johnson Posts New ‘Episode VIII' Tumblr Photo As Principal Photography Ends
Is the title reveal imminent?
We haven’t gotten any official looks at director Rian Johnson’s upcoming untitled Star Wars movies yet, but the filmmaker has offered some tantalizing teasers of Episode VIII on his Tumblr page. While they don’t really spoil much, they have given voracious fans some great tidbits to speculate about. Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata character will most likely make her return, and, obviously, so will some X-Wing fighter pilots and First Order stooges. But now Johnson has shared a brand new photo to mark a production milestone with a typically cryptic image to go along with it.
The post, with the description “In the home stretch,” means that Johnson and his crew are nearing the end of initial production on the next chapter in the epic space saga. It’s a small miracle to think that production kicked off in February with a little teaser clip showing the director, Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill, and Daisy Ridley as Rey shooting on the Irish island of Skellig Michael. It stood in for the island that Luke exiled himself on at the end of The Force Awakens.
Four months later, principal photography is closing up shop, which is kind of nuts when you think that it only takes four-to-five months to shoot a Star Wars movie. It’s nothing compared to the 18 months of post production the crew will have to endure before the movie is released on December 15, 2017.
Check out the Tumblr photo below:
"In the home stretch."
But the image that Johnson posted brings things back full circle in a way. The carefully placed wardrobe seems to be the same cloak that Luke was wearing in The Force Awakens and the Episode VIII teaser, so it’s a safe bet that Johnson’s movie will pick up right where J.J. Abrams’s first movie left off.
The photo and the end of principal photography is good news for a lot of reasons. Mostly because if Episode VIII follows the lead of The Force Awakens, whose title was announced in November 2014 shortly after that shoot wrapped, we’ll learn the actual title of this movie soon after Johnson yells “Cut!” for the last time.
