Consider it a rumor no more – the eighth installment in the Skywalker saga is officially titled Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Disney and Lucasfilm locked in Episode VIII‘s moniker just yesterday, putting to bed any and all rumors claiming Rian Johnson’s sequel would be branded as Rise of the Resistance or Echoes of the Dark Side or Jar-Jar Strikes Back – that last one is totally false, praise the heavens, but you get the drift. As a matter of fact, The Last Jedi is something Rian Johnson had settled on the moment he put pen to paper on the film’s first draft, but it’s only now that the title is out in the wild that he’s able to invite moviegoers into Episode VIII‘s editing bay.
Now rounding the final corner in post-production ahead of its release in December, Rian Johnson took to Instagram to showcase a quaint shot of what is surely The Last Jedi‘s opening crawl, along with the iconic R2-D2 in the background.
This doesn’t necessarily mean The Last Jedi is done, dusted and ready to be printed onto celluloid, but it is an exciting reminder that Johnson’s follow-up is now one step closer to lighting up theaters the world over. Coming out of yesterday’s teasing reveal, one big question that sparked conversation online was in regards to the red-tinged logo. Star Wars logos of old have traditionally favored a bright, welcoming yellow color, but the Imperial-esque aesthetic of The Last Jedi leads us to believe that even after the destruction of Starkiller Base, all is not well in a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is due to arrive in theaters on December 15th.
