Star Wars: Episode IX is making its journey to cinemas under a huge amount of pressure. After Solo: A Star Wars Story gave the property its first box office bomb, J.J. Abrams’ trilogy closer has been saddled with the responsibility of steering this franchise back on track commercially while bringing this latest set of episodes to a satisfying conclusion and hopefully winning back some of The Last Jedi’s detractors along the way.
With so many people to please, it’s hardly surprising that Lucasfilm would want a little more time to work on the upcoming project, and so the rumor has now surfaced that production on Episode IX has been extended by a couple of months. According to a report from Star Wars News Net, rewrites are currently underway on next year’s sequel, and some extra time is needed for filming on the sets at Pinewood Studios.
The article’s anonymous source is quoted as follows:
“Filming is happening in Jordan and at Pinewood. Pinewood sets are filming into next year with one of the sets having been extended to film for an additional two months due to a rewrite.”
So far, we’re not seeing anything to panic about, with rewrites serving as a normal part of the production process. As well as filming taking place at Pinewood, it was recently reported that shooting is scheduled for locations in Ireland, Italy, and California. That last region in particular has led to speculation that this next film could see a return to locations from the Original Trilogy, including Tatooine and Endor.
That’s just speculation for now, but for more evidence that some familiar planets could be due for a revisit, a batch of set photos that made way online earlier this week show new activity in the desert of Wadi Rum, Jordan. Though this region certainly brings to mind Rey’s home planet of Jakku, the land was actually the setting for the Jedha scenes in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
We’ll see what all this time, energy, and location-hopping is leading to when Star Wars: Episode IX comes out on December 20th, 2019.
