Rogue One may be doing gangbusters at the international box office – the latest figures place Gareth Edwards’ anthology pic north of $900 million worldwide – but for ardent fans of Disney and Lucasfilm’s space opera, Star Wars: Episode VIII is all that matters.
Currently pegged for a mid-December release a la The Force Awakens and Rogue One, Rian Johnson’s spacefaring sequel is deep in post-production, with reports claiming that the first trailer should be with us by April at the latest. That means it won’t be too long before Episode VIII is placed under the Internet’s spotlight – if it wasn’t already – and today brings forth a handful of intriguing tidbits concerning Luke Skywalker, Daisy Ridley’s Rey and their mutual enemy: Kylo Ren.
First up, the morally sound side of the Force. Speaking with USA Today, director Rian Johnson hinted that a “large part” of Star Wars: Episode VIII will center on Luke, his reasoning for his self-imposed exile, along with what the powerful Skywalker plans to do next. Moreover, after paying him a surprise visit on Ahch-To, Daisy Ridley’s heroine will begin to realize the true extent of her Jedi abilities.
“I don’t want to skip ahead two years. I want to see the very next moment of what happens… part of what’s she’s [Rey] dealing with is the realization that she has this power and this gift. 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.”
Johnson’s comments aren’t exactly a huge revelation; given how The Force Awakens wrapped up, it was always assumed that Rey and Luke would band together to combat the First Order. One major piece on the galactic chess board is, of course, Kylo Ren, and it appears we could see Adam Driver’s erratic commander pilot a personal TIE Fighter. Making Star Wars has the report, claiming that the space vessel is officially referred to as a First Order TIE Advanced, and will take design cues from Darth Vader’s ship in A New Hope – how very apropos.
With a December 15 release date in place, it’ll be some time yet before we get a sense of how accurate those Star Wars: Episode VIII rumors really are, but you can color us intrigued nonetheless.