Happy 4th of July to our American readers. July the 4th be with you. We’ve got a few pieces of info on Star Wars Rogue One and Episode VIII. Not too many major spoilers here, but tread carefully.
1. First off, we now have a “wrap” date, or filming end date, for Episode VIII:
It wraps on Friday July 22nd 2016 #LooseLipsSinkStarships #W8ForVIII #DontBeAHomer #PatienceMyPadawans #Rogue1Sooner https://t.co/92syo6m36d
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) July 2, 2016
Davestrrr: No new information here other than it puts in perspective the span of the filming. Seeing how filming began February 15th of this year, that would put it at about 5 months total. As usual, there will be some reshoots too.
Mazlow01: Like Dave said nothing major here but that does mean yet another Star Wars movie where I was never cast…
2. Next we have a ton of info from StarWarsNews.net on an interview with Iain McCaig, who allegedly spilled some beans on Lucas’ plan for the sequel trilogy, and then later a clarification from Iain about what was meant.
Davestrrr: This one has a lot of detail. The most shocking piece was that about Qui-Gon and Shmi Skywalker possibly having a brief relationship, with the implication of other Skywalkers being born. Heavy in there is the idea that Rey may have been considered in these very early ideas on Episode VII to be a descendent of this Shmi-QuiGon line. Very intriguing, but with the clarification being so vague, we don’t know how much of this was real. Furthermore, we don’t know how much if any of these ideas made it into the Disney-backed concept for the sequel trilogy.
Mazlow01: I there was somethinglost in translation as it were. If Qui-Gon and Shmi had a kid WOULDN’T have been around when Anakin and Padme showed up in AOTC? And the Prequel ban was shot down by Pablo.
3. In case you missed them, EW released some Hi-res versions of the Rogue One photos.
Davestrrr: Nice shots of these characters. No new content here because we got these images already, but still worth mentioning.
Mazlow01: I love hi res shots… it was time for a new background on my computer anyway
4. There was a convincing argument by Storm Trooper Larry on the “Raven” ship in Rogue One leaked recently on MSW. Larry goes to lengths to argue that the “Raven Deluxe” is a TIE Striker.
Davestrrr: I think it’s a good call. I think “Raven Deluxe” is a cool name, and I’d actually love to hear it on film. “Commander! Send out the Raven Deluxe.” or something in a key space-battle scene would be pretty awesome.
Mazlow01: That’d be cool but my gut says raven deluxe was just a code name
5. Daisy Ridley has just shared a photo from the Episode VIII filming.
Davestrrr: No sign of any costumes there, but the view is spectacular. I love the idea of the sun setting over that water, and I hope that gets in the film somehow. The way this looks like it’s filming down a cliff makes me think of the fight between Luke, Rey, and the Knights of Ren.
Mazlow01: I see this as a last shot idea… Her and Luke back on Ahch-To doing their last bit of training before confronting Snoke and Kylo in Episode IX.