Episode VIII finished principle shooting in July and has moved into post production and editing. This is the time frame that led to many of the leaks from TFA and we are expecting more. However we have gotten a few already, seems like more than we have on Rogue One, and today we’re going to explore those. Potential Spoilers ahead.
Based on what we have seen so far, I am expecting three different story lines for our protagonists. One following Luke and Rey, one for Leia and Poe, and one with Finn and our new character played by Kelly Marie Tran. Our antagonists will likely have two story lines, Kylo Ren/the Knights of Ren and the second Phasma/Hux/Benicio Del Toro’s character both intersecting with Snoke and our protagonists of course. Presumably, there will also be interaction between Snoke and Kylo Ren of some kind.
Luke and Rey
We know that when we first see Luke and Rey it will pick up right where they left off at the end of TFA, Rey holding out the Skywalker lightsaber to Luke. We can’t be certain as to what they will say exactly but it will basically follow a structure of “I want to learn the Force”-Rey, “I will Teach you”- Luke with perhaps some hesitation mixed in. Based on the set photos we know that Chewie, R2 and the Falcon stick around too. There will be multiple training scenes with Luke and Rey with Yoda quite possibly showing up to no doubt impart some wisdom on Luke, Rey, or both. Luke will spend at least some time Meditating, likely about either a vision of Rey’s, what is going on in the Galaxy, or the most likely scenario is the Forceback that Rey experiences in Episode VIII. The Force-back shows the slaughter at Luke’s Jedi academy and will perhaps tell us more about how and why it happened.
Obviously Luke and Rey can’t stay on Ahch-To for the entire movie and I suspect the attack by Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren are why they leave. The attack starts with the Knight and Kylo landing seperately and Kylo crashing. They will then attack Luke and Rey. Luke will methodically work his way through the Knights of Ren dispatching them with relative ease. Meanwhile Kylo looking for revenge after his defeat on Starkiller and he gets it by defeating her and knocking her off a cliff. Obviously she doesn’t die but is injured in some way. Kylo retreats after seeing Luke has wrecked his group. Apparently Chewie is also involved in the fight, which makes sense since he is there and he more than willing to mix it up with anyone. Maybe we’ll finally see him rip someone’s arm off? A boy can dream.
The only other reports regarding Luke and or Rey involve the casino scene. It appears Luke shows up looking for someone, perhaps he and Rey are trying to find Finn? This kind of scene would make sense to see Lando in, but he at least has said that he will not be in the movie.
Leia and Poe
Leia and Poe’s action will be centered around the remnants of the Resistance and Republic attempting to work together based on the reports. Their main adversary(Besides the First Order) is apparently Laura Dern’s character who we don’t have a name for but is a Republic leader. Based on the fact the Rian had input on the book Bloodline we can assume the conflict is around Leia’s former political party the Populists and Laura Dern’s character being the opposition Centrist. Leia will be out of commission for a majority of the movie after an attack where she saves herself by using the Force. Laura Dern’s character takes control for a time but Poe eventually realizes she is doing more harm than good and takes over.
Finn
So far there isn’t much on what Finn is up to. We know he’ll likely be in the Casino scene and he spends a good portion of his time with the new character portrayed by Kelly Marie Tran. The only other information we have places him at an attack by the Resistance on a First Order ship.
Snoke and the rest of the First Order
What do we know? Nothing. Besides the little bit involving the Knights of Ren and Kylo we really don’t have any leaks yet.
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