RUMOR General Star Wars: The Last Jedi News & Rumors Thread

At this point two years ago, we knew FAR more about TFA than we do about Episode VIII, both officially and unofficially. No leaked concept art, no TMZ photos, no MSW shooting schedules (or whatever he had), no nothing. All we have are some blurry shots of on-location filming, and we know what Rian Johnson said about the very beginning (which I don't know if you care to know about). Otherwise, whatever rumors are out there aren't really based on anything.

In other words, welcome back. You haven't missed much.

 

On the eve of Rogue One's premiere there was an interesting little tidbit that intrigued me in the Star Wars films timeline video (see the timeline graph he shows in the video that clearly shows a link between R1 and VIII) made by EW writer ANTHONY BREZNICAN that basically directly alludes that something from Rogue One will connect with Episode VIII.
Gareth Edwards has also said (thus confirming) that something from Rogue One will reappear in future SW contents.

Now that I have seen Rogue One (twice so far) I think there are 3 possible things from R1 that might actually reappear and tie with VIII.

(As this is mainly the VIII spoiler thread I put things in a spoiler tag as my post and speculations contain spoilers for Rogue One as well...)

Spoiler: Spoilers for Rogue One and possible connection with EP VIII - speculation

1) Vader's castle on Mustafar.

A good informative post summarising the info about Vader's castle on Mustafar can be found here and is very worthwhile taking a look at.

This seems like a very possible location that might be revisited in VIII (and/or IX). It is a crucial place that would tie this ST with the PT and the crucial events that led to Anakin becoming Vader. And if my speculation that Rey is somehow a Kenobi descendant, the place will have a lot of meaning not just to Kylo/Ben as Vader's grandson, but also for Rey. It is not a coincidence that the snow duel between the new young characters on Starkiller basically mirrors to a great extend the duel on Mustafar between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Visual parallels about it can be found here.

2) The planet Jedha, the Whills and the Guardians of the Whills

The Force Awakens novelization begins with a very interesting poem which is said to come from the Journal of the Whills.

First comes the day
Then comes the night.
After the darkness
Shines through the light.
The difference, they say,
Is only made right
By the resolving of gray
Through refined Jedi sight.

- Journal of the Whills 7:477
​

A bit of new Force lore seems to be introduced with Rogue One - the planet Jedha, the Guardians of the Whills and the temples there, and it seems that TPTB might have used R1 to set up the stage and left some hints for more new Force-related lore to come in the main saga trilogy.

Thus the re-emergence of Jedha and/or the Whills and/or the Guardians of the Whills in the main saga (in VIII) seems actually very possible.

3) The (creepy) Force sensitive tentacle creature used by Saw Gerrera on Bodhi Rook (on Jedha) in R1

When I saw that creature in Rogue One I immediately made an association with a mysterious leaked (blurry) photo of something that looked like a creature from the Ireland shoot. For some reason I have a hunch that the creature might have been deliberately put in Rogue One (to be established as existing) and might possibly reappear in the saga trilogy (specifically EP. VIII)...




Since that photo is super blurry so it is hard to tell, and that's just pure speculation on my part, but the blob kind of body from the Ireland leaked photos is really reminiscent of R1's monster IMO.

 

next few weeks, msw should be releasing more info. He's been holding back due to RO.

 

I hope you guys weren't serious... that thing was an absolutely unmitigated disaster. It started off somewhat plausible until you realized the author didn't know that OT era stormtroopers were not clones. And it only got worse and worse from there. Lando professing his love for Leia and her replying with "I know"? Puh-leeze. I can't even tell what the hell that ending was supposed to be...

Absolutely. I can't believe I wasted more than 3 minutes of my life reading that thing. Just disappointed in myself.

 

There is a difference between something that is so bad that it has comical value and something that tries to pass itself off as legitimate, but fails miserably the further you get into it. I at least didn't have to read more than one page in to your more recent suggested reading (this) to recognize the difference ("Are you feeling better Kylo Ren?" "Yes, I am no longer in as much pain." "You will be in much pain when Snoke sees you." That's just funny shiznit right there...)

 

That was amazing!!


Ok maybe not...

But seriously though, first off, hats off to RJ for writing that. That's Ralph James not Ryan Johnson. Funny that isn't it? the initials...anyways he still wrote a 2h15 minute film in great detail where not much was missing from visualizing it correctly.

These characters were right on the nose, and played true. Lando, Leia, Luke, Poe, Finn, Kylo and perhaps Snoke.

The characters that needed continuity and weren't as true to character were C3PO, especially in the beginning and Rey somewhat.

I enjoyed the attention to details and for the most part visualized what this film could of been like. The casino scene would never have passed the Disney sensors.

Enjoyed the Luke- Kylo face offs, well set-up and had believable continuity. The Knights of Ren were a nice surprise in the way they were unfolded as well.

The Lando thing was a little much, the action scenes were well developed, the Resistance-New Republic angle was well played, the flash backs were somewhat overplayed.

If you are not a bitter, I-know-how-the-next-star-wars-should-play-out type of person, give it a read. I for the most part enjoyed the fan-fic. Especially since I know the person worked very hard on this, and deserves the respect owed just for doing that.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 20, 2016, Original Post Date: Dec 20, 2016 ---

Just jumping in here, I don't think Ralph James (probably not the real name) was trying to pass that script off as legitimate.

I just saw someone that had a lot of passion, was knowledgeable for the most part about the characters, and situations he was writing up and gave it a go. Like I said well done mate.

Hats off.

 

No question this must have been a time consuming project and I can respect that.

Fair enough.

Perhaps I was bit too harsh, as I assumed that this was an effort to pass off as a legitimate script leak (right down to the coffee stained pages)... but I would say that my opinion remains that while it started off "strong" enough to draw you in, it became laughable by the time you reached the end. There is a reason that professionals write stories and screenplays, but I will grant you that the individual who wrote this deserves respect for the amount of time and effort it obviously took...

 

I think I remember people were just speculating that it happens early on in the film because they didn't like the idea of Luke and Rey being on Ahch-To the entire movie. Sure sounds like a climax to me though.

 

When jedi recite that poem, do they receive a green rings and a suit? Do Jedi have specific sectors they police? .




(Green Lantern Reference)

 

anyone else got a sneaking suspicion that Rian will announce the title online on Feb 15th to commemorate the beginning of filming?

 

Wow! Some people have far too much spare time on their hands! An interesting read for the most part, but please bear in mind when reading these scripts that professional screen writers know the difference between 'of' and 'off'.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 20, 2016, Original Post Date: Dec 20, 2016 ---

I suspect not, but you never know. Possibly a teaser trailer and a title in Feb followed by another 'sizzle reel' at Celebration in April.

 

At this point it seems pretty clear that they'll follow what they did this year. I think I remember the Rogue One teaser announcement coming the day after TFA came out on BluRay, so I imagine they'll wait until RO hits home video before the Ep VIII hype train starts. Now, who wants to bet that the RO BluRay hits the same week as Celebration Orlando?

 

Worthwhile read:
Kathleen Kennedy made your favourite childhood films. Now she's reinventing Star Wars
http://www.wired.co.uk/article/tastemakers-kathleen-kennedy-star-wars

Pertinent excerpts:
"You can recognise when a film-maker really, really cares about what they're doing," says Kennedy. "I felt that about Colin. Rian's an unbelievably smart, fascinating film-maker, and he's done a beautiful job on Episode VIII. He's introduced some new things and new ideas. That's what I want. That's what is exciting about bringing in this new variety of talent - you always want to be surprised."
....
"What has been so wonderful about Kathy is there was a real creative freedom from the start," says Johnson. "She gave me a script for The Force Awakens and then sat down and said, 'So what happens next?' That was the last thing I was expecting."

My favourite statement/quote from this article is this one:
"Not every Star Wars story should be told, and not every gap should be filled. Star Wars is full of ellipses" (Kiri Hart, Lucasfilm’s vice president)

From what I see on many of the threads is the demand of not a few fans to know minute details about everything and have things immediately explained. I don't believe that's necessary and I'm always puzzled by such demands. The OT is a strong example how many things are just mentioned in passing but not elaborated upon (such as what Obi-Wan told Luke) and in fact such details are not crucial for the story at hand. They may or may not be revisited at a later time (as was the case with Obi-Wan's mention of the Clone Wars in ANH) or not. Some details are simply not crucial to the story at hand.

 

"The Eclipse was Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine's own Super Star Destroyer.

By the time immediately preceding the Battle of Jakku, it had been reported as destroyed, but had, in fact, disappeared"

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Eclipse_(Super_Star_Destroyer)

I think in Episode 8 Snoke will be in the Eclipse, we know from the Visual Dictionary of TFA that Snoke is in "a mobile base" and the ship was introduced in the canon in Aftermath Life Debt and has strangely "disappeared".

+

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gallius_Rax

The Admiral Gallius Rax from Aftermath Life Debt is rumored to be Snoke, and Rax controls the remnants of the Imperial Navy just before the battle of Jakku.

 

Supposing the information we've been given is correct, Snoke cannot be Admiral Rax. Rax is human and Snoke an "humanoid alien", apparently.

 

Gallius Rax/Snoke could be a Near-human:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Near-Human

There's too many strange things with Gallius Rax, read his Wookipedia page, he's an orphan from Jakku, juste like Rey, he has pale skin and was "discovered" by Palpatine on Jakku at a young age and took him on as a protégé "Palpatine stated that they would be on a first-name basis, introducing himself as Sheev, and stating that "an Emperor must have friends, after all", he was commander in the Empire at age 20 "this ranking was considered by many to be abnormally high, considering his lack of history with the Imperial Military", he received a lot of medals and the Emperor's Will "the information concerning the reason he was awarded the medals, or when, remained unlisted in Imperial records well into 5 ABY", after the Battle of Endor he created a Shadow Council with commandant Brendol Hux, the father of General Hux from TFA, and "Rax set to work on building a stronger, more efficient Empire" and proclaimed himself "Counselor to the Empire, De facto leader of the Galactic Empire at large".

and there is one line in the book that implies subtly that Rax may be force sensitive:

Palpatine to Rax:

The boy swallows hard, then stands up and steps out from between the boxes. The voice beckons him: “Come.”
It is a summoning. And in that single word is more than just a request— it has gravity to it. Like it’s pulling him willfully closer.
The boy resists it. He plants his feet and presses his knees hard against the steel floor of the ship. Galli tightens his jaw.
The man makes a sound: a grunt of what may be amusement.