SPECULATION Sand Planet - Confirmed to be "Jakku"

So, just to be clear, trusted source or not, that is still just their opinion, right...?
What I mean is, they haven't refered to anything specific that led them to this conclusion?

Totally playing devil's advocate here - but one reason may be because it is necessary the audience believe it could be Tatooine, for it later to be revealed it is not...

And, continuing to play devil's advocate (just to make that clear) but you have to think of this in filmmaking terms, not just Star Wars terms.
The Hoth idea is intriguing, but isn't that because we are sat here trying to make sense of lots of little pockets of evidence?
Downed At-Ats. A "Wampa" saber code name. Descriptions of artwork with Taun-Taun skulls. Scenes set on an ice planet being consolidated into the opening act now seemingly taking place on a desert planet - Isn't all that knowledge and previous speculation what makes the Hoth thing subconsciously "appealing"?

Because you have got to forget we know about all that stuff, and look at it from the filmmaker's point of view, who presumes we are going to be watching this film with no prior knowledge, except for the existing six movies...
On those terms, "Hoth just thawed out" is not an option, is it? You'd have to have a reason to even think of something like that, instead of just coming up with a new planet. It would have to be important to the story that it was Hoth, and something important to the story would have to have happened for it to now be a desert. Otherwise, what is the point?
People's preconception is Hoth = ice planet. Tatooine = desert planet. You have to be messing with those preconceptions intentionally in such a big way for a reason.
There would have to be a reveal for the audience, you can't just say "meanwhile down on Hoth" in the opening crawl then cut to the desert. It needs explaining, and therefore it would have to be a pretty darn important plot point, IMHO. Because it is kind of getting in the way of your opening action, that this needs justifying.
And whatever that plot point is - some cosmic natural disaster, the Empire did it, the Force did it, global warming - you then have to make it seem logical that the planet would be inhabited with a load of beat up, weathered Tatooine-style inhabitants, dwellings etc within the space of - what - less than 40 years?

It just doesn't quite stack up for me, as interesting as the idea is on the surface. Why jump through hoops to set something like this up, just to leave the planet behind after the first act?
And good lord, please don't tell me we are in an alternative universe here somehow... where Hoth is, and always has been, a desert...

The flip side of the coin is - why the hell would there be wrecked At-Ats and TIEs on Tatooine? They had no interest in Tatooine, except for that time they lost the plans to the Death Star and a droid with those plans hidden in it was down their briefly.
That would need justifying as a plot point too, IMHO, based on our knowledge of Tatooine from the previous films.

So, for me, the reason there might be a planet that is very similar to Tatooine, that is not Tatooine might simply be something less well defined on the part of the filmmakers:
1) We are trying to avoid the idea that everything important is tied to one planet. Anakin grew up there, Luke grew up there, Han was imprisoned there by Jabba - let's not give the fans that stick to beat us with. We know that was a complaint about the prequels. We'll not go to Tatooine.
2) Using an alternative desert planet, however, puts us in familiar territory to kick off the new trilogy. We don't have to go back there again later, but as the opening location of this trilogy it gives us an opportunity to riff off some of the visual motifs from the previous films, make the audience feel at home in the galaxy far, far away before we head off into something "new".
3) It also gives us a chance to subvert a few preconceptions. About the desert planet. About the characters. As well as reinforcing what came before to make the average fan comfortable, using a desert planet again gives us the chance to flip a few situations and expectations on their head maybe...

Just my two cents.

 

Maybe it's Dantooine then, I could it not be Tatooine.

 

If there remains a sizeable number of wrecked and rusting Imperial vehicles on this desert planet, they tell us this world was once important in the Galactic Civil War which Tatooine has never markedly been. Intense ground and air battles were fought and the local Imperials defeated - they didn't try to reclaim any of their damaged technologies.

In the TFA time, this planet would likely have a reputation for infamy and embarassment fior the Empire and so it would most fervently strive to ensure any further missions there would be deftly met and successfully completed, with extreme predujice towards the natives?

 

Dantooine has lots of grasslands. People think the Greenham Common set could be Dantooine.

 

Perhaps it's Lothal. Everything seems to happen in Lothal as of lately

 

After Jabba was killed, the Empire probably sent a portion of the fleet to take control of the territory. This fleet was probably still there when the second Death Star blew up. Over the next X years there were probably many battles between the remnant and the new republic for this valuable territory, which would explain all the AT-AT wreckage.

 

Though there was no substantial battle there in Episode I and yet it says "Tatooine (Episode I)" as a playable map. It may be that a lot of the movie takes place on Tatooine in TFA.

Also you could be correct. Just throwing my two cents

That is very true. I'm excited to hopefully play with the AT-AT's on planets other than Hoth.

 

Tatooine was never valuable... If there was a bright shining center of the galaxy, it was the star system furthest from it. It was outside of Imperial jurisdiction, so lawless that the Hutts could be there comfortably.

Now, I can see the remnant forces trying to jump in on the illegal cartel after the fall, when they were basically pirates themselves...

 

Jabba's operation is what I meant, but yeah, I should've been more specific. Thanks for the clarification.

 

I think that Tatooine has always made the most sense for the desert planet and I think this info just moves us a little closer to confirming that it is. I never really bought into the argument against Tatooine about there not being two Suns in the trailer. Disney also produced the inside The Force Awakens Trailer where the Kirby Buckets kid asks if we recognize the sand planet as they showed the clip. At this point I can't really see it not being Tatooine unless there are two desert planets which I doubt. Jason Ward says this in the article


Tatooine: EP7

• Now, I know that’s not concrete evidence that the desert planet from The Force Awakens is Tatooine, but I thought it was interesting because I know there was been some debate about that subject.

I find this interesting because he was one of the main proponents of the it's not Tatooine crowd. He went as far as saying here in the Cantina that he was 99.9% sure it was not Tatooine. I know he got a little upset on in the past so I don't know if he will be posting on these forums anymore but I would be interested to get his opinion now given all the information he has and continues to accumulate.

 

It's obvious it is Tatooine Finn is seen on, the stormtrooper never liked the hot two suns melting their armour so it has to be..

 

I will add one more notch for Tatooine on the wall by saying the stuff they had planned for the Jordan shooting didn't look like Tatooine. But the Abu Dhabi stuff does.

I'm still not convinced one way or the other. Good sources say no.

 

And there is the thing with the trailer... and the one sun... could there be TWO desert planets? Wouldn't that be a hoot... we keep cutting from one group to the other, thinking they are on the same planet because it was of the sand... only to find out they are on different planets...

 

Concept art for the planet only ever has two moons. So I will say, if it ends up being Tat, it wasn't always Tat.

 

I'm gonna have to agree with that... but... we have a pile of evidence saying it is Tatooine... and a pile of evidence saying it absolutely isn't...

 

Its kind of annoying its even a thing if it ends up being Tat.

 

Tatooine has always been pivotal in the SW films... but it was never important within the films, if you get my meaning. It's while importance was that it was unimportant... a backwater hole in the wall. That's what made it a good hiding place for Luke... that's what made it a good base for Jabba...

So, why would a backwater pissant nothing of a planet suddenly be important enough for Imperials to fight over it hard enough that wrecked AT-ATs are available for lodging?

Exactly... what is there to fight over there...

Unless... unless... Luke returned home to start the Jedi academy... and it got attacked... something like that