Right after the success of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" a.k.a. "Star Wars: Episode VII," the stars and crew of the next episode did not waste much time and started production immediately. Now, several rumors are circulating on the Web on who's who and what's next on the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VIII" movie.
MakingStarWars reported that the upcoming movie has a casino scene where Luke Skywalker seems to be looking for somebody. The said scene contains a lot of different aliens and is said to be bigger than the bar scene in "Star Wars: A New Hope." It is not yet confirmed if this is being shot in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Another portion of the movie that was reportedly finished last week is a shot of an evacuation sequence with Laura Dern of "Jurassic Park" and Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron). It was also said to have involved a lot of extras evacuating to smaller size-ships.
Another report, also from MakingStarWars, stated that they were able to have a preview of Poe's resistance costume, which has an appearance very similar to the an early scene in "Episode VII." Poe wears a different-colored V-neck undershirt, and a newer piece of the Han Solo collection jacket.
It added that Dern is a Resistance leader. General Leia's ship gets ambushed and she ends up in a coma. Dern's character takes the position abandoned by Leia. However, the situation with the resistance gets worse after the unplanned change in leadership and Poe is said to take control of the group, making him a provisional leader.
ScreenRant added that it will be interesting to know who is behind the ambush on General Leia, considering that the Resistance is not directly sanctioned by the New Republic, who also signed a treaty with the First Order. A possible theory is that Dern's character may be a part of some political scheme to destroy the Resistance. It is also possible that Dern's character is a pawn of Supreme Leader Snoke.
io9 reported that according to a source, Han Solo will be back in both "Episode VIII" and "Episode IX" as a Force Ghost. However, the report also stated that this may not really happen because only those who are strong in the Force could become Force Ghosts.
"Star Wars: Episode VIII" is scheduled to be released on Dec. 15, 2017.
