WE MAY HAVE to wait a
little bit longer for Star Wars: Episode VIII—last month Disney pushed the
release date from next spring to December 2017—but that delay only means we’ll
have more time to snap up every piece of footage and news Lucasfilm releases. Today’s
tidbit? Episode VIII, which is being directed by Rian Johnson, has added
Benicio Del Toro, Laura Dern, and newcomer Kelly Marie Tran to its cast in
as-yet-unknown parts. Del Toro most recently appeared in Denis Villeneuve’s
drug-war drama Sicario and also played The Collector in James Gunn’s Guardians
of the Galaxy. Dern’s recent highlights include Wild and Mike White’s
short-lived but much-beloved HBO series Enlightened. The returning cast also
lists Gwendoline Christie and Lupita Nyong’o, so fans of their characters from
The Force Awakens need not worry about their uncertain fates. Along with the
casting announcement, Lucasfilm also released a short clip teasing the start of
filming for Episode VIII. In the new footage, we see that the first day on set
involved shooting scenes that happened right after the closing moments of J.J.
Abrams’ The Force Awakens. (Spoiler alert!) It also has an updated, spaced-out
version of a very familiar John Williams theme song, which might be the coolest
part. Check it out below.
