Director Rian Johnson Talks 'Episode 8', Still Won't Reveal the Actual Title
10 January 2017



If there was just a new Rian Johnson movie coming out in less than twelve months, I'd be on pins and needles. But we're getting a Star Wars movie directed by Rian Johnson and there are few things as promising as that combination of nouns. But as is the norm with any new Star Wars movie, every detail about 'Star Wars: Episode 8' is currently under lock and key…which means that this interview with Johnson features him merely hinting at what we can expect to see from upcoming sequel. Which totally has a title, by the way. He just won't tell us.

The interview is with USA Today and it serves as a follow-up to their precious discussion about the film's plot. The headline-friendly tidbit here is that Episode 8 has had a title since since the first draft of the screenplay and that he just hasn't been allowed to share it yet, but there's so much more to sink our teeth into. Like Johnson talking about making sure his Star Wars movie is fun:

"The creative work has felt like play. It's felt resonant and meaningful because it meant so much to me as a kid… I want ['Episode VIII'] to be a blast and to be funny and to be a ride the way The Force Awakens and the original Star Wars movies were."

Previous reports have suggested that Episode 8 will be a darker movie than its predecessor, which makes sense. The middle chapter of any trilogy tends to involve the lead characters being tossed in a deep, dangerous pit without any obvious hope of escape. While The Empire Strikes Back is the go-to example of the “dark” sequel, it manages to blend those harsher elements with a genuine sense of adventure. It's a tricky balance, but one that I expect the director of Brick and Looper to understand.

Speaking of tossing characters into deep, dangerous pits, Johnson also spoke about further exploring the characters introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens by pushing them to their limits:

"I wanted to know more about each of them, and that doesn't just mean information or backstory… Figure out what's the most difficult thing each of them could be challenged with now — let's throw that at them and dig into what really makes them tick by seeing how they handle that."

But of course, Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker, now a hermit living on the isolated planet of Ahch-to, will play a major role alongside those youngsters:

"[Luke's story is the] emotional entry point [of the movie]. I'm approaching [his story] with a take that I hope feels honest and real and is going to be interesting to folks and make sense."

This is the portion of the film I can't help but be most curious about. The original trilogy tracked Luke's rise from simple farm boy to Jedi Knight, a hero's journey that concluded with him at the height of his powers. And then, everything fell apart. His chief student turned on him. His new Jedi school was destroyed. Rather than stick around and try to pick up the pieces, our hero fled to live in isolation. That's not what we'd expect the Luke we saw in the original trilogy to do and I'm eager to see the fallout of the past 30 years has changed him.

http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-epis ... -and-more/

Sood we will get the trailer or maybe at Celebration who knows. Oh and cast confirmed - Woody Harrelson i Han Solo spin off movie.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

Mediocre title and also there is a book in star wars universe with the same title. Whatever, hope this episode will be much better than weak The Force Awakens.

Already posted.

International Titles Confirm 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Is Plural
17 February 2017



The initial reaction to the news that Rian Johnson‘s upcoming Star Wars movie would be titled 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' went something like this: “Ooh. That’s a cool title! But what does it mean? Who is the last Jedi? Is it Luke? Is it Rey? Wait…the plural form of Jedi is Jedi, so maybe it’s referring to both of them? Well, I guess we’re going to have to wait until the official international translations arrive, which should shed some light on this English language predicament!”

And here we are: the international translations have arrived and 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' is plural, meaning that the title is in reference to more than one Jedi Knight.

This sheds just a little more light on what 'The Last Jedi' will actually be about. After all, Yoda noted that Luke would be the last Jedi on his deathbed in 'Return of the Jedi' and the opening crawl to 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' directly referred to the exiled son of Anakin Skywalker as "the last Jedi". However, the confirmation that this is plural rather than singular makes it clear that Luke is not the final Jedi in existence – he is one of the few final Jedi in existence, which is a far more hopeful reading of that title. Plus, it confirms that Rey’s Force abilities are no fluke and that she’s being counted amongst those few.

http://www.slashfilm.com/the-last-jedi-plural-title/

'The Last Jedi' Trailer Feels Like the New 'Empire Strikes Back'. Hell Yeah
14 April 2017



We've always kind of known where the modern Star Wars movies were heading: When George Lucas launched the prequel trilogy with 1999's 'The Phantom Menace', viewers were well aware that it would include Anakin Skywalker's turn to the dark side and Luke and Leia's birth (though none of us could have predicted its forceful anti-sand message). Before 'The Force Awakens' was released in 2015, it was clear that the new trilogy would be an inter-generational hand-off from the original 'Star Wars' team to the young Jakku-cuties taking their lead. Many even guessed, rightfully so, that Han Solo wasn't going to make it to 'Episode VIII'. And now, with the premiere of the first trailer for 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi', we have a good idea where director Rian Johnson is taking us: Straight to the dark side—and right on schedule.

Take another look at that Jedi trailer, if you haven't watched it a hundred times already. There's plenty of thrilling Star Wars imagery to be found—are those AT-ATs looming in the far distance?—but what's perhaps most notable is that no one is having any fun. Rey (Daisy Ridley) is trying to learn the Force from a cranky, Hoth-cold Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who tells her, "I only know one truth: It's time for the Jedi to end." (When Luke is brooding, you know things are bad.) Meanwhile, Finn (John Boyega) looks like he's being carted around in some sort of portable medical-sarcophagus; Poe (Oscar Isaac) is watching his X-Wing get nearly blown up; and Kylo Ren's helmet appears to have been smashed in some sort of Sith-show hissy-fit. There's no Chewbacca laughing it up, no BB-8-provided comic relief, and nary a "Yippee!" to be heard.

All of which makes sense. Because if 'The Force Awakens' was a nearly beat-by-beat refashioning of 1977's 'A New Hope', it was inevitable that 'The Last Jedi' would be the spiritual heir to 1980's 'The Empire Strikes Back'. That movie jettisoned 'A New Hope's scrappy buoyancy, replacing it with a vibe best described as "space-malaise": Luke lost his hand; Han was frozen and carted away; Darth Vader sprained his finger from too many Force-chokes. The movie ends with one hero psychologically and physically imperiled, another possibly dead, and everyone barely managing to smile.

Yet, fans widely consider 'Empire' to be the best Star Wars movie ever made—especially older fans, who can remember those periods in the late '80s and early '90s when Star Wars wasn't exactly taken too seriously. Back then, the franchise had lost some luster, having subjected loyalists to a pair of lame Ewok TV movies and some increasingly crummy toys; Star Wars was stuck in a kiddie-friendly past, leaving some of us a little Yub-numb to its charms. But 'Empire' gave the franchise an infusion of cinematic street cred. The fans who felt they'd grown past the films, and even the naysayers who never liked them in the first place, had to admit that 'Episode V' was nonetheless still something special: A gloomy yet crackling bit of post-'70s funk—the depressive kind of funk, not the Max Rebo kind—that both deepened and threatened the characters' relationships from the first film. It forced you to take Star Wars seriously, even if you didn't want to.

Star Wars has never been afraid to be bleak, and while the wide-eyed fun that powered 'The Force Awakens' was needed to jump-start the saga, it would be exhausting to maintain that sort of "Yay, we're in Star Wars!" brightness for 'Episode VIII'. That's why Johnson's hiring inspired so much glee among fans. Here was a guy whose most recent work was the smart, stoic time-travel drama 'Looper', and several haunting 'Breaking Bad' episodes. He knows how to balance the light side and the dark, but to let the dark win out by just a little bit. And that tension is just what 'The Last Jedi' requires—not only to be the depressed middle-child in a new Star Wars trilogy (one which, we're calling it now, will end with a Return of the Jedi-shaped dose of relief courtesy of director Colin Trevorrow), but to be a satisfying bit of drama in its own right. So far, the movie looks like a total downer. And that alone is impressive…most impressive.

https://www.wired.com/2017/04/star-wars ... ii-empire/

Last Jedi director Rian Johnson will be helming a new Star Wars trilogy and will direct the first movie for it.

There will also be a live action TV series for Disney's new streaming service.

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/news/9 ... rs-trilogy

http://www.nme.com/news/film/star-wars- ... es-2158095

Lucasfilm begin filming new Obi-Wan Kenobi film trilogy in 2019
http://www.nme.com/news/film/lucasfilm- ... 19-2170375