‘Star Wars: Episode VIII’ News Round-Up; Casting Update and Production Starts

Sep 16, 2015

A couple of stories concerning Rain Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII have made their way online and here’s a run down of them put neatly into one single article.

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First up, Olivia Cooke is now out of the running as one of three actresses up for a role in Episode VIII, that would see them having screen time opposite John Boyega’s Finn. Cooke reportedly has instead taken a lead role in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, removing herself out of contention entirely.

It had been said that the actresses were testing for chemstriy with Boyega, what that means is really up to you to figure out. It’s possible it’s a love-interest, or that this character will have a bulk of their scenes alongside him, a new jedi perhaps?

There is still a bit of speculation if Daisy Ridley’s Rey is indeed the daughter of Han Solo and Leia, and if it’s not the case than it’s extremely possible this new female role in the eighth film very well could be.

Whatever the role turns out to be, Gina Rodriguez and Tatiana Maslany are still in the running for it. You might remember that Tatiana lost out the lead role in Rogue One to Felicity Jones, it’s possible her return to casting talks that suggests she is wanted badly by Lucasfilm and could be the frontrunner.

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In scarier news, production was rumored to have had to be halted on the first day of production of Episode VIII, as Mark Hamill almost took a tumble off a cliff on Skelllig Michael in Ireland while shooting scenes as Luke Skywalker. Slightly more shocking than the broken leg Harrison sustained during the shoot of The Force Awakens.

 

 

 

However, this was quickly debunked by Hamill himself, and bad weather/rough water surrounding the island was really the reason for the production delay, as reported by the Irish Times. The location has long been suspected as the shooting location of Luke Skywalker’s refuge, possibly an abandoned jedi temple.

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Lastly, actor Benicio Del Toro, who had recently confirmed his role in Episode VIII, has now given a bit of hint of what his character might be in the film, and it looks like he might not be playing a villain after all. Speaking to the CBC while in Toronto to promote Sicario at TIFF, the actor says he’s not sure if his Star Wars character is even a villain.

So, production is underway, casting is heating-up and we still don’t know for sure who/what Benicio Del Toro is playing in the film, even though my wish is that he’d play a cinematic version of General Thrawn, who knows right?

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