The Star Wars saga, while all connected and designed to tell a sprawling story, have a certain way of weaving the various episodes together. Thus far, there have been seven films detailing the tale of Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, and the menagerie of characters fighting on the sides of light and dark. From one movie to the next, however, the filmmakers always built in a certain amount of lapsed time–days, months, years on occasion–from the end of one episode to the beginning of the next.
However, with Episode VIII, due out next in December of 2017, that tradition looks to be swept to the outer edges of the film galaxy. During the big ol’ Star Wars celebration this past weekend in London, it was confirmed that Episode VIII will pick up right where VII left off, with Rey tentatively reaching Luke’s lightsaber to a weathered and grizzled Luke Skywalker.
Luke and Rey
While this might not give us insight into any details concerning story–movie goers had to have assumed that there would be some resolution to the Rey/Luke meeting in the new chapter–it is interesting in how it breaks tradition with the other seven installments of the Star Wars epic. It’s heartening to know that director Rian Johnson and his team aren’t allowing themselves to be stifled by “how it’s been done before” if it gets in the way of how they want to tell their story.
Star Wars: Episode VIII hits theaters on December 15, 2017.