When Does Star Wars Episode 8 Come Out?

Does it seem a little greedy to leave Star Wars: The Force Awakens and already be looking forward to the next one? Maybe a little, especially since we’ve managed to wait so long for a movie to live up to the bar set by the original trilogy. Sorry prequel fans, just my opinion there.

Yet it’s precisely because of the quality of The Force Awakens that we’re already licking our lips to head back to a galaxy far, far away. And while we’ll have plenty of time to massage our bold predictions for Star Wars: Episode VII, the good news is that it will be less than the three-year gap between films that took place during the original and prequel trilogies this time around.

Indeed, there’s less than 18 months to go, because Star Wars Episode 8 will arrive in theaters on May 26, 2017. The film is already in pre-production, the script by writer and director Rian Johnson is supposedly complete, and filming will take place sometime in 2016.

The twist this time is that Episode VIII won’t actually be the next Star Wars movie. We explain that more right here, but suffice it to say that because Disney’s plans for the franchise involve more than just the main films, there’s going to be something set in this universe in theaters every year until fans finally get sick of them or the sun goes nova and engulfs the Earth, whichever comes first.

Next: When Can I Rent Star Wars: The Force Awakens?

I’m going to look on the bright side and assume Disney will never give us too much of a good thing. Regardless, the quick turnaround after The Force Awakens is a good thing since we just got the most obvious “To be continued …” since the end of Back to the Future. Anything longer than 18 months would have been cruel, and it’s nice to know the plan isn’t to torture anxious fans for too long.