Star Wars VIII Filming Begins in Dubrovnik

With roads closed and tight security, filming in the old city of Dubrovnik has begun for Star Wars VIII.

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With Game of Thrones all but having abandoned the Old City of Dubrovnik in Croatia for Spanish locations, room has been left in the town formerly known as the stand in for King’s Landing to start appearing in other franchises. Like actors crossing over from one big franchise to another, the city of Dubrovnik is beside itself that it will appear on screen now in two of the biggest franchises of the second decade of the 21st century.

As filming for the next installment of the Star Wars trilogy commenced yesterday, the Dubrovnik Times was on scene to realize that Disney’s security forces were about to put HBO’s attempts at spoiler hiding for Thrones to shame.

At around 6 o’clock in the afternoon the main street of the old city was closed to the public, large panels were placed to keep away prowling camera lenses and hundreds of security guards blocked all side streets to the set. Dubrovnik’s position, front and centre, in the latest episode of Star Wars had begun.

So what was there to be heard, since clearly everyone was being told “nothing to see here”?

Filming for the VIII episode went on long into the early morning hours and crashes, bangs and high speed noises could be heard coming from the set. It is believed that last night and tonight will be a rehearsal for the main filming, the cast are rumoured to be arriving on set on the 12th of March.

Filming may be on lockdown, but anyone who has covered Game of Thrones will tell you, when the big names arrive, so do the fans at the tops of the city walls and their cameras. We’ll be watching to see if anything of note is reported.