Star Wars: Episode VIII Filming Takes To High Seas

The Adriatic Sea off the coast of Dubrovnik, Croatia is the latest backdrop for the cast and crew of Star Wars: Episode VIII.  The whereabouts of the main cast remain unknown…

WARNING, POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW!

The spies over at the Daily Mail UK have relentlessly documented the progress of Rian Johnson’s film — Star Wars: Episode VIII.  The photos revealed so far have given us quite a bit of information and insight on the happenings in Croatia.

Now, from the rooftops of Dubrovnik, photographers captured the cast at sea on board the aptly named SeaStar, a 45 meter event yacht.

This is a first for Star Wars.  We’ve never seen the films include any type of sailing whatsoever.  To the very right you can see a portion of the green screen, which we can only imagine is a mechanism to turn the deck of this charter yacht into something more contextually appropriate for a Star Wars film.  The formal wear of the characters is similar to the photos we saw earlier this week, with the notable distinction that the men here are wearing militaristic black robes with white sashes.

A broader view of the ship.  The green screen stretches from port to starboard.  The size of the crew on the ship is relatively small, when you consider the capacity of deck is around 400 people .  With plenty of room below deck, it’s not implausible to suggest that director Rian Johnson, or any one of the yet-to-be-seen stars of the film are waiting for the ship to sail out of sight before making an appearance.

A closer look at the scene.  The high top tables are identical to the ones we saw on land in Dubrovnik.  How does it connect to this one?

The movie is in its fourth week of filming, and while the veil of secrecy is certainly thinner to a degree than the production of Episode VII, as evidenced by the volume of photos pouring in on a daily basis, nobody has spotted the main cast or the director.

So far the rumors have placed Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley in Dubrovnik for this particular leg of production. Which would make sense considering Daisy’s stunt double, Chloe Bruce, tweeted out last week that she was headed to Croatia.  Not to mention the leaked video of a character appearing to be force-pushed.

The Sun has mentioned the possibility of Lando Calrissian re-emerging at this particular site to meet Luke, though there’s been nothing substantive to that claim.

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You can check out the photos in their totality at The Daily Mall.

Let’s hear the theories.  How have you added all these pieces together?  Who are these people and why are they gathering at sea?  Give us your thoughts in the comments and on social media.