A new report has Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson bringing the cast and crew of the film to the United States to film scenes for a desert planet, likely to be Jakku…
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Website Clancy Report is reporting that director Rian Johnson will be filming scenes for Star Wars: Episode VIII in the desert area west of Las Vegas, Nevada. According to the site, Johnson is filming these scenes near Las Vegas to represent the desert planet of Jakku that we were introduced to in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
If you’ll remember correctly, we first saw Jakku in the opening act of TFA, as Poe Dameron was being given a piece of a star map that would help pinpoint the location of self-exiled Jedi Master, Luke Skywalker. Later, we watched a young scavenger named Rey, as she climbed through a crashed Star Destroyer, looking for parts she could trade for food. This is also where BB-8 found Rey, as well as Finn finding both the little astromech droid and Rey, and the three unlikely friends finding the Millennium Falcon, before piloting her off world in an attempt to escape the First Order.
As you can see, Jakku was an important place…not easily forgotten. Here’s what Clancy Report had to say about what Rian Johnson allegedly has in story for the people of Las Vegas:
"“Rian Johnson is said to have personally chosen the location and will need the help of an extraordinarily large number of extras from Las Vegas and the surrounding area. Reports claim that a big reason in choosing to film in Nevada is that the state has recently been providing significant incentives to production companies that choose to film in their state.”"
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I would caution to take this news with a little grain of salt. I’ve not heard of this website before, and there were no links to backup its claim or source/reports. However, if Rian Johnson wanted to deep-dive into Rey’s backstory some more, then a flashback or Force-vision is the way to do it, and Jakku would definitely be part of that vision. Hopefully CR is right about this, and Star Wars: Episode VIII is coming to the states to do some work…but we will have to wait and see if the story is corroborated by the government of Nevada, first.