Star Wars: Episode VIII — Luke Meditates

It’s been a while since we’ve had an update to an concrete filming news from Star Wars: Episode VIII, but now thanks to an intrepid and daring fan, we have some video of Jedi Master Luke meditating in the film…

WARNING SPOILERS

Thanks to super spoiler website, Making Star Wars, we have a description and video of a scene from Star Wars: Episode VIII. According to MSW, the locals and the filming crew call the filming location “The Meditation Rock,” and that Luke Skywalker meditates on this rock. Here’s the video from YouTuber ian57812:

MSW describes the scene concept art as Luke suddenly seeing the binary sunset from Tatooine — from when he was a boy — almost as if the meditation process takes him to a different place than the planet he’s been self-exiled on for all these years, Ahch-To, which as you know from the end of The Force Awakens is an ocean like planet.

There’s also word that a younger stand-in did the meditation scene on the rock. Perhaps the scene is filmed from far away on location, and then Mark Hamill filmed the closeups at Pinewood studios. There’s really no reason to have your star climb up a rock and sit for hours in the cold, while a helicopter films long-range scenes.

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This is a really cool scene and I’m excited to see that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker has something so ethereal as a meditation rock. It only serves to make the older Luke that much more mysterious. It’s almost like he’s taken on both the lives of Yoda and Old Ben Kenobi.

Yoda had his exile on Dagoba, where no one could find him, and on that planet there was a powerful Force energy — much like it seems Ahch-To has — and then there’s the hermit vibe that Luke is giving off, just like Obi-Wan in A New Hope. Luke sought Old Ben out, and then Rey sought Luke out…Star Wars really is starting to come full circle. George Lucas should be proud.