While Star Wars fans are in the midst of enjoying the very fist Star Wars standalone film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it may be easy to forget that 2017 will be the year of Star Wars: Episode VIII, and now, we know when we will see the first trailer for the film…
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is currently enjoying a very successful opening day in theaters, and for the nonce, it appears as if Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy’s strategy of making standalone Star Wars films, is certainly paying off.
Beyond that, 2017 will be the year of Star Wars: Episode VIII, the much-anticipated sequel to The Force Awakens, as well as the beginning of filming for the second Star Wars standalone film, Han Solo. Kennedy was recently interviewed by the BBC’s Lizo Mzimba and was asked about when we might see the first footage for Episode VIII:
The #HanSolo movie will shoot in Feb and we'll see some #StarWarsEpisodeVIII stuff towards Spring says Lucasfllm President Kathleen Kennedy pic.twitter.com/dMkgXfdFz9
— lizo mzimba (@lizo_mzimba) December 15, 2016
"“Probably heading into spring, you’ll start to see things.”"
This makes perfect sense, as Kennedy points out, as Lucasfilm would want to give Rogue One as much of the Star Wars spotlight as possible before dropping what is sure to be an internet-breaking trailer for Star Wars: Episode VIII. Plus, the Star Wars Celebration is in April, which lines up perfectly with that statement. As far as Han Solo, Kennedy had this to say:
"We’re very close, we’re going to start shooting in February."
This means that while 2017 will certainly be the year of Star Wars: Episode VIII, we will most certainly get filming news and updates on the Han Solo film. And, I would even hazard a guess that we will get an official title for the film, be it Han Solo: A Star Wars Story, during the Star Wars Celebration in April.
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We want to hear from you: Are you excited to see the first trailer for Star Wars: Episode VIII in the spring of 2017? Let us know in the comments below and on social media.