Are you ready for another year of wild, scurrilous Star Wars speculation? Well, even if you aren’t, you’re gonna get it anyway. Episode IX has just begun filming, and returning director J.J. Abrams has already started dropping sneaky glimpses.
Abrams marked the beginning of principal photography on Star Wars: Episode IX with a tweet in honour of the dearly missed Carrie Fisher, who will appear in the film utilising unseen footage shot for Abrams’ previous entry in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Force Awakens.
Bittersweet starting this next chapter without Carrie, but thanks to an extraordinary cast and crew, we are ready to go. Grateful for @rianjohnson and special thanks to George Lucas for creating this incredible world and beginning a story of which we are lucky to be a part. #IX pic.twitter.com/FOfnGwVut5
— JJ Abrams (@jjabrams) August 1, 2018
Attached to the tweet is, of course, an Abrams trademark teaser image that is about 90 per cent the backside of a camera, and 10 per cent blur. But within that blur, we can see a few familiar Star Wars figures in what is, presumably, the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon, home to what’s left of the tattered Resistance after the events of The Last Jedi.
There’s Chewie on the far left of course, flanked by John Boyega’s Finn. It’s harder to tell who’s in the pilot seat though — you’d perhaps assume Rey, but the costume doesn’t look like her training robes. Could it be Poe? The shirt matches his TLJ attire at least.
Like I said, I hope you’re ready for another year of speculation such as this — we have a long way to go before Episode IX hits US theatres 20 December 2019.